Ocean City Maryland 2018
Ocean City, MDSunday, May 20, 2018
The weather for the Cruise Night gave a whole new meaning to ‘Cruisin Ocean City’, with wave after wave of torrential downpours, which turned virtually every street into a River.
The weather caused both the Convention Center outdoor Show, and the Inlet Parking Lot Show to essentially, if not officially be cancelled on Thursday when we arrived.
Since we arrived late, we first hung out at our Apartment, where I took advantage of the covered Porch, so I could catch the hardy few that drove their Hotrods, Classics, and Antiques vehicles down the rain soaked Atlantic Avenue in front of our place.
I hung out for a while, downloaded some of my photos, and then grabbed a bite to eat at a place called the Brass Balls Saloon, while the rest of our crew, with public transportation used, checked out a Bar on the Coastal highway.
The Thursday experience was not a whole lot of fun, with what amounted to far more Police presence than was necessary, given the minimal number of Cruisers on the roads Thursday.
Day two of our visit to Ocean City Maryland, the ‘Cruisin Ocean City 2018’ event, was pretty much, in terms of the weather, a repeat of Thursday afternoon into evening, with almost a constant deluge, that paused only briefly each time, before resuming to dump bucket loads of heavy rain upon the entire area.
Once again, the Police presence was far more than what would have been needed, due to the horrific weather conditions, since there was but a handful of registered Show participants on the roads.
The sanctioned outdoor Shows at the Convention Center, and the Inlet Parking Lot were again cancelled to the nearly relentless torrential rain, with the Indoor activities at the Convention Center drawing the crowds. There was a small contingent of Show vehicles sharing space with the indoor Auction, which according to one of the Vehicle Owners was an accommodation to them, since there were no outdoor Shows. In one of the other ground floor Exhibit Rooms, was a Swap Meet of sorts, and on the second Floor, another Flea Market/Swap Meet/high end Show Vehicle section.
The consensus was that primarily the weather deterred a large majority of event attendees from even showing up, and the rigid, over the top Police response to past transgressions by mostly those NOT registered for ‘Cruisin Ocean City’, could have a negative impact for both the 2018 Fall event, and future events.
The third day of our visit to Ocean City Maryland, ‘Cruisin Ocean City’ was greeted by light drizzle in the early morning, which gave way to brief intervals of Sun.
The number of antique, Hotrod, and modified vehicles cruising Atlantic Avenue, and the Coastal Highway was up over the previous two days, but it was nothing like it has been in the preceding years we’ve been at this event, when the weather was nice.
While both the Convention Center outdoor Show, and the Inlet Parking Lot Show had well below their normal participant levels, with the highest being about 1/3 the normal attendance at the Inlet Parking Lot Show, Officials at both entrance gates steadfastly enforced the 1976 model year cutoff.
We skipped the outdoor Show by the Convention Center, since there were not many Vendors still there, and not much in the way of Show Vehicles at that location, and headed up to the Inlet Show, parking in a municipal Parking Lot with my Son’s 1987 modified Oldsmobile Cutlass. Fortunately, I always buy extra Event Passes, so all of us in the car got into the Inlet Show, without having to spend more than we already did for parking. The ‘Manufacturers Midway’ had most of the usual companies represented there, which included General Motors Performance, Meguiars, Miller Welding, Ride Tech, Grundy Worldwide Classic Vehicle Insurance, and several other smaller local companies.
After breezing through the Midway, I ventured out into what there was of a ‘Show Field’, saw a fair amount of vehicles there, and spoke with those who had stuck it out, in some cases since Tuesday, when the torrential rain began, and found most unhappy about how the weather killed attendance, and put a damper on their fun, with the majority also very concerned about the rigid enforcement not only of traffic rules, which were modified to include lower Speed Limits, and doubled fines for ALL traffic offenses, but also voicing concern that having the Police chasing people out of at least one of the more popular Cruising locations, may make many think twice about coming at all in the future.
We concluded our day with a Cruise up and down the Coastal Highway, and the return road, Atlantic Ave, arriving at our Apartment, where we parked, and I hung out to photograph the Cruisers as they passed by, until later in the evening, when we hoofed it up to Shenanigans for Dinner, about a mile up the Boardwalk from our Apartment.
After Dinner we walked back to our Apartment, where I again hung out, photographing Cruisers until around 11:00 p.m., after which I went in, and downloaded my Photos and Videos for the day.
The 4th day of our visit to Ocean City Maryland was probably, weather wise, the best one, with only a brief period of drizzle in the wee hours of the morning, followed by intermittent intervals of Sun and Clouds, with much warmer temperatures than we experienced from Thursday on. Unfortunately, the damage was done days earlier, by the weather, the City, and State governing bodies, the rigid enforcement of the Traffic rules, and deliberate modification of those rigidly enforced rules, along with chasing participants out of areas that Cruisers had gathered in in the past, in the evening hours after the sanctioned Shows had ended.
I cannot condone the outright street racing some engaged in at past events, and disregard for the safety of others, but as many I talked to stated, the way the City responded, relenting only to the businesses they would have hurt by NOT allowing the event after last year, was not the right way to address the transgressions of those who didn’t respect the rights and safety of others.
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