The Wildwoods Are Changing

The Wildwoods Are Changing

When it comes to the off-season in the Wildwoods, most people know that most of the restaurants, stores and amusements close down just a few weeks into October.

This has made the Wildwoods known as a seasonal town since much of the town is only open for the summer and shoulder season.

It has been a dream of local officials to change this and bring down more visitors through-out the entire year.

Looking at the models that Ocean City and Cape May use to bring down tourists, the Wildwoods have been trying to find their own niche and it looks like it’s starting to work.

Those who visited the Wildwoods over President’s Day Weekend would have thought they dropped in on just a very cold summer’s day.

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Thousands of people jammed into the island making for a large turn out at establishments such as Mudhen, Surfing Pig, Cool Scoops and Sam’s Pizza.

How did we get to this point?

 

The biggest factor into all of this is the Wildwood Convention Center who have continuously found new events that would drive traffic into the island.

Built in 2001 to replace the aging convention hall across the way, this 260,000 sqaure-foot of space can fit up to 7,000 guests (via concert setting).

This month alone The Wildwood Convention Center hosted the Winter Makers Market, Spirit Brands National Cheerleading Championship and The Cheer Movement Nationals which brought thousands to the island which helped to booked hotel rooms and get people into restaurants.

This is only half of the reason why the Wildwoods is seeing more people.

Restaurants have also changed how they do things. We are seeing a larger increase of restaurants staying open longer and year round places.

In the past few years we have seen places like Mudhen and Santorini realize this potential and have made it their priority to provide services to these crowds.

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By taking the lead, Mudhen and Santorini have shown other restaurants that they too can be open later or year-round.

There is one more factor that has lead to this massive increase.

During the pandemic, people didn’t have the option to travel far for vacations. This in return made people choose a driving vacation. Since so many people had their vacations in the Wildwoods as kids, they have returned in droves.

Even though we are still years past the last major lock-down, the people are still coming down.

It’s almost as if the pandemic rekindled people’s love for the Jersey Shore.

Overall, the Wildwoods are still working on their dream on being a year-round island. We might be a few years away until that is fulfilled but we are getting there.

Let me know if you agree.

P.S. we need an indoor waterpark… I’m looking at you Morey’s Piers.