By Donald Wittkowski
Not content with having just one New Year’s Eve celebration, Sea Isle City will throw two big parties that will have distinctly different flavors.
The first party, hosted by the city’s Division of Recreation and Municipal Alliance Committee, will feature a kid-friendly, alcohol-free atmosphere allowing families to celebrate the New Year without having to stay up until midnight.
“The celebration allows kids to ring in the New Year at a reasonable hour,” the city says on its tourism website. “The event features food, dancing, family activities and an early countdown to midnight at 7 p.m.”
The revelry will unfold in the gymnasium at the former Sea Isle City public school from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. In Times Square-like fashion (although a lot earlier), the ball will drop at 7 p.m. in the gym.
An 8 p.m. fireworks display at the John F. Kennedy Boulevard beach will cap off the evening for the family-style celebration, which usually draws hundreds of children.
Sea Isle’s second party, meanwhile, isn’t a formal affair held at one location, but is more like a citywide celebration spread out across the local bars and restaurants. Think of it as an “adults” party culminating in grand style with the official arrival of the New Year at midnight.
The countdown to 2018 ended at 7 p.m., allowing kids to see the ball drop off an Empire State Building replica.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio said it has become increasingly popular for people who own vacation homes at the shore to come to Sea Isle over the holidays for a weekend getaway. New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are no different, he noted.
“In recent years, we’ve seen more people spending the holidays at their second or third homes,” Desiderio said. “They plan to stay the entire weekend for New Year’s. It’s a tradition.”
Desiderio noted that homeowners begin celebrating the holidays at the shore during Thanksgiving and keep coming back through the New Year.
“I see that they use their homes on all of the holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s,” he said. “It’s their getaway. Why not come to the shore?”
In turn, all of those visitors in town help the local businesses, according to Christopher Glancey, president of the Sea Isle City Chamber of Commerce and Revitalization.
“The New Year’s Eve celebration in Sea Isle is a good boost for the business community,” Glancey said. “It brings a lot of homeowners down for the weekend, which benefits all of the businesses that are open for the holiday.”
Kelly and Joe Cunningham, of Sea Isle, and their daughters Keira, 4, and Brynn, 6, attended the city's family-friendly New Year's Eve celebration last year.
While Sea Isle is known for its robust nightclub scene during the summer, New Year’s Eve and other winter holidays are also a popular time for local shops, bars, clubs and taverns, Glancey pointed out.
“Every year more and more people decide to celebrate the holidays in Sea Isle, which greatly helps the businesses in the winter months,” he said.
Some homeowners are planning to throw their own lavish New Year’s Eve parties. Desiderio said local restaurants are catering a number of household parties, giving them some extra business for the holiday.
Mike Monichetti, owner of Mike’s Seafood & Dock Restaurant on Park Road, said his eatery has been busy filling orders for party trays of shrimp and steamed clams and buckets of crab balls.
“Mike’s is extremely busier than last year!” Monichetti said in a text message. “(It) seems people are coming down and enjoying their seashore homes.”
Monichetti also said his customers are telling him they plan to return to Sea Isle on Feb. 17 for his annual Mike’s Run-Walk for Autism fundraiser. The run-walk is one of the highlights of Sea Isle’s Polar Bear Plunge weekend celebration on Feb. 15-17, including the madcap annual dip in the chilly ocean on Feb. 16.
Mike's Seafood has been busy filling orders for holiday party trays.
The New Year’s weekend, meanwhile, is proving to be a hit at other local bars and restaurants. Kathy Larkin, manager of the iconic Ocean Drive bar and sister property O’Donnell’s Pour House, said both places on Landis Avenue are preparing for a big New Year’s Eve celebration.
“We’re open all weekend. It’s been great,” Larkin said. “It’s been better than I expected. A lot of people are in town.”
Providing the entertainment at the Ocean Drive on New Year’s Eve is Secret Service, the popular party band that has been a staple at the “O.D.” for years.
“Everybody loves Secret Service,” Larkin said. “It’s a 21-year-old to 70-year-old age group.”
O’Donnell’s Pour House is celebrating the holiday with a special dinner menu. Dinner will be served until 9:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, but the restaurant will remain open for a night of partying capped off by a free champagne toast at midnight.
The Ocean Drive bar and nightclub on Landis Avenue will be one of the holiday hotspots.
Kix-McNutley’s, the Sea Isle bar and entertainment complex owned by Mayor Desiderio, celebrated the holiday with a pre-New Year’s Eve party on Sunday night.
Kix-McNutley’s will close at 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve as part of Desiderio’s tradition of giving his employees the night off so they can celebrate the holiday with friends and family. It will reopen on New Year’s Day.
LaCosta Lounge, another landmark Sea Isle bar and nightclub, will feature the FunzALuv band as its headliner for the New Year’s Eve revelry.
Legendary Philadelphia DJ Jerry Blavat, the “Geator,” will preside over the New Year’s Eve celebration at the Oar House Pub, formerly known as the Lobster Loft.
