Beating the Traffic: first beachgoers make it to Ocean City

OCEAN CITY, Md – Despite the gloomy start to Memorial Day weekend, people are coming from all over to Ocean City to kick off the summer. And we got to speak with a few of them as the boardwalk and the beach starts to fill up.

From families to lone visitors, everyone’s out enjoying the Eastern Shore, having beaten the holiday travel rush.

Lisa O’Reilly from Baltimore tells us, “I’ve been in Baltimore for 24 years. I came from Ireland 24 years ago. This is the first time I’ve been down in Ocean City properly at the start of the season. And now I know what people see in saying ‘down the ocean’. I love this. This is beautiful.”

“Well, we’re having a good time here. And of course, it’s my wife’s birthday and we are just being family, enjoying the time, enjoying the beach, and enjoying the people and the fun,” says Upper Marlboro’s Alphonso Slater.

And people of all ages are excited to be the first ones to make it out to Ocean City for the season.

Bria Kringe from Drums, Pennsylvania says, “It’s really cool. I actually saw a TikTok that said, like being in Ocean City, Maryland, on Memorial Day Weekend is like being at Coachella like it was compared to being at Coachella.”

While Sherle DeWitt from Upper Marlboro tells us, “<Please come. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Plenty of food, people, drinks, and places to stay. Loving it.”

“…And it’s just a great feeling of just everybody, one big family in a way. So I love that I’ll be down again and again. I get it now, down the ocean. I get it, I get it…” says O’Reilly.

And these lucky few are the first of more than eight million people to make their way to the Eastern Shore this summer.

If you’re planning to visit OC this summer, town leaders want you Walk Smart, Bike Smart, and Drive Smart.