OCEAN CITY, Md. - Potential severe thunderstorms could strike a sour note for fans of the Boardwalk Rock Music Festival this weekend in Ocean City.
Despite the uncertain forecast, town leaders say the event is ready—rain or shine.
Friday afternoon, stages could be seen already set up and the venue blocked off. Throughout the weekend, teams of security will be on-site, along with a personal meteorologist monitoring the weather for safety.
As of now, Ocean City is not planning to cancel the rock festival, but evacuations could happen if the weather takes a turn.
“And you know, thunderstorms—they're pop ups. They may or may not occur. But we're prepared, if that does happen. If there's thunder and lightning, we may have to clear the beach just as we do during the season,” said Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan.
It’s a wait-and-see situation for festival organizers and fans alike.
While some attendees are excited, others have concerns.
“The only concern is that just the crowd. It's Massive. And how they're going to be able to handle getting people out of Ocean City back to the 'park and ride' and that type of thing and then just the worry about flooding,” said festival goer and local resident Kevin Andrews.
Businesses like Piezano’s Pizza say they’re bracing for the possibility of big crowds seeking shelter.
“We'll try to help everyone to the best that we can. You know, we can realistically only seat about 90 people in here, so it was like I said, it would be a first. So we would try to come up with something on the spot,” said owner Cengizhan Unal.
If an evacuation becomes necessary during the festival, Ocean City Police say the decision to continue the event into the night will depend on the severity of the storm.