Philadelphia sports fans packed Excursion Park during the "Phillies Shimmy Down the Shore" event in August 2024.
As far as locations go, there are few public parks than can top Sea Isle City’s Excursion Park.
The park’s prime location just steps from the beach and ocean serves as the hub for Sea Isle’s free outdoor entertainment and festivals, including summer concerts and the family-friendly “Movies Under the Stars” series.
Sea Isle is looking to make the park even better by brightening it up for nighttime events.
At its July 22 meeting, City Council awarded a $176,048 construction contract to install additional lighting at Excursion Park that will be ready next year.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio said construction won’t start until next February to avoid disrupting the lineup of summer and fall events at the park.
“The project is not large, but it will have a very positive impact, as we’ve had concerns about the level of lighting in the middle of Excursion Park and this will address that,” Desiderio said.
The group Brass Pocket performs at the Band Shell in Excursion Park during a festival.Desiderio explained that the city is awarding the lighting contract now because the purchase of lighting equipment normally requires a long lead time.
City Business Administrator George Savastano said the contract will involve installing two light poles at the park to make things brighter.
Excursion Park, an expanse of greenery, is at the ocean end of John F. Kennedy Boulevard at Pleasure Avenue.
It was one of the centerpieces of Sea Isle’s multimillion-dollar “Beach to Bay” project that started in 2008 and took about five years to complete to beautify the city’s JFK corridor, the main entryway into town.
The Band Shell at Excursion Park and a gazebo on the oceanfront Promenade were completed in 2011 for $2 million.
