Memorial Day Weekend At Jersey Shore: What's Open, What's Closed

JERSEY SHORE – Memorial Day weekend has long been heralded as the start of the summer season at the Jersey Shore.

Motels brimming with guests. Boardwalks teeming with kids and adults, spinning the big wheels for prizes, riding mini roller coasters or checking the scenery high above the beach from the Ferris wheel. Grabbing a slice of pizza and a soda, and a Kohr’s twist cone for dessert. At night, the bars come alive with music and adults socializing and enjoying carefree moments of relaxation.

This Memorial Day weekend will have a very different feeling, of course, because of the continued social distancing measures in place due to the coronavirus pandemic — measures that, along with a forecast for cooler weather, are anticipated to keep crowds lower than normal.

Patch has a list of towns, beaches and what's required at each of them as New Jersey continues to wrestle with the coronavirus crisis at the start of its biggest tourism season (see below).

What tourists will find may not be surprising, but still a little stunning.

Beaches have limited access. Some towns have banned swimming. Motel rentals are limited to 25 percent of capacity in some areas and are still banned in others. Some boardwalks are open fully; others, including the Point Pleasant Beach boardwalk and Jenkinson's, remain closed.

Restaurants remain closed for in-person dining, with takeout and delivery available throughout the state, under Gov. Phil Murphy's executive orders. Arcades and amusement rides remain closed as well, limiting what will be available on the boardwalks. Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

The forecast for the weekend is for temperatures in the mid- to upper 60s. Saturday includes a 60 percent chance of rain, but sunshine on Sunday and Monday.

All of the restrictions and the weather mean it's likely the day trippers will be fewer. People coming to the shore for the weekend are likely to be predominantly those who own summer properties in beach towns, where they will be able to barbecue and gather — with social distancing — with family and some friends. All of those factors are anticipated to have a significant impact on revenues for towns up and down the shore.

Research by a group of economists that looked at Google search data for three shore towns — Seaside Heights, Cape May, and Beach Haven on Long Beach Island — estimates hotel and motel tax revenues could be down by nearly 20 percent for the summer.

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"Using Google trends data, we found that searches about Beach Haven, Cape May and Seaside Heights amongst New Jersey residents are down substantially from May 2019," Rutgers economist Bruce Mizrach said. Searches for hotels and boardwalks are down more than 40 percent, he said.

Mizrach, who worked with economists Jesse Neumann of Rutgers and Max Miller of Tufts University, said the trio a model that looks at the search data and motel/hotel taxes, and they predict the decrease in searches will mean a drop of 19.9 percent in 2020 hotel tax revenue for Cape May, from $1.380 million in 2019 to $1.105 million. In Seaside Heights, the decrease is anticipated to be 17.4 percent, from $5.242 million to $4.328 million, and the decrease for Beach Haven is estimated at 10.95 percent.

The concerns about the impacts of the coronavirus restrictions have been significant for towns, altering the way they are approaching the summer season because of the limited budget.

In Seaside Heights, officials have cut staff, including lifeguards, because of the anticipated decrease in revenues. Swimming has been barred in Seaside Heights as a result.

The search data — which Mizrach called sentiment data — "is a way of capturing the public's interest in real time," he said.

And when there are changes in policies, it causes changes in the sentiment data, even hourly, he said.

Local towns considering a change in policy "can see some potential change in impact before you start counting the dollars."

"If I had to guess, they might be happy it's only down 20 percent and not 40 percent," Mizrach said, adding the researchers are more than willing to offer their insights to towns who want to measure the impacts. "We can give them real-time feedback."

"This (the decrease in revenue) means less beach attendants, less lifeguards and less seasonal laborers. We cannot sustain beach and boardwalk operations on the backs of local taxpayers," Seaside Heights Mayor Anthony Vaz said. "We will work hard to give our visitors a worthwhile experience but we ask for everybody's continued patience and understanding."

Here's a look at restrictions along the Jersey Shore for Memorial Day weekend, including beaches and boardwalks and short-term and motel/hotel restrictions:

Gateway Recreation Area Sandy Hook: The beaches are accessible for passive recreation, such as walking and running, but no lifeguards will be on duty until June 6. Parking is reduced to 50 percent capacity and there are limited port-a-johns available. Fees will not be collected for Memorial Day weekend but will resume in June. No barbecuing or group picnicking, and the campground is closed.

Sea Bright: Beaches open Saturday, with access at four gates and limits on the number of beach badges sold. Public restrooms will be open with a limit of three people using the restroom at one time. Face coverings will be encouraged. Parking will be available in the municipal parking lot with a reduced capacity; payment through the parking app Pay2Park.

Monmouth Beach: Daily beach badges must be purchased through mobile app Viply. The app will notify users if daily passes have sold out for the day before your purchase.

Long Branch: Beaches open Saturday. Seasonal and daily badges are available for purchase via the Viply app. Daily badges will be available for purchase at each beach entrance using the Viply app (preferred) or cash; or purchase at the parking meter and bring to the ticket booth for badges. Restrooms are closed but port-o-johns will be at various locations. Parking meters are in effect.

Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park: Beach opens Saturday with limits on the number of beach badges and limits on parking. "Purchasing a season pass, or a daily access pass, does not guarantee visitors entry into the park if capacity is reached. Once capacity is reached, the park will remain closed until a sufficient number spaces open." Restrooms are closed.

Allenhurst: The beach is open but the use of guest passes will be limited and may be suspended if the beach gets crowded. Only one member or guest at a time will be allowed in the bathroom except for a parent assisting a child. The water fountains will be closed until further notice. Showers will be available at the beach and by the pool.

Asbury Park: The city is reopening the boardwalk as of Friday for walking; the beaches reopen Saturday with limits on the number of daily beach passes sold. Benches are removed from the boardwalk; restrooms in Asbury Park Convention Hall will be open but the hall itself will not. Visitors will be required follow paid parking guidelines and are urged to use the Park Mobile app (www.parkmobile.io) for payment instead of parking kiosks. Hotel and motel rentals are still barred and are scheduled to resume June 25. Read more: Asbury Park Beaches, Boardwalk Are Reopening

Ocean Grove: The beach opens Saturday. Daily beach passes may be purchased with the Viply app. They will go on sale the evening before the date of their use. There will be a limit on daily passes. Season badges are currently sold out.

Deal: Daily beach badges will be sold at kiosks. Restrooms will be open but with limits on capacity and masks required.

Loch Arbour: Daily beach badges must be purchased using the Viply smartphone app, through Viply’s website, or an on-site credit card machine. Restrooms will be open with masks required and social distancing policies in place.

Avon-by-the-Sea: The beach opens Saturday, with beach badges sold online only and a limited number available. Purchase details are available on the borough's website. Bathrooms will only be opened on weekends until June 15. Showers will not be available. There is no parking on Ocean Avenue with the exception of the handicapped parking spots, and no diagonal parking at all in the borough.

Bradley Beach: The beach opens Saturday. A limited number of season badges were sold, and daily badges will be available starting Saturday. Restrooms will be open with limits on how many people can use them at one time.

Spring Lake: The beach opens Saturday. All badges must be purchased online at www.springlakeboro.org and sales will be limited. Once the limit has been reached, sales will close. Daily badges will be sold by areas of the beach. Restrooms will be open with new cleaning protocols and social distancing guidelines enforced. Masks are required. The boardwalk remains closed except at the designated access points.

Belmar: The boardwalk is open, and beaches are opening Saturday with limits on how many badges will be sold, to prevent crowding. Belmar is temporarily suspending the sale of season badges at 5 p.m. on Friday but daily badges will be on sale beginning Saturday. Restrooms will be open but face masks must be worn to enter them. Beachfront paid parking will only be available through the ParkMobile app. Read more: Belmar Developing Plan For Opening Beach On Memorial Day Weekend

Sea Girt: The beach opens Saturday. Season badge sales were suspended May 20 to allow staff to process orders and season badges will not be available for pick-up over the Memorial Day weekend. Daily badges will be sold at four beach entrances. Restrooms will be open; social distancing will be enforced and bathrooms will be closed on a periodic basis for cleaning. There are no parking restrictions in effect at this time.

Manasquan: The beach reopens Saturday but there will be no daily beach badge sales until at least June. Season passes were sold prior to May 15 online. Restrooms and parking both will have limited availability. The beach walk remains closed.

Point Pleasant Beach: The boardwalk remains closed, and as a result, Jenkinson's announced its beach will remain closed as well. The borough-owned Maryland Avenue beach will be open, and beach associations will also be allowed to provide access to their beaches, but parking east of the railroad tracks is limited to residents only. Hotels and motels are permitted to operate at 25 percent capacity.

Bay Head: The borough was set to consider measures on short-term rentals and outdoor dining on Thursday evening. The beach is maintained by a private association; it was closed in April and it is unclear whether it is being reopened for the weekend.

Mantoloking: The beach remains closed until further notice, but beach badges are on sale for use beginning in June.

Brick: Brick Beach 1, on the ocean, and Windward Beach Park are reopening for swimming beginning Saturday. Beach badge sales and parking will be limited to control capacity. Read more: Brick Beaches To Open Memorial Day Weekend

Toms River/Ortley Beach: The Ortley Beach boardwalk has reopened; the beaches open Saturday and swimming is permitted when lifeguards are present. Beach badge sales may be limited if crowding becomes an issue.

Lavallette: The boardwalk will reopen Friday for walking and running but the beach will remain closed until June 20. There are no parking restrictions.

Seaside Heights: The Seaside Heights boardwalk and beach are open and will expand the hours on Saturday. Daily beach badges must be purchased through the Viply app. There is no swimming permitted, and boardwalk amusements will not be open. Restaurants can sell takeout or delivery but not offer dine-in service. The beach closes at 5 p.m. and the boardwalk closes at 11 p.m. and both will be cleared. Parking is reduced by 50 percent, officials said. Short-term rentals and motels and hotels are not permitted to have guests until June 1. Read more: Seaside Heights Unveils Plan For Boardwalk, Beaches, Rentals

Seaside Park: The beach reopened May 6 for walking and running but the boardwalk remains closed. On Saturday, the beach opens on weekends. Parking and restrooms will have limits for social distancing, the borough said it reserves the right to limit badge sales to prevent overcrowding. Read more: Seaside Park Reopens Beach, Boardwalk Still Closed

Island Beach State Park: The park reopened May 2 following Murphy's order reopening state parks but parking is capped at 50 percent of capacity. The restroom at Swimming Pavilion 1 is open; Swimming Area 2 is closed. The park opens at 8 a.m. for visitors (5 a.m. for mobile sport fishing; you must have a permit on your vehicle to drive on the beach). The park closes 8 p.m. This includes Mobile Sportfishing vehicle accessing the beach for fishing. No fires, no tents including porta-potty/changing tents, truck tents & pick up truck bed tents. 3- sided "clam shell" and see-through canopies are allowed.

Long Beach Island: Beaches are open all along Long Beach Island, with varying rules for beach badge purchases. Beach Haven and Long Beach Township continue to have bans on short-term rentals in place until June 1. Read more: LBI On Memorial Day Weekend: Beach, Rental Info

• How To Check LBI's Crowdedness On Memorial Day Weekend

Ocean City: Ocean City opened its beaches and boardwalk May 16, but short-term rentals remain barred until May 30. Restrooms are open with restrictions, and parking lots are open. Read more: This Weekend Is Prep For Memorial Day: Ocean City Mayor

• How To Check Ocean City's Crowdedness On Memorial Day Weekend

Wildwood/Cape May: The beaches and boardwalks reopened for walking and running May 2. Short-term rentals, hotels and motels remain shut down to guests in Cape May. Wildwood will allow short-term and motel guests beginning May 26, with a 60 percent capacity limitation. Swimming is allowed on the beach in Wildwood only while lifeguards are present. Read more: Cape May Co. Submits Plan For Reopening Beaches, Boardwalks, More

Here are some additional guidelines, per Murphy's orders:

• Local officials decide on capacity limits — specifically, limiting the number of beach badges sold or monitoring the number of people present on a beach.
• Social distancing measures of 6 feet between groups are required, except for family members, members of the same household or couples in a relationship.
• No organized games, summer camps, contact sports or events such as beachfront concerts or festivals.
• Rides and arcades will remain closed.
• Showers and restrooms may open, but with strict cleaning standards.

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