OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.COM
MAY 13, 2022
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
PET-STIVAL
POOCH PALOOZA
Annual event rewards pups with pie eating, dock jumping and snoutsniffing fun – Page 24
FREE
Bull riding MOU could be updated Promoters want to add post-event country music By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer (May 13, 2022) Although the details are still sketchy, a bull riding event planned for early next month may add a country concert element to its packed roster of bucking bovines and associated vendors. The inaugural Bull on the Beach Professional Bull Riding, or PBR, competition and Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeo is set to kick off — literally — on June 3 with the first of three consecutive daily shows. The acts are set to feature roughly 40 riders and 70 bulls bucking and twisting across a platform of dirt spread across a portion of the inlet parkSee COUNCIL Page 4
Bus contractors’ board of educ. workaround fails Request to up hourly pay, mileage dies in 4-3 vote By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer (May 13, 2022) Worcester County taxpayers will not be footing extra money for bus contractor salaries and mileage costs after a request to help boost their pay checks narrowly died at the hands of four commissioners. The county commissioners huddled for several hours Tuesday See COMMISSIONERS Page 8
PHOTO COURTESY RYAN WHITTINGTON
CONDO FIRE
A transformer fire on May 8 at the High Point North Condominiums on 114th Street has prompted local fire officials to urge high rise residents to learn emergency exit and safety plans for their buildings. See story on page 14.
Weekend storm batters Springfest Event ends two days early as nor’easter lumbers off Mid-Atlantic coastal area By Greg Wehner Staff Writer (May 13, 2022) Springfest ended abruptly last weekend after a nor’easter parked off the coast gave Ocean City visitors a little more than music, crafts, food, and fun. The storm threw everything it had at the resort: gale-force winds and torrential downpours, leaving organizers no choice but to make the
call on Saturday to cancel the remaining Springfest events. But before the storm rolled into town, visitors were able to take in two days of Springfest, which occupied most of the inlet parking lot. “Thursday was actually a really good day,” Ocean City Special Events Director Frank Miller said this week. “It started out feeling like a Friday…and eventually petered out.” According to Miller, nearly 16,000 people walked through the festival gates on Thursday. While it was not as high as attendance last
year, or pre-covid when 19,000 people attended the first day of the fourday festival because of a good weather forecast, it was a respectable number of people. He also said on Friday, 13,365 people attended, or less than half of the number of people who typically attend on Friday. Springfest is what Miller described as the type of event that draws 100,000 people. Before the event began, he said Thursday would be the better day of the four-day weekend because the foreSee NOR’EASTER Page 3
