OCEAN CITY, Md. - Cruisin’ Ocean City brought large crowds and classic cars into town over the weekend, but some local business owners say the event also made it difficult for customers to reach them.
Mickie Meinhardt, owner of The Buzzed Word, said her business closed early Friday and Saturday because traffic and parking lot issues made the shop hard to access.
“We stop having real access to our parking lot by like 4 or 4:30 p.m.,” Meinhardt said. “There is at a point you can’t actually access our business or any of the businesses in the shopping center.”
Meinhardt said her business closes early during Cruisin’ weekends in both the spring and fall, but this year’s social media post about the closure received a larger reaction than expected. She said the post was not meant as an indictment of Cruisin’ weekend itself, but rather as a way to raise concerns about how the event affects small businesses.
“Having to close two, three, four hours early on a Friday and Saturday night is a huge detriment for us,” Meinhardt said.
Meinhardt said she understands Ocean City is a tourism-driven town and that major events bring traffic. However, she said the issue is whether the event benefits more than just hotels, motels and gas stations.
“We have to consider that the people who live here and people who run businesses here are not benefiting necessarily from these,” Meinhardt said. “And the only people who are are corporations or large hotels who don’t pay taxes in this town.”
The weekend saw an influx of visitors in town, which caused a major traffic jam Saturday night. Locals we spoke to say it took them over an hour to go just three miles down Coastal Highway.
Worcester County Sheriff Matt Crisafulli said deputies assisted Ocean City police throughout the weekend. He said there were disorderly conduct situations, citations for exhibition driving and several DUI stops.
“When you have an influx of visitors and vehicles that come onto the island, it’s obviously going to increase the chances,” Crisafulli said.
Crisafulli said the sheriff’s office works closely with Ocean City police and other law enforcement partners during large events. He said the goal is to stay ahead of potential issues, including by monitoring social media and preparing for large gatherings.
Ocean City City Manager Terry McGean said the weekend was generally positive, with strong crowds and good participation from the official Cruisin’ event.
“As always, the participants of the event, they’re terrific,” McGean said. “As often happens with some of these motorized events, though, we get some what I’ll call hangers on.”
McGean said there were some difficult crowds, especially on the north end of town. He said Ocean City used its special event zone, which lowers speed limits and doubles fines for certain traffic violations.
McGean said he does not believe there is talk of canceling Cruisin’ Ocean City, but said the town will review what happened before the fall event.
“We’ll want to learn from the event,” McGean said. “If there’s things we need to do differently, I think particularly on the north end of town, we’ll be talking about that.”
