Crowds pack Excursion Park for the family-friendly attractions.
Perhaps Sea Isle City should consider changing the name of its popular Fall Family Festival to the Late Summer Family Festival.
Thousands of festivalgoers packed the Promenade and Excursion Park on Saturday in a huge turnout reminiscent of the peak summer tourism season.
“It’s just a tremendous success,” Sea Isle spokeswoman Katherine Custer said while marveling over the crowds. “We feel this is a record crowd for the fall festival and quite possibly for any festival we’ve had ever.”
Custer roughly estimated that “thousands and thousands” of people will visit the two-day festival to enjoy the shopping, food court, free amusement rides and other family-friendly attractions.
“It’s so hard to gauge the size of the turnout. It’s amazing,” Custer said. “We’re happy. Everyone is happy.”
Besides the massive summer-like crowds, the festival also had some beautiful summer-like weather Saturday, with sunny skies and temperatures hitting the 70s.
“We couldn’t ask for any better weather,” Custer said. “It is more summer-like than fall, but we are very happy to welcome the good weather.”
Well, truth be told, there are still eight days left for summer before the calendar officially flips to fall on Sept. 22. But who’s counting?
The festival continues Sunday with a vintage car show on the Promenade from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by a parade of antique autos and trucks through town.
Also on Sunday, the city’s Environmental Commission will name the winners of its annual Beautification Awards contest for the most eye-catching landscaping and architecture at Sea Isle homes and businesses. A ceremony will be held at noon on the Promenade at John F. Kennedy Boulevard.
Kids try out one of the free amusement rides in Excursion Park.A Sea Isle tradition for more than 30 years, the Fall Family Festival extends the tourist season in Sea Isle beyond the traditional Labor Day cutoff. Among its economic benefits, it helps to fill up the rental properties for another weekend and also gives local retail shops, bars and restaurants a boost in business.
The festival features more than 130 vendors lining the oceanfront Promenade, a variety of free kiddie rides in Excursion Park, the outdoor food court and live music. Children also enjoyed face painting, balloon sculpting, sand art and an Arts Barn.
Ashley and Steve Pollick, of Garnet Valley, Pa., watched as their 7-year-old daughter, Hadley, and 3-year-old son, William, were expressing their artistic talents with paint brushes.
“We love it,” Ashley said of the festival. “It’s a perfect way to finish out summer. There’s something for everyone to do. The kids are having a blast.”
Ashley noted that the Pollick family has been coming to the fall festival ever since Hadley was a baby. The Pollicks have a summer home in Sea Isle on 39th Street.
Ashley and Steve Pollick watch their son, William, and daughter, Hadley, show off their artistic side.With bold strokes of orange paint, Hadley was creating a pumpkin painting at the Art Barn in Excursion Park. The pumpkin painting was not only in celebration of Halloween, but also Hadley’s eighth birthday coming up in October.
Hadley considers herself a big fan of the Fall Family Festival.
“I like the music and the bunch of other things that everybody can do,” she said.
On the Promenade, shopping was on the minds of cousins Morgan Druce and Molly Powers and their friend, Maggie Griendling, as they strolled along the Promenade while browsing the vendor tents.
Druce bought a seashell-decorated ring dish as an engagement gift, Powers picked up some Phillies and Eagles gear and some cosmetics and Griendling purchased some jewelry.
Residents of Havertown, Pa., this was the first time at the fall festival for all three.
“It’s bigger than expected,” Druce said.
All three said the shopping was a big draw for them.
“We thought we would be out on the beach in an hour, but we’ve been up here for three hours,” Powers said of their shopping spree on the Promenade. “We’re having a ball.”
From left, festivalgoers Morgan Druce, Molly Powers and Maggie Griendling enjoy the shopping on the Promenade.
Crowds pack Excursion Park for the family-friendly attractions.
The group Brass Pocket performs at the Band Shell in Excursion Park.
The outdoor food court tempts hungry festivalgoers.
