By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Remember those postcards you would receive from your parents and grandparents when they were away on vacation trips?
“Miss you. Wish you were here!” they would say invitingly.
Now, Sea Isle City is reaching out in a similar way to invite vacationers back to the resort town this summer and to also remind them that they will need their beach tags once they’re here.
The city has mailed out 6,500 beach tag postcards to homeowners in what Sea Isle’s Chief Financial Officer Paula Doll calls “a little bit of sunshine in the middle of winter.”
“It’s fun. It will remind people of the wonderfulness of summer,” Doll said in an interview Thursday.
The postcards include a form allowing homeowners to preorder their 2021 seasonal beach tags at the discounted rate of $20, a $5 savings over the regular price of $25 that begins May 15.
Homeowners just have to complete the order form, write out a check for the number of tags they want to buy and mail it to City Hall. A return mailing address is provided on the postcard.
Starting April 1, they will be able to pick up their preordered beach tags in person at the Sea Isle City Welcome Center at 300 John F. Kennedy Boulevard.
Many of Sea Isle’s homes are vacation properties that are occupied only during the summer months, so the owners may not be in town before May 15 to buy beach tags at the discounted price. That’s where the beach tag postcards come in.
“It’s a way to help people who can’t get here by May 15 to buy their beach tags in person,” city spokeswoman Katherine Custer said. “Obviously, if you’re able to come to the Welcome Center by May 15, you don’t need the beach tag postcards.”
The postcards include photos of a beach scene and a smiling Mayor Leonard Desiderio along with the words “Don’t Miss the Chance to Preorder 2021 Beach Tags.”
“Mayor Desiderio and the city administration want everyone to have the opportunity to take advantage of the preseason price for beach tags if they can’t be here prior to May 15,” Custer said.
Similar to Doll’s comments, Custer noted that homeowners love receiving the postcards this time of year.
“People look forward to getting the postcards. It’s a reminder of summer,” Custer said.
Sea Isle has been mailing out the beach tag postcards since around 2005, Doll said. Prior to that, the city would send homeowners a “giant mailer” that would include a bunch of forms for beach tags and rental permits, she noted.
“It was a lot of paper. It was too much,” Doll said.
To streamline everything, the city came up with the idea of the beach tag postcards, which, in effect, are a way for Sea Isle to say, “Miss you. Wish you were here!”
Just like those old postcards you would receive from your parents and grandparents.
