It was déjà vu this week after a City Council majority, for a second year in a row, voted down a request to hold Ocean City Jeep Week at the inlet next spring.
In a split vote on Monday, the council rejected a request from OC4WD, LLC to hold the third annual Jeep Week event at the inlet parking lot and beach May 28-31, 2026. Council Secretary Tony DeLuca, who cast one of the four dissenting votes, shared his concerns about the success of the event.
“I mean, it seems it was a real failure,” he said.
In 2023, the city’s special events department received applications from organizers of both Jeep Week and Jeep Fest to hold separate events on the same week in August 2024.
To settle the issue, city staff asked for an extensive proposal from both groups to determine which event would be approved for the August dates. However, it ended up being a moot point, as the promoters of the Jeep Week event opted to change their 2024 event to May.
In February 2025, following their inaugural event the year before, the promoters of Jeep Week came back before the City Council with a request to hold a second event during the spring.
That request was initially denied in a 3-4 vote, with a council majority questioning the success of the inaugural event and the safety of new 2025 components, particularly the inclusion of monster truck rides. More than a month later, the organizers came back with a modified event, which was approved in a 5-1 vote.