Freeholders: Memorial Day Great Success

Soaring temperatures, crowded highways, and a long weekend. The Memorial Day celebration was what shore business owners dream about.

Cash flowed like beer at tourist destinations like and Point Pleasant Beach. Tourists paid up to $25 near the boardwalks. Motels were full to overflowing. Beaches with people looking for relief from the heat and a place to have fun, although the chilly ocean waters kept most on the sand.

“It’s a resurgence of the economy in Ocean County. We’re off to a good start,’’ said Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari.

“Traffic was horrendous,’’ he said, because so many people were coming to the shore for a good time during the traditional start of the summer season.

“Rentals are doing very well,’’ he said of early reports of bookings along the beach. Hungry meters gobbled coins and beach badge sales were brisk.

is a $3.4 billion business in Ocean County, for 70,000 people, he said.

Although the Garden State Parkway from two to three lanes in each direction from Toms River to Manahawkin, and work was stopped on the T carrying Route 37 from Seaside Heights, police said traffic was snarled on the toll road and the major highways leading to the shore resorts throughout the weekend.