OCEAN CITY – While acknowledging that a few issues will need to be worked out, resort officials and business owners this week are celebrating the success of the Oceans Calling Festival.
Roughly 50,000 attendees descended on downtown Ocean City last Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the first-ever Oceans Calling Festival. Highlighted by more than 30 performances across three stages off the Boardwalk, officials say the successful event demonstrated Ocean City’s capability to host large-scale festivals in the years to come.
“It was a very special weekend for Ocean City and the start of big things to come,” Mayor Rick Meehan said. “It showed us what we can do.”
Since 2021, the Town of Ocean City has worked with festival promoter C3 Presents and its partner, O.A.R., to prepare for Oceans Calling, a three-day music festival hosted at the southern end of the beach and Boardwalk. While an inaugural event was planned for 2022, officials were forced to cancel as the remnants of a hurricane swept through the resort.
While the news came as a disappointment to many, officials say the additional year gave the promoter and the city time to improve its safety and transportation plans and expand the festival footprint to include the Ocean City Boardwalk. The result, they said, was a highly anticipated music festival that sold out within a few short months of promotion.
Great. Just start calling Ocean City, Vegas East.