Ocean City Champs

Michele Gillian was so amped up that she could barely catch her breath – Ocean City has been named top beach in the state.

“We’re so excited. When you have winters like we’ve had this year… the news wasn’t so positive about the economy. This is so much fun,” says Gillian, executive director of the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce.

It’s a big deal for the eight-mile beach, which was crowned at the top beach by the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium. Even though Ocean City markets itself as the ultimate family-friendly Shore location, not everything works in its favor to make it a tourist destination. It is a dry town to the extreme – you can’t even BYOB in Ocean City.

Wildwood held the top spot last year, but the folks there shouldn’t feel bad – all three of Wildwoods’ beaches (North Wildwood, Wildwood, and Wildwood Crest) made the top ten, and Wildwood was named best beach for shore events.

Of course not everyone’s happy. What happened to Atlantic City? Why is the list so weighted toward South Jersey beaches (which has eight out of ten winners)? The NJMSC says its ranking is based on a public vote and beach data gathered by New Jersey Sea Grant and Stevens Institute of Technology. However, the organization is not forthcoming about the exact numbers behind the ranking.

Here’s the NJMSC list for 2009:

1. Ocean City
2. Long Beach Island
3. Wildwood
4. Wildwood Crest
5. Asbury Park
6. North Wildwood
7. Cape May
8. Seaside Heights
9. Sea Isle City
10. Avalon

Disagree? We’d love to see your comments.

Tags: Wildwood Crest | North Wildwood | Ocean City | Sea Isle City | Wildwood | Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce | Avalon | Asbury Park | South Jersey | Seaside Heights | beach | Long Beach Island | Cape May