“The weather’s great, but the restaurants seem to be a little empty. ... I usually had to wait to get in, but not this year.”
Cooney
Published 17:45, May the 25th, 2009
Holiday weekend still draws visitors to Shore
SEA ISLE CITY. Matt and Kathy Gillian sat on the Sea Isle City boardwalk yesterday morning with their daughter and son-in-law, enjoying sandwiches and coffee from Avalon Coffee on the tail end of the Jersey Shore's opening summer weekend.
“We’ve been coming down since we’ve been children,” said Kathy Gillian, 55, of Wayne, Pa., who has a summer home in Sea Isle. “It’s been a very good weekend.”
Warm weather and scant rain made for a busy Memorial Day in New Jersey's southern coast towns. Despite the deep recession, the promenade, bars and beaches attracted decent crowds in Sea Isle – even if the water was a little chilly.
“Cold swim, hot run,” said Jeff Esposito, Gillian’s son-in-law, who participated in the Sea Isle City Tri for Veterans Saturday, which brought about 500 athletes and their families to town.
Another longtime "shoobie," Ann Cooney, 62, said she isn’t sure it’ll be a great season for shore businesses.
“The weather’s great, but the restaurants seem to be a little empty,” said Cooney, who also owns a summer home in Sea Isle. She’d eaten at Dock Mike’s, a popular breakfast and lunch spot near her house two days before.
“I usually had to wait to get in, but not this year,” she said as she watched the town’s Memorial Day ceremonies. Her family has also had a Memorial Day party down the shore for 40 years, and this will be their least attended event.
But like a dedicated weekend warrior, Sea Isle merchants can count on Cooney all summer.
“I expect to be here every weekend – and spending my dollars in Sea Isle,” she said.
Recession can’t reach the beach?
SEA ISLE CITY. Gregory Guarini doesn’t think there’s a recession here, at least not near the beach.
“This is one of the busiest Memorial Day weekend in years,” he said.
Guarini, 51, is a retired musician and works as librarian and beach tag checker in Sea Isle and, on Monday morning, he checked and sold beach tags ($5 a day, $10 a week, $20 for the season) near JFK Boulevard in the middle of town.
Guarini’s lived in Sea Isle since 1980 and watched traffic back up on the bridge into Sea Isle as early as Wednesday night. Guarini’s wife, Mikey, is also the general manager of Braca’s, a restaurant in town not far from his beach checking post, and the restaurant and bar have been jammed all weekend.
“There’s nothing wrong with the economy, not here. It’s a very well run town,” he said as he sold passes to two women dragging beach chairs, buckets and two children onto the beach. “People who come here know how to manage their money.”