🌪️ Whoosh: Wind opinions, you’ve got them | Down the Shore

Look, you know and I know. It’s been miserable out there. Cool, rainy, foggy, even an occasional hint of the smell of smoke, possibly from Burlington County wildfires. Shore meteorologist Joe Martucci called it “the WORST start to ‘summer’” in nearly a decade. But it’s improving! In any case, to distract ourselves, let’s get into the deluge of opinions sent our way after last week’s newsletter about the demise of wind turbines in New Jersey. Opinions, you’ve got them.

Sharon Aloi: I live in Atlantic City and protested these turbines mostly because wind is the MOST expensive source of energy and it would require an entire neighborhood to be torn up and ruined.

Mike Altmann: If it was up to me, I’d rather see wind turbines. If it was up to Trump, we would see oil rigs out on the horizon.

G Force: Revive Ocean Wind Turbines? — ABSOLUTELY NOT!! I’ve been a Shore native for almost sixty years, and have NEVER seen that amount of ocean wildlife deaths in my life!! Leave our oceans alone!

Ken Myers: … fossil fuels lead to climate change (which threatens the shores of NJ and elsewhere), are a threat and need to be addressed with actions, and even an occasional sacrifice of a horizon (assuming you can see ten miles out to sea, which I doubt most people try to do).

Chris Campbell: The turbines themselves are not recyclable. There’s so many used turbines that are filling up space because they can’t be recycled, but yet they claim climate change is happening and that windmills is the way to stop.

Carlos Mocelo Interestingly, the Europeans can pull it off, but we can’t. It’s a shame Americans have a harder time working together for the common good.

Want to hear from the experts? I rounded up reactions from activists, politicians, environmentalists, and looked at the unexpected green-lighting of New York’s Empire Wind Project off Long Island (but also, off Long Branch) among others here.

And keep scrolling for news and events, more bar trivia, an interview with new Miss New Jersey Belle Nicholas, of Wenonah, Gloucester County, who has recs for North Wildwood, and a lovely memory about the importance of being a good tipper.

📮 Have a Shore etiquette question? Need help with a sticky guest situation? What irks you? We’re here to help! Send your questions to us at [email protected].

⛅ The sun’ll come out …

— Amy S. Rosenberg (Find me at @amysrosenberg, on Instagram at @amysrosenberg. 📧 Email me here.)

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🎷 To the point: This couple paid $19M for two Longport houses. Then they demolished them.

💔 The 1966 Gibson EM-50 mandolin stolen from the band Heart in Atlantic City has been recovered.

🏠 Somers Point voted to extend the minimum short-term rental stay from three to seven days.

🎡 Opponents to Eustice Mita’s plan to build a resort on the Wonderland Pier site will unveil their “better idea” on Saturday: a blend of “amusements, public space, boutique lodging, retail, dining, and digital entertainment.”

📷 Ocean City has a bathroom hidden-camera problem, police said.

🎰 The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority is taking control of A.C.’s underperforming Renaissance Plaza, which should boost the valiant Save A Lot.

🚲 A car crashed into the landmark AAAA Bike Shop in Ventnor.

🗳️ An earthquake occurred in South Jersey politics.

🪘 Juneteenth: The African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey will celebrate Juneteenth with an afternoon of events, featuring a talk by Stockton University professor Donnetrice Allison, artwork by Quinton Greene, music by the Tony Day Trio, storytelling by Michelle Washington Wilson, a libation ceremony led by Kimoni Yaw Ajani, and African drumming by Big Jeff.

⛴️ Meanwhile, Atlantic City Cruises is sponsoring a summer kickoff Juneteenth boat party.

🎤 Summer Boardwalk concerts begin in Atlantic City with the Wednesday Mardi Gras series and continue weekly. Full lineup, including blues vocalist Shemekia Copeland on July 16, is here.

🎹 The Chicken Bone Beach Thursday series will kick off July 3 on the A.C. Boardwalk. Full lineup, including Vijay Iyer Trio on July 31, is here.

🎶 Gardner’s Basin will host two 6.5-hour concerts featuring iconic soul and R&B artists June 21 and July 26. All the info is here.

🤠 Wildwood’s Barefoot Country Music Festival takes over the beach.

🛶 Send your kids to the Minnows Day Camp run by the Atlantic City Beach Patrol.

🎣 Book a spot on the Captain Robin fishing boat at Scotts Dock, where they are catching biiiiiig flounder.

🍴Tideline, the much-awaited Tomatoes spin-off, is open in Margate.

☔ Rainy day fun at the new Takeoff Adventure Park in Pleasantville.

Ahhhhh. The Maloney’s crowd was all over last week’s trivia question about the Jersey Shore’s most-missed bar, with its possibly not-as-missed bike-a-thon pub crawl. Nice to hear from you all! Sylvia Hamberg was first to weigh in. Another reader, Pat, summed it up: “Still talk about that bar to this day.”

This week’s, about another defunct bar:

This North Wildwood institution, founded in 1912 by a South Philadelphia family, was once described as “a place perpetually in need of a paint job (one color, blue, covers nearly every surface), a place of tents and folding chairs, plastic cups and patios, ocean views and reunions, live bands and old disc jockeys, decor ranging from Bud to Bud Light.... and four imported palm trees.”

What bar was it?

Email me with the answer, or click here to read a story on its 2005 demise.

Belle Nicholas, 27, of Wenonah, Gloucester County, was crowned Miss New Jersey 2025 last weekend. A student in Widener’s graduate clinical psychology program, Nicholas is a mental health advocate whose platform (and podcast) is Shout Our Struggle‚ ”cultivating a new culture around mental health." She’s a North Wildwood regular, and answered our rapid-fire questions. She’ll compete for Miss America in September.

Favorite beach: North Wildwood, around like 18th, 20th, depends on where family will be that day.

Favorite summer breakfast: I love to get a pork roll, egg, and cheese at the Fractured Prune. I’ll get one of those, and an iced coffee, and go sit down on the beach and watch the dolphins.

Your idea of a perfect beach day: I love to just sit on the beach. I don’t go in the water. I sit in the water and do word searches.

Perfect night at the Shore? Probably take a walk on the boardwalk, get some ice cream at Hassles.

Best Shore sandwich: I think it’s called Five Girls in Wildwood, they have a pretty good cheesesteak that I like. I’m a cheesesteak girl.

Ice cream/water ice order? I love mint chocolate chip ice cream. That’s always my order.

When summer approaches, I feel ..... relieved. Because the school season’s over. Have a little more time to myself.

It wouldn’t be the Jersey Shore without … family time.

Best thing for kids to do at the Shore is … build sand castles.

Surfing or fishing? Neither.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise.

Shore pet peeves? When there’s room on the beach and someone sits right next to you.

The Shore could be improved if … we clean up after ourselves and take care of our planet.

Bonnie H. Zetick, of Huntingdon Valley, writes:

I am from a small town near Pittsburgh, PA. I never saw the ocean until I was 19 years old when I went to Atlantic City with fellow students from Indiana University of Pennsylvania to work for the summer. I will never forget my first impressions of the shore the smell of the salt air, the diving horse on the Steel Pier, the clothing shops on Pacific Ave. with their summer sales. I fell in love with the kind waitresses who taught me the ins and outs of serving. I paid all my college expenses with no student loans from the money I earned in three summers at the shore. Tips were everything to me, and I’ve never forgotten that, and have taught my children and now my grandchildren to be generous with tipping.

Send us your Shore memory in 200 words. Tell us how the Shore taps into something deep for you, and we will publish them in this space during the summer.

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