“An Ocean City Icon Faces Turn in Economic Tide”

I have to admit I was surprised to see this issue in the Washington Post metro section, but it is something that I have been thinking about a lot. On the one hand, it’s great that Ocean City is so popular and that the land values have gone up. It’s nice to have fancy new restaurants like 32 Palm and luxurious hotels, and I’m happy for the locals who can now make a lot of money off of their land. On the other hand, if Ocean City keeps losing places like Trimper’s that are part of the whole OC family experience, and if eventually the same families who’ve been coming here for generations can’t afford to stay here anymore, I can’t really see that as a good thing. It’s a hard call for the family and for the business, but I hope that Trimper’s stays in business. It would be a shame to lose a piece of history.

I’ve been reading up on the annual Sandcastle Contest, and I just can’t get over some of these pictures. I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m a big klutz myself (trust me, you know how mac laptops have the magnetic plug so it doesn’t hurt the computer if you trip over the cord? … yeah, they invented that because of me) but I can’t imagine how these artists manage to create such incredibly detailed works, without screwing everything up with an unruly elbow or ill-timed sneeze.

Here are some examples by the professional artists who are going to be at the contest, showing off their work and helping the kids and amateurs with their own castles:

Mark Venit:

Randy Hofman:

If you can make it on June 9th, you really shouldn’t miss a chance to see these artists’ new works! For more information, check out the sandcastle homepage, or this article about the contest — with an exclusive Mark Venit interview and more previews of the weekend’s activities.

I dreamt that I’d just gotten to OC and unpacked my suitcase, and realized that I hadn’t packed any underwear, so I had to find an underwear store but when I googled for “ocean city underwear” I just got pictures of women in lingerie… what does it mean? I have no clue. Except maybe that it’s time to start booking hotels and flights for those summer vacations, so no one gets caught with their pants down (or has to sleep in a tent, like on The Apprentice this season…).

The New York Times magazine’s excellent recent article on Phillipine workers employed overseas made me think about the young people who contribute so much work to Ocean City’s tourism-based economy — visiting student workers from Eastern Europe and Asia. Recently, I had a conversation with a Turkish student who is interning in Ocean City this summer after visiting the city as a tourist during a previous overseas work stint. He says that after his visits, he changed his plans to work in California and decided to return to Ocean City. His enthusiasm for our town would put some of the American tourists I’ve met to shame — as he says in a letter, “I really wanted to see California, but I can’t, I fell in love with Ocean City.” In his native Turkey, Ocean City is well known as a destination for students looking to work abroad. The city also has a sizable population of workers and interns from Eastern Europe, including many of the former Soviet republics such as Belarus and Latvia. The young man I spoke with has many friends from Russia who will also be visiting this summer.

Young workers are attracted to Ocean City by the warm weather, the beach and the opportunities to spend time with other students. However, life as an overseas worker is not always easy. The popular local site atbeach.com has a resource page for international student workers (available in several languages) warning them against scams and potential dangers ranging from exploitative employers who may not tell the whole truth in contracts, to cultural misunderstandings and legal problems. As anyone who has worked in retail stores, restaurants or hotels knows, these students are doing hard work! They also face discrimination, including the well-known practice among a few locals of refusing to tip non-native waiters and hotel workers.

Personally, it breaks my heart to hear about people coming to my country and being treated poorly. I hope that more and more of these interns will come back with stories like that of my Turkish acquaintance, who had such a memorable time in Ocean City that he decided to come back. As he put it, “I am not sure, but it is near 1000 interns” who come to Ocean City every year. ” We are the every where you are, eating having fun, sleeping. We are working there… I think we are a color in [the] ocean city rainbow.”

This looks like a fun weekend coming up.  Cars, live music, the ever-tantalizing possibility of visiting celebs… I hope everyone is ready to rock!