Memorial Day Weekend: ‘It’s So 2020′

“It’s so 2020” is my daughter’s response to anything negative that occurs these days and yesterday in summing up Memorial Day weekend it was appropriate to simply say “it was so 2020.”

Four days of mostly clouds, a little rain, mainly cool temperatures and nowhere to go pretty much says it all.  I guess if you’re an optimist you could take the approach that at least it did not bring large crowds to the beaches and boardwalks because they were indeed very sparse for a holiday weekend that is the unofficial start of summer at the Jersey Shore.

Some had feared that if the weather was nice we would have had all kinds of problems maintaining social distancing and more because traditionally Memorial Day weekend brings the largest crowds of the season to the shore.  That was certainly not the case as parking lots that charged in excess of $20 a year ago and were filled were virtually empty at $4 this weekend. "it was so 2020.”

Gov. Murphy made an appearance with his wife on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights and Park on Sunday and proclaimed it a “beautiful summer Sunday morning” which it actually was for a very brief period.  He posted a video on Twitter which made for a good promotional piece although someone on his staff needs to tell him that at age 62 it’s time to stop wearing your hat backwards.

Murphy’s visit prompted Bum Rogers Crabhouse COO Jerry Rotunda to send a letter via email imploring the governor to really re-open the shore by allowing restaurants to get back to business with proper guidelines.  Rotunda wrote not just about the losses to his South Seaside Park business but the state was well.  In May of 2019 he paid more than $25,000 in sales tax but this year it will likely be under $6,000.

One of the reasons the governor likely enjoyed his visit was he didn’t have to worry about large crowds; there weren’t any.  If things don’t change soon we all be saying about this summer…”it was so 2020.”