All eyes will turn to the sky for Ocean City’s Air Show Weekend on Sept. 13 and 14. All events are free to attend, and the early forecasts call for sunny and clear skies.
The celebration starts with the Ocean City Airport Festival on Saturday (Sept. 13) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The festival features a ground display of unusual airplanes ranging from World War II planes to warbirds and classics. The event will feature a parachute jump from Team Fastrax, “America’s Skydiving Team.” It also will include food vendors, music, vehicle displays and kids’ activities.
The skydiving team will perform at the Airport Festival at 12 p.m., depending on wind and weather conditions. Ocean City Council Vice President Pete Madden is scheduled to make a tandem jump with one of the team professionals.
A half-mile “Runway Run/Walk” will return and is open to all ages. It offers a chance for anybody to cover ground normally traversed only by planes. The run will go off immediately after the skydiving jump. Children’s activities will include airplane and coloring contests between 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. All-day activities include “Bubble Mania,” face-painting, helicopter rides available for purchase, city vehicle displays and special guests Martin and Mollie Mollusk.
The festival takes place at the Municipal Airport at 26th Street and Bay Avenue. Additional parking for the festival will be available at Shelter Road (off Tennessee Avenue) with free shuttle service provided.
The Parachute Pyrotechnic Show will go off over Ocean City at 8 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 13). The show consists of several highly trained and specially licensed Team Fastrax parachuters exiting an aircraft 6,000 feet above Ocean City’s beach and boardwalk. Brilliant white or multi-colored projectile pyrotechnics are then ignited as the parachuters fly in formation, creating a dazzling display for spectators on the ground. The jump will end with a landing on the Seventh Street Beach and will be viewable along the entire Boardwalk.
The Boardwalk Aerobatic Air Show will bring some of the best stunt pilots and aerobatic champions in the nation to put on a show over the beach and boardwalk starting at 1 p.m. Sunday (Sept. 14).
This year’s show will welcome Team Fastrax, Kevin Russo, the Jersey Jerks, Rick Volker, the NextGen Eagles, Robert “Rooster” Schmidle, the Coast Guard and a flyover of a KC-46A Pegasus from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
Thousands of spectators typically soak up some of the final days of the calendar summer as they watch the spectacle from the beach and boardwalk. The show is best viewed from the area between Fifth Street and 14th Street. There is no rain date for any of the shows, and air performances may be canceled if weather conditions do not allow for safe flying.
9/11 ceremony set for Thursday evening
Ocean City’s annual “A Day to Remember” 9/11 memorial ceremony begins at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, outdoors in front of the Ocean City Fire Department headquarters between Fifth Street and Sixth Street on Asbury Avenue. All are encouraged to attend.
The ceremony includes music, prayer and reflections on the memory of lives lost and on the community spirit that was renewed in the wake of the tragedy. The event includes the Striking of the Four Fives, a fire service tradition noting the death of a firefighter in the line of duty.
This year’s speakers will include Mayor Jay Gillian, Police Chief Bill Campbell, Fire Chief Bernie Walker and Tunnel to Towers Foundation Ambassador Gerard Lynch.
For more information, call 609-399-6111.
Also coming up in September
Carmina Burana performed by the Ocean City Pops (Sept. 13): The Pops performs one of the greatest symphonic choral works ever written. 7:30 p.m. at the Ocean City Music Pier. Tickets available at oceancityvacation.com/boxoffice or 609-399-6111.
Ocean City, NJ Jeep Invasion (Sept. 20): Jeeps will be displayed on the boardwalk between Fifth Street and 14th Street from noon to 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.NJJeepInvasion.com.
OCNJ Half Marathon, 5k & 10 Mile Non-Competitive Walk/Run (Sept. 21): Choose your distance and participate in one of New Jersey’s favorite race events. Advance registration required for the half marathon. Sign up early to save on registration fees at www.ocnj.us/Race-Events.
MS City to Shore Ride (Sept. 27-28): About 7,000 cyclists raise millions of dollars through a two-day charity ride from the Philadelphia area to Ocean City and back. For more information, call 1-800-445-BIKE or visit www.mscycling.org.
