By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Newlyweds Chris and Julianne Dinsmore, who were married in June, will be returning to Sea Isle City at the end of September to hold their belated wedding reception.
Excitement is building for the Haddon Township couple, but at the same time they were feeling a bit melancholy while lounging on the beach on Labor Day – not about their wedding reception, but about the inevitable end of summer at the shore.
“I’m trying to make today last as long as possible,” Julianne said.
“We are soaking up the last bit of sun,” Chris added.
They were joined on the beach by Julianne’s parents, Chris and Jill Peed, while trying to squeeze out their last few precious hours of summer at the shore during some gorgeous Labor Day weather.
Chris and Jill Peed, though, were staying put. They live in Sea Isle and were already looking forward to “locals’ summer,” that time of year when the huge crowds leave and the full-time residents welcome a much quieter atmosphere at the shore.
“We enjoy that. We love that,” Chris Peed said. “We can even bring our dog back on the beach.”
“And we can get back to parking our car without paying,” Jill Peed noted about Sea Isle’s parking fees ending after Labor Day.
For most of Sea Isle’s vacationers and visitors, Labor Day weekend traditionally serves as the unofficial “last hurrah” for the summer season.
As the afternoon began to wane, beachgoers were savoring what little time they had left in Sea Isle before having to contend with the bumper-to-bumper northbound traffic on the Garden State Parkway during the mass exodus from the shore as the three-day holiday weekend slowly came to a close.
“We’re sad. We love the summer,” Christina Barbarino said as she prepared to leave Sea Isle to head back home to Washington Township, Gloucester County. “Sea Isle is always our place. It’s small and quiet. It’s got that beach-town kind of feel.”
Barbarino was walking along the oceanfront Promenade one last time for the summer of 2023. With her were her children, Landon, 13, and Arianna, 3, and her mother, Darlene Mastrodimas, also of Washington Township.
Although his mom lamented the end of summer, Landon, who plays football and baseball, was looking forward to returning to school on Wednesday to start seventh grade.
“I’m happy. It’s exciting,” he said.
Back on the beach, friends Vittoria Gargan and Michele Snyder were contemplating the end of summer while splashing around in knee-deep water.
Gargan, who formerly lived in Sea Isle and now resides in Lakeland, Fla., had an interesting food-inspired reason for why she will miss summer at the Jersey Shore.
“It’s no more waffles and ice cream,” she said with a laugh. “Also, the boardwalks at the shore aren’t the same in the winter as in the summer. But I guess the thing I’ll miss most are my friends here. I won’t be seeing them for six months.”
Snyder, who lives in Swedesboro, Gloucester County, is a school bus driver. She is preparing to return to school after enjoying her summer vacation.
“I’ll miss the relaxation, and not having any worries. It’s laid back. You do what you want to do,” Snyder said of the shore.
While Gargan will miss eating waffles and ice cream at the shore during the summer, Wayne Stephens will have to do without his favorite hot dogs. Stephens stopped at the Mike’s Hot Dogs stand at 40th Street and the Promenade to buy his last hot dog of the summer from owner Mike Beyer.
Stephens and his wife, Sherri, are vacationing in Sea Isle from their home in Pittsgrove, Salem County. They enjoyed their time at the shore with their grandchildren, Nina and Anthony DeCesero.
“It’s a little depressing,” Stephens said of Labor Day weekend coming to a close. “We had a great summer.”
