A Look Back
By Fred Miller
Summer begins in Ocean City when Mayor Jay Gillian, City Council members, and lifeguards turn the big, wooden key into the sand on Moorlyn Terrace beach to unlock the beach and ocean for the summer of 2022. This year that will happen on Friday, May 27 at noon.
The Ocean City Beach Patrol traces this ceremony back to Memorial Day 1944. Captain Thomas A. Williams believed this would be a wonderful way to signal the beginning of summer in America’s greatest family resort. It was a low-key event until 2002 when Mark Soifer, Ocean City’s public relations director, approached OCBP Lt. Fred Miller with an idea. “Let’s do it on the beach beside the Music Pier and invite all the area TV stations and newspapers.” Soifer made the lifeguards they couldn’t refuse.
Soifer changed the opening day from Saturday to Friday. He believed that would beat the unlocking ceremonies in Atlantic City and Wildwood and we would get all the publicity. Soifer knew public relations!
During the summer of 2004, Ocean City was celebrating the 125th anniversary of the city’s founding. John Walton suggested adding a Business Persons Plunge to the Memorial Weekend event.
During the Business Persons Plunge, local business owners and employees dressed in suits, skirts, and ties ran into the ocean after it was unlocked. It was a big success and continues to be part of the opening of summer.
Mark Soifer died on June 6, 2021 at the age of 89. Mayor Jay Gillian said, “It’s hard to imagine Ocean City without Mark. So much of what we celebrate came from Mark’s imagination.
