City Council Signs Off On Inlet Location For Marlin Fest

OCEAN CITY — After a two-year stint at the downtown 3^rd Street park, Marlin Fest, the spinoff event associated with the White Marlin Open, is moving to the Inlet this August after resort officials signed off on the event this week.

In August 2020, amid pandemic distancing requirements and gathering size restrictions, White Marlin Open (WMO) producers created a modified plan to open a venue for spectators at the downtown recreation complex between 3^rd and 4^th streets on the bayside. The downtown venue included a large LED screen streaming the weigh-ins from traditional host Harbour Island along with waterfront areas along the bay from which spectators could watch the boats returning to the scales and other amenities.

Last August, with COVID restrictions eased, WMO officials brought back a more-formalized edition of Marlin Fest at the 3^rd Street park with the same LED screen concept for watching the weigh-ins along with vendors, food sales, alcoholic beverage sales and other amenities as a satellite location from which to enjoy the tournament.

However, the town is in the process of redeveloping the downtown recreation complex with a multi-phased project and the area that has hosted Marlin Fest the last two years might not be entirely available. To that end, WMO officials in November pitched the idea of moving Marlin Fest to the Inlet parking lot and a portion of the beach and the Mayor and Council endorsed the concept, although there were many details still to be worked out through a formal memorandum of understanding (MOU).

On Monday, the Mayor and Council had before them an addendum to the preliminary agreement with the WMO, laying out some more of the details of the proposal. The Marlin Fest addendum was included in the Mayor and Council’s consent agenda. Typically, items on the consent agenda are approved as a matter of course with little or no broader discussion, and that was the case for the most part on Monday.

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