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Weather, water, treats draw crowds to Jersey Shore

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - So there they were Saturday afternoon - standing in a breeze perfumed by that pizza-crusty-cinnamon-candy-coconut-sunscreen scent that is classic eau de boardwalk - plotting their next move in what appeared to be a complicated operation of acquisition and distribution.

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer. Shore-goers walked the Ocean City boardwalk and crowded the beach on a somewhat cool holiday weekend. Few people braved the cold water. (ED HILLE/Staff Photographer)
Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer. Shore-goers walked the Ocean City boardwalk and crowded the beach on a somewhat cool holiday weekend. Few people braved the cold water. (ED HILLE/Staff Photographer)Read more

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - So there they were Saturday afternoon - standing in a breeze perfumed by that pizza-crusty-cinnamon-candy-coconut-sunscreen scent that is classic eau de boardwalk - plotting their next move in what appeared to be a complicated operation of acquisition and distribution.

Never mind that it was a great beach day and that just steps away the Atlantic Ocean appeared to be the perfect shade of cerulean blue against a baby blue cloudless sky on this first day of Memorial Day weekend, the official unofficial start of the summer Shore season.

They also could have hopped on a bicycle or taken in a round of Goofy Golf or maybe a few whirls on a merry-go-round or roller coaster.

Nope. The Egberts and Ajamian family members were on a mission: boardwalk food.

"Have we got everything we need? OK, then let's drop this off and get the pizza," said Pat Egberts, 58, of Mullica Hill, directing her three-member posse, which included nieces visiting the Jersey Shore from Fairfax, Va.

Laden with bags and boxes and tubs of caramel corn, fudge, taffy, macaroons, and other boardwalk treats, the women had to make a two-block run to their car to drop off the booty before even thinking about nabbing the true bounty of their excursion: six large Manco & Manco pizzas.

"We had it for lunch, and now we are taking these pizzas home for dinner for the rest of the crew that didn't make it down here today. We would have had pizza for breakfast, but they weren't open yet," Egberts said with a laugh, noting they were on the road by 8:30 a.m. to beat the traffic and were heading back to Gloucester County by early afternoon under the same theory.

"We do this every year. It's our Memorial Day tradition," niece Marissa Ajamian, 19, said.

And they weren't alone.

"Oh yeah, it's all about the pizza," said Mary LeFever, of Deptford, who was carrying two pizzas back to her summer home for a crowd of friends and family showing up for lunch. "It wouldn't be Memorial Day if we didn't start off this way. It's how we toast summer."

It was such a picture-perfect day, weather-wise, that some spots on the beaches were lined blanket-to-blanket by the crowds that numbered in the tens of thousands. And plenty of people certainly took that bike ride or checked out an amusement or two, and shopped the stores and boutiques filled with beach towels, sand chairs, toys, and summer apparel.

"I always think you can tell what kind of season it is going to be by the way Memorial Day starts out," said David Stewart, 78, of Newtown Square, who strolled the boards Saturday. He said he operated a candy store on the Atlantic City Boardwalk in the 1960s and knows a thing or two about Memorial Day weekend.

"By the looks of these crowds and the beautiful weather this weekend, my prediction is that this is going to be a good one," Stewart said.

He said he was staying away from the boardwalk treats he used to proffer because of recent cardiac surgery. But other true-blue Jersey Shore aficionados? They're probably still searching out that one tasty treat they've been dreaming about all winter.

For Debbie Duffy, the draw was Johnson's Popcorn.

"You just can't start summer without it," insisted Duffy, of Wayne, N.J., who camps in Bayville and heads to the Ocean City boardwalk every year. "It's good for the soul."

That's how Holly Kisby, general manager at Shriver's Salt Water Taffy & Fudge, who has worked there for 22 years, sees it.

"For a lot of people, it's all about tradition, about returning to a place they may have come to as a child to bring their own children and grandchildren to enjoy what they enjoyed," Kisby said.

"And I think when you have weather like this on a holiday weekend, it creates the perfect storm, so to speak, for people to get out and get to the Shore. I'm thinking it's going to be a great summer."