OCEAN CITY, Md. — There is a possibility of a music festival following Oceans Calling. The town has a tentative agreement with the promoters of that event to negotiate a second festival.
Now, a lot of work has to happen before this second festival is a done deal. The first task is making sure Oceans Calling goes off without a hitch. Last years inaugural festival was canceled due to inclement weather. ‘
And while the confidence level is high among people in town, nobody really knows how Oceans Calling will play out. It’s part of the reason some business owners we spoke with have reservations about adding a second event.
“We’re always excited for special events, we’re always excited for people to come to Ocean City,” said Kevin Gibbs, Co-Owner of The Dough Roller. “What we ask is that we make it work for our local economy, we make it work for the people that live here, pay taxes here, that have a brick and mortar locations that are invested in our town.”
Dan King, another boardwalk business owner said the more special events, the merrier.
“Now if they’ve got it all setup and the first one goes over good and they can put another one on the following week and fill the joint one more time, do it,” said King.
The contract signed by the town and C3, the promoters for Oceans Calling calls for negotiations for a second festival intended for the weekend immediately after Oceans Calling.
The contract states that negotiations must begin before November 1st of 2023 and an agreement between the town and C3 would need to be finalized by March 1st of 2024. The second festival would be similar to Oceans Calling in the sense that it would feature live music and multiple stages.
The intended dates are October 4th-6th for 2024, October 3rd-5th for 2025 and October 9th-11th for 2026. Again, these dates and the second festival actually happening is still tentative.
But, if the event happens that late in the season, Gibbs said he’d be a little on edge about getting enough staff.
“I don’t know if pushing it back later and later, another event, is going to be staffable,” said Gibbs. “Because Sunfest last year, the later they’ve pushed Sunfest was very hard.”
Tom Perlozzo, Ocean City’s Director of Tourism said that is something town will look at that following Oceans Calling.
“The magnitude of this event and how it impacts the town is going to be evaluated, you know whether or not we even want to continue to do a second event,” said Perlozzo.
If everything goes well though.
“We’re hoping to know an answer by November 1st, not necessarily start negotiations,” said Perlozzo.
That answer would be a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ from C3 about putting on a second festival. If the answer is yes, the several agencies throughout Ocean City, including the Special Events Team, Public Works, Police and Fire Departments and Planning and Zoning would determine exactly how this would all play out.
