Hear Philly: The Shore Thing - Mummers, Fishing With Dad and North Wildwood Goes Italian
By Andrew Kramer
WILDWOOD, N.J. (CBS) - The Wildwoods have always been a major vacation destination for Philadelphia, so it's no surprise their first big event of June brings one of Philadelphia's most popular attractions to the beach.
"We have the Mummers Brigade Weekend where the actual brigades -- the Fancy Divisions -- we bring down some of their brigades and they do a parade in North Wildwood, they do a pub crawl Friday night and then Saturday is the parade," explains John Siciliano -- Executive Director of the Wildwoods Tourism Authority.
The North Wildwood tradition takes place June 12-14. That same weekend is a brand new event in the Wildwoods.
"At Fox Park we're doing our first Beer Fest," says Siciliano. "We're going to have vendors, music, but overall 100 different brews that can be tasted. We're talking about two sessions on Saturday and one session on Sunday. Because you do have to pay to get in they're going to be broken into four-hour sessions."
There's a session at noon Saturday and Sunday, and another one Saturday night at 6 p.m.
Siciliano says there's no shortage of activities Father's Day weekend in the Wildwoods, beginning with the Beach 'n Boat Fishing Challenge June 19-21.
"We thought it would be awesome to have fishing -- fathers/son, fathers/daughters, doesn't matter -- to see if we can have our tournament become part of the entire tournament for the state of New Jersey, so we did that for the first time last year and it was pretty successful. I think we had over 200 anglers that signed up for it for the first year which was pretty nice."
Another option Father's Day weekend, Siciliano says, is the jeep invasion:
"We're going to have all different kinds of makes and models of jeeps that we're going to have on the beach. You come down, you have to sign up, but spectators can go down and see all the jeeps."
Father's Day also marks the beginning of Wildwoods Restaurant Week, which goes through June 26th. That same week also sees "mibsters" come to Wildwood from all over the country for the National Marbles Tournament June 22- 25.
"We as the Wildwoods Tourism Authority fund this event each year," Siciliano says. "It's just another family oriented event that we bring here and want to keep as part of the fabric of the Wildwoods."
And rounding out the month of June, Siciliano says the Italian-American Festival returns to North Wildwood:
"We have a lot of Italian food and a lot of vendors selling Italian chotskies. We have entertainment all weekend long, starting on Friday night. It literally is a three-day event that they host in North Wildwood. A lot of fun, a lot of good food, it brings a lot of people down, and they enjoy the festivities."
The June version of the Italian-American Festival goes from the 26th to 28th. A second one takes place in Wildwood in September.
For more information on all Wildwoods event go to www.wildwoodsnj.com.
Or CLICK HERE to learn more about all events taking place throughout the Jersey Shore this summer.
