The Crab Soup Cook off was great!  We had a beautiful day, the soups were delicious and everyone had a fantastic time. We had nearly 600 people sample soups from our 10 local restaurants and vote for their favorite.

Participating restaurants were: Casino at Ocean Downs, Eagle’s Landing, Fager’s Island, Lazy River Saloon, Marina Deck, Mother’s Cantina, Phillips, Pickles, Seacrets  and Shrimp Boat.

The bands, Go With The Flow and One Night Stand, provided a lively atmosphere and kept the Somerset Plaza crowd entertained as well as those passing by on the boardwalk.

Tootsie Roll the Clown was there with face painting and balloons for the kids.

Several non-profit organizations were also in attendance, supplying information on various programs and events – Surf Riders, Ocean City Beach Patrol, American Legion, Eastern Shore Heritage Foundation, John Hopkins Children’s Center, Susan G. Komen, Ocean City Life Saving Museum.

Thanks to Lisa Aydolette for putting it all together, and to all our volunteers – Vi Candeloro, Lauren Taylor, Charlie Deal, Anita Papa, Terry Aydolette, George and Glen Phillips, Vickie Barret, Tom and Cookie Allen, Nancy Howard, Sheyl Sallow, Tiffany Phillips, Joe Manganello, Brian McCarthy, Brooks Trimper, Kevin Kibbs and our 3 students from Stephen Decatur. You made a great team!!

A special thanks to our sponsors: OCDC, Mug and Mallet, Shenanigan’s, Ocean View American Grill, The Bank of Ocean City and Nancy Howard. We appreciate all you do for us!

Chefs were competing for BEST RED, BEST WHITE and BEST DECORATED AREA. Winners were determined by vote of all paid attendees.

2014 Winners Were

RED
1^st: Fagers Island
2^nd: Lazy River Saloon
3^rd: Seacrets

WHITE
1^st Mothers Cantina
2^nd: Marina Deck
3^rd: Pickles

BEST DECORATED
Casino at Ocean Downs

IF YOU MISSED IT, PLAN TO JOIN US YOU NEXT YEAR!!

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At its annual meeting, May 9, 2014, Ocean City Development Corporation honored the Downtown Association for its recent contributions to the downtown area.

Pictured are Lisa Aydolette, Mary Ann Manganello and Rebecca Taylor accepting the award form OCDC President Bob Givers and Glenn Irwin.

Thanks to everyone who came out to Shenanigans on Sunday! The food was great and so was the company. We served over 180 dinners and had many happy winners from our silent auction.

Thanks to Lisa Aydolette for putting this all together and doing the cooking. Her kitchen helpers were wonderful, and so were the servers and other helpers!

Thanks to to all our volunteers — Dave Wheeler, Ray Bradford, Charlie Deal, George Phillips, Beryl Wheeler, Monty Jones, Joe Aydolette, Noah Lowry, Nancy Howard, Sheryl Sallow, Glenn Phillips, Nancy Bradford, Brooks Trimper, Vi Candeloro, Marjorie Hagood, Vickie Barrett, Steve Taylor, Joe Manganello and our 3 students from Stephen Decatur. You made a great team!!

A special thanks to Shenanigans for letting us take over their restaurant on what turned out to be a beautiful day on the boardwalk. We appreciate all you do for us!

Thanks also to all those who donated items for the silent auction — K coast, Walmart, Ocean City Golf, Plak That, Paws and Claws, Wockenfuss, Mug and Mallet, Seacrets, Ocean City Golf Club, Captain’s Table, Jolly Rager, Ruark, Eagles Landing, Phillips, Park Place Jewelers, Shenanigan’s, Ocean Lanes, Captain Bill Bunting, Baja, Grand Prix, Alaska Stand, Ravens, Ron Michaels, Coconut Kids, Fat Daddy’s, Cutting Crew, Crazy 8′s, Jiffy Lube.

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Our float took 1st Place in the 2014 St. Patrick’s Day Parade non-commercial division! It featured all of our Downtown Association events.

Thanks to Joe and Sam for building the float and to everyone who helped decorate and marched with us. Thanks to our cast of characters — Brooks the Crab, Tony the Mallet, Nancy the License Plate, Lisa the Spaghetti Chef and Santa Joe.

A very special thanks to the band, ONE NIGHT STAND, and Judith Carter from GO WITH THE FLOW. They not only provided great music that got everyone along the parade route singing and dancing, but came up with a special arrangement of “Downtown”  on the spot, just for us.

The weather was perfect and we all had a great time. Watch for the broadcast of the parade on the local TV channel and be sure to join us next year!

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DTA Board Meetings are held the second Wednesday of each month. If you have any concerns that you would like the board to address, or any information you would like included in our monthly newsletter, please contact us by the 1st business day of each month.