Ocean City, MD
Sunday, May 22, 2016

For the 5th year running we made the trek down to Ocean City Maryland for the Cruisin Ocean City Car Show, Boulevard Cruise, and related events. The turnout this year though was quite subdued, most likely because of the dire threats of heavy rain, and high winds for Saturday, which may have deterred the day trippers from attending, and also the publicity about how there was going to be an over the top Police presence, in response to previous years excesses by a few bad apples. From this writer’s observations, the Police presence wasn’t any greater than it had been for the past few years, hype being greater than reality. The weather on Saturday, while not conducive to ANY kind of outdoor activity, was not anywhere as bad as predicted earlier on, just foul enough to force the cancelation of the outdoor Convention Center Show, and the Inlet Show. To digress a bit, the biggest downer that cast a pall over the event, was the death of a Motorcyclist on Thursday, who by Police estimates, was doing in excess of 100 mph on the Coastal Highway in Ocean City, when he collided with a Pickup Truck pulling out of a side street. One can only hope such a tragic occurrence never happens again. The more positive side of things on both Thursday and Friday, was the weather, which was picture perfect, allowing for yours truly, and a small contingent of other Show vehicles to cruise the strip, though things weren’t like the ‘American Graffiti’ scene of years past. On Friday the Boardwalk Parade stepped off at around 7:30 A.M., and continued for 2 more hours, until the last of the participants arrived at the Inlet Parking Lot Car Show. The Show was well attended, but many made it clear that they were leaving ahead of the horrible weather predicted for Saturday. The manufacturers midway had the usual suspect in attendance, such Mequiars Car Care Products, Miller Welding, Spectre Performance, MSD, Chevy Performance, etc. By around 4:30 P.M. on Friday, the Shows were pretty much emptied out, a smaller than usual group cruised the Strip in their Show vehicles, and those dumb enough not to think first, before burning rubber, or engaging in a Stop Light drag race, got to meet with the local law enforcement at roadside. Sunday wasn’t Show friendly either, with a light drizzle falling, and by then, only the local kiddies in their imports, or Pickup Trucks for the most part, engaging in any cruising around town. Our troop left around 1:00 P.M. on Sunday, with hopes of making it to this event next year, and maybe for a better stretch of nice weather too for the 2017 event.