Back to Normal? Comparing the Ocean City Boardwalk from 2020 to 2021

I found myself walking on the Ocean City Boardwalk Monday evening and I couldn't help but think of where we were this time last year.

In May, 2020, I wrote an article describing what the "new normal" was like on the Ocean City Boardwalk. Now remember, last spring, you couldn't even walk on a boardwalk in many towns -- Ocean City included. Last May, people were emerging from their homes and venturing out and I made the observation, "unlike the thousands of other times that I've been on the boardwalk, this time was different."

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Different because practically everything was closed just a few weeks before Memorial Day Weekend. The rides were silent, there was no crab fry grease on the boardwalk in front of Chickie's & Pete's, no mini golf places, no t'shirt shops were open, and the smiling person who was always eager to give you a free sample of fudge was no where to be found. It was a time when you actually had to look hard to find a slice of pizza on the boardwalk.

Fast forward to yesterday on Memorial Day and things were a lot different. Call it the "new, new normal," perhaps.

Here's a look at May, 2020, on the Ocean City Boardwalk and how things were this past weekend (after the cold, lousy weather moved out of our area)...