Concerts and families and tourists and miles of beaches keep bringing us back to the Boardwalk and the good life of Ocean City, Maryland. Our favorite tourism pal (and brother of former Orioles manager Sam), Tom Perlozzo returns to help us kick off a week of MACo conversations on the heart of the Coastal Highway about what makes life beach keep getting better in our favorite summer destination. Who else is heading to Oceans Calling?
- [ ] Finalize plans for the development of a sports complex in Ocean City.
- [ ] Protect Ocean City’s investment in offshore wind and ensure it does not dominate the city’s viewshed.
- [ ] Secure city council and state support for the sports complex project.
- [ ] Identify a suitable location for the sports complex and work with the hired sports facility management operator to get the project off the ground.
Ocean City Logo and Anniversary Celebrations
- Nestor Aparicio introduces the show and mentions the Maryland lottery scratch-offs.
- Nestor talks about the upcoming crab cake tour to celebrate the 27th anniversary of the show.
- Nestor mentions the new logo and the involvement of GBMC, Curio Wellness, and Liberty Pure Solutions.
- Nestor and Tom Perlazzo discuss the drive from Western Maryland to Ocean City and the involvement of Ocean City in various events.
Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) Event
- Nestor and Tom discuss the MACo event, which is a summit for county government officials.
- Tom explains the purpose of the event, including educational sessions and vendor opportunities.
- Nestor mentions the presence of 300 vendors and the importance of the event for networking and business.
- Tom highlights the economic value of the event to Ocean City and the convention center’s role in hosting various events.
Ocean City’s Economic Value and Performing Arts Center
- Tom talks about the economic impact of the MACo event on Ocean City.
- Tom describes the convention center as a 250,000 square foot facility with lots of exhibit space and a performing arts center.
- Nestor shares his memories of attending concerts at the convention center, including Bob Newhart and Jay Leno.
- Tom mentions the variety of performers who have appeared at the convention center, including Lewis Black and Frank Caliendo.
Tourism and Business Development in Ocean City
- Tom explains his role as the Director of Tourism and Business Development.
- Tom discusses the economic drivers for business in Ocean City, including recruiting concerts and other events.
- Nestor and Tom talk about the success of the concerts on the beach and the impact on the local economy.
- Tom mentions the extension of the concert season into September and October to attract more visitors.
Sports Complex and Economic Growth
- Tom discusses the potential for a sports complex in Ocean City, including the challenges of finding a suitable location.
- Tom explains the economic benefits of a sports complex, including the ability to host tournaments year-round.
- Nestor and Tom talk about the importance of the sports complex for the local economy and the potential for attracting families and visitors.
- Tom mentions the involvement of the state and the need for council support to move forward with the project.
Rebranding and Marketing Ocean City
- Nestor and Tom discuss the rebranding of Ocean City, including the new smiley face logo.
- Tom explains the process of developing the new logo and the initial pushback from the community.
- Nestor shares his admiration for the new logo and its impact on the brand.
- Tom highlights the importance of the new logo in capturing the essence of Ocean City and its appeal to visitors.
Challenges and Successes of Beach Concerts
- Nestor and Tom discuss the challenges of organizing beach concerts, including zoning and police issues.
- Tom explains the initial pushback from the business community and the need to prove the viability of the concerts.
- Nestor shares his memories of attending early concerts in Ocean City and the impact on the local economy.
- Tom mentions the success of the concerts in attracting visitors from all over the country and the economic benefits.
Ocean City’s Growth and Development
- Tom talks about the growth of Ocean City as a year-round destination, including the development of the sports complex.
- Nestor and Tom discuss the importance of attracting families and visitors throughout the year.
- Tom mentions the involvement of local businesses and the need for continued investment in infrastructure.
- Nestor shares his experiences of visiting different parts of Maryland and the importance of exploring the state.
Ocean City’s Boardwalk and Community Events
- Nestor and Tom discuss the importance of the boardwalk as a central part of Ocean City’s identity.
- Tom explains the efforts to maintain the boardwalk as a safe and enjoyable place for visitors.
- Nestor shares his memories of the boardwalk and the positive experiences he has had there.
- Tom mentions the various community events held on the boardwalk, including the Fourth of July celebration.
Tom Perlazzo’s Background and Family Connections
- Nestor and Tom discuss Tom’s background and his involvement in Ocean City’s tourism and business development.
- Tom shares his experiences working with his brother, Sam Perlazzo, and the impact of his family on the community.
- Nestor mentions his interactions with Sam Perlazzo and the importance of family in Ocean City.
- Tom talks about the celebrity golf tournament he organized to raise funds for local sports programs.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ocean City, Maryland, tourism, concerts, sports complex, economic impact, branding, rebranding, boardwalk, events, marketing, community, business development, offshore wind, family-friendly.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Tom Perlozzo
8
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 tasks of Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive right now. We’re Ocean City positive. We’re down here in Ocean City, Maryland. We’re at the conventional I’m very appreciative that they’ve opened the windows here. I got like, natural sunlight. I’m the only spot in the whole building with regular light. Tom perlazzo is here from Ocean City, Maryland. I’ve got scratch offs from the Maryland lottery. And I’m putting the whammy on myself here. I got the pressure luck. Scratch offs are gonna be giving away. We’re gonna be doing the crab cake tour five days in a row next, Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, to celebrate our 27th anniversary, we’re gonna change our logo from where Tom Palazzo has the 26 logo here, once I get figured out, also the lucky sevens doublers, our newest friends at GBMC involved. You’ll be hearing about that, as well as curio wellness and liberty pure solutions, putting us out on the road, including down here. I saw Liberty pure solutions billboard on the way down in 50 so hi to dug out there. This guy here. How often do you drive back and forth? I mean, you live in Ocean City. You’re from Western Maryland, by the way, I had your buddy Leo Mazzoni on the other day, and I’m thinking to myself, I’m driving this drive back through Salisbury and I went down the Blackwater and hoopers Island as part of my 27th anniversary. But I’m like, how often do people in Ocean City, like, get in the car and drive that cornbread comes up for every football game I know him. But I mean, how often do you wind up in Baltimore as the Ocean City tourism director? Well,
Tom Perlozzo 01:19
you know, I’m probably there more than what you think you know that it is the hub of the state, sort of, you know, especially in the offseason. So a lot of events happen there. Of course, we’re regular sponsors of the Orioles and ravens. And I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 01:34
how many Oreo games you get to? Your name is Perla, so by the way, he’s real. I’ll get your brother in a minute. But do you still go a couple three?
Tom Perlozzo 01:41
8I probably do five games a year. Yeah, we actually do a promotion with the Orioles. And then I, you know, I’ve got a, you know, an opportunity here and there. So we sneak up there and check it out. Love the Orioles. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 01:52
look, I was with you at the at the Maryland tourism coalition event that kicks off, Mako here, first things first, what is Mako? Explain what this is, because you and I get together, you got a suit coat on 20
Tom Perlozzo 02:04
degrees in here, I’m all, you know, the older I get, the colder I get, I think so, you know, maybe that’s why, yeah, well, but look, this is the Maryland Association of Counties, and everybody across the state, county governmental wise, comes down here for a summit for three or four days, and it’s a great learning. You know, opportunity, it’s there’s educational sessions. We have great vendors like yourself come here. There’s opportunities to see what’s happening out. There
Nestor Aparicio 02:33
was 300 people in this hall. I mean, 300 vendors businesses, my partner should call roofing of a thing. We’re in the other side, just anybody that does business from the governor down through the state of Maryland in any way, in any governmental capacity, winds up here. And it’s little lobby and little networking, but more than that, whoever put this together third week of August every year, right after the Marlin right before Bike Week. All that this has been going on a long time, but this is a tough to get a room here anytime. It’s especially tough tonight, tomorrow night,
8Tom Perlozzo 03:04
I think, yeah, I mean, you know, we’re really thankful that, you know, it’s hosted here. It’s been here for, she’s, you know, 30 plus
Nestor Aparicio 03:10
years. Well, I noticed they don’t do it
Tom Perlozzo 03:12
in the winter. Yes, very smart. I don’t think anybody would attend in winter. No, I’m not sure. But anyway, to
Nestor Aparicio 03:17
8bring their family come for the whole week, and this is a small part of coming down here,
Tom Perlozzo 03:21
absolutely, it’s, it’s a great event. And again, it’s, it adds to our economic value to Ocean City. And you know, the convention center is really, you know, it’s crazy. It’s 250,000 square foot facility. It’s beautiful. Lots of exhibit space. We have lots of events year round like this, including a beautiful performing arts center where we do lots of different things, you know, Broadway shows, concerts. I see comedians coming in, comedians all the time. So we were, you know, we’re trying to be that little, you know, that that hub for place to go to, you know, it’s, it’s community oriented. You know, our citizens are proud of this event, and it’s an economic generator, for the state as well.
Nestor Aparicio 04:01
Every time I come to this convention hall, I’m first off. I stayed right across. You can see my room in the second floor, literally between the tower right there. Mike Farrell at the evening sun Senior Week, 1987 8889 and 90. About four or five of them. He would rent me. We stayed across from here. But Bob Newhart played here a number of years ago, before he passed away, and I wanted to come my wife and I love Newhart. We love Rickles, and we are, now that they’re both gone, we feel so dumb for not having seen Bob
Tom Perlozzo 04:32
Newhart. Oh, he was, he was amazing. And, you know, we, we’ve had Jay Leno here we Seinfeld, probably Seinfeld we’ve had, you know, Lewis Black as an example. He comes on my show. He’s an Oriole fan, yeah, I know he’s a Maryland guy, right? He’s a silver spring guy, yeah, yeah. So we, we got him here last year, a couple years, Joe Gatto, we had mer from them, practical jokers. You know, they’re just Bill Engel. One of the Redneck comedians. But, yeah, it’s, it’s, and we’ve got a lot coming, coming back up. So we’re hoping to host Frank Caliendo. I know Frank’s, you know, Frank’s been in my house. Oh, I like Frank has been in my home. Does he? Does he do his impersonations then,
8Nestor Aparicio 05:16
oh, you know, do anything you want to do. You know, you just get him going. He’ll start, you take Madden, and he’ll, boom, you know, and his face changes. It’s crazy. It’s funny to watch his face contort to, I know the impersonation. It’s crazy. You
Tom Perlozzo 05:30
know, prudent for me. Yeah, he’s so good. And, you know, it seems like the sports people really know who he is. And I’ve asked that Gen Z that like, who? Who’s Frank Kelly, into us? You’ve got to see this guy.
Nestor Aparicio 05:41
Well, yeah, and he’s a funny dude all the way around. So for ocean, say, what’s important here? Because, I mean, get give your title again, I want to get it right, because I always think of tourism convention director, getting you do, but it’s a big title you
Tom Perlozzo 05:55
8have, yeah, well, it’s, it’s the Director of Tourism and business development. So, you know, I’m supposed to be an economic driver for business here in town. As an example, you know, we recruited three quality concerts that occur on the beach. It’s attract 55,005
Nestor Aparicio 06:12
years ago, you and I was a dream. The first time you tried it, heard a store, I mean, and I remember sitting with you in the mayor a year after it got washed out. And you’re both like, do we have to do the show or at you like, please hold on to the weather we’ll do. And the thing is turned into, I mean, all my friends came down for Def Leppard a couple weeks ago. We have the bike week coming up in a couple crack the skies playing. A bunch of local bands are playing. And then the big one, you know, obviously that’s become the thing is Lenny Kravitz and black crows and September. You’ve extended the calendar into September and October here to make them sort of kind of part of summer.
Tom Perlozzo 06:47
Absolutely. I mean, you know, it’s great weather here, you know, I guess I came here 3540 years ago, and, you know, September and October,
Nestor Aparicio 06:55
it’s beautiful. People think it snows down here. I
8Tom Perlozzo 06:58
was like, the crowds are gone. The water is warmer, the restaurants are crowded. There’s just, it was just, there’s an abundance of things to do outdoors September and October. So, you know, we did stretch the season. We changed our calendar. You know, we’re, we’re we’re solid every week through November. And then we got a two week break, and then we start in the Winterfest. So with 40 days of, you know, beautiful lights, I
Nestor Aparicio 07:24
see your Christmas stuff too. Yeah, a little bit of like, we should go to Hershey Park at Christmas, because they would have all the lights and all that. But I know you’re trying to do to Santa at the beach thing down here.
Tom Perlozzo 07:33
Yeah, it’s, it’s winter Fest has been around for 30 plus years as well. I don’t want to date myself, but, you know, that’s an event I brought here when I was a director of recreation parks, but it’s
Nestor Aparicio 07:44
8because you were trying to extend the season give people a reason to do something. Yeah. I
Tom Perlozzo 07:47
mean, we had so many second homeowners. And look, we, we thrive on small business. Look, our restaurants, our small businesses need support in the offseason. You know, they’re get it in the summer. But, you know, there used to be that old saying, you know, turn the lights off last one, turn the lights off when you cross the bridge. And we don’t do that anymore. So we’re a kind of a year round community. There’s always something going on. As I mentioned, the Performing Arts Center has been a real asset for Ocean City. We’ve, we’ve dubbed, you know, just, you know, up the game. I’ll say
Nestor Aparicio 08:17
all sure has, I mean, from the Freeman arts and the kind of concerts they get out there, just from here all the way to Rehoboth, probably even across the Lewis ferry. It’s just I was up and doing for a concert Tom como a couple weeks ago, and just seeing how many people are making a life here, not making a summer here, right?
Tom Perlozzo 08:34
Like, literally, without a doubt. I mean, you know, look, we our brand is somewhere to smile about, and that’s, I think, we deliver that every day you come across the bridge, you have that feeling, you know yesterday, that excitement, that fun, that view, and it just creates an emotion that, you know, we’re trying to capture. We want people to know that feel that when they come here. So we’re, you know, we’re doing events. We’re doing things that make that happen here.
8Nestor Aparicio 08:59
All right, Sports Complex is something with driving, driving towards, obviously, you get all these people down here for these big concerts you have, built in Fourth of July, built in beach, built in sunshine, built in Mako. What’s the next step toward that sports piece that we had talked about so much? Because I think Disney’s really benefited from that and other Ripken baseball, different things that were for kids. But you’ve had every kind of lacrosse, soccer, basketball, softball, you know, I’ve had Ondo, handy, on around, oh yeah, you guys have done down here, but that has always been and, you know, your last name is plazas. People think baseball, think sports are you anyway? But the sports part of this, and the youth part of this, and the family part of bringing people down here for, let’s just say, more than Jolly Roger and crashers in the beach, but, but these seasonal events volleyball like that, you can use this facility for that’s really what you were kind of focused on the last five years when I talked to
Tom Perlozzo 09:54
you about it. Yeah, we’re still really, we’re really close. Let’s put it that way. You know, we’ve you. We’ve struggled for a piece of property. If we had a piece of property that we felt like, you know, could do the job, because it’s $160 million estimated cost about an indoor and outdoor complex. What does that mean? A complex? What is it? So we’re talking about an indoor facility of 200,000 square feet plus that can have eight to 12 basketball courts. Tony is this facility. This is 250,000 so it’s about this size you’re looking Okay, fair enough. Okay, so, and then the outdoor portion will have 12 outdoor astroturf fields. And again, look, the sports in general, you know, you know, the way it is. It’s kind of recession proof in a way. Look, parents spend money on their kids more than ever, you know. So it’s, you know, it’s, it’s probably larger. That business is larger than the NFL, you know. So it is, it is really dominated by families, and that’s our resort. We need to, we need to take advantage of that. I mean, we’re solely reliant on several tax, you know, opportunities, property tax, room. Tax that’s how we generate money. That’s how we have police and fire. That’s how we improve our infrastructure. You know, with a sports complex, it just takes the pressure off, and it does it year round, not necessarily just in the summer. You know, we’re it would be heavily used in the winter. And then we move outside, and look the entire county, if not state, would benefit from this. This facility would be the biggest in the state of people
Nestor Aparicio 11:26
coming from all over the Mid Atlantic to play whatever Virginia New Jersey, all that. And I’ve seen the volleyball come to downtown Baltimore when I lived at the harbor, and it would just take over the harbor for a couple days away an Army Navy game would or the way, anything that felt that way would all the rooms down here? I often wonder this, are there hotels that are seasonal that, oh, yeah, there are hotels that shutter down November 15 or something like that, maybe reopen March or like, yeah, the
Tom Perlozzo 11:52
8smaller, independent hotels, you know, they again, they, they’ve, it’s been in existence with living off the summer. They, take off, close their hotel, go family business. Yeah, it’s a family business, and that typically happens here, but there’s 11,000 hotel units in town. The major brands are always open. You can always find a place to stay at a really good
Nestor Aparicio 12:15
rate. Now look, I’m an old guy. I’ve been coming down here since the 70s. There was never a Holiday Inn or equality in or Marriott sun. First thing I saw when I came I came across a 90 bridge. Was obviously fakers, where I went out last night, watch a sunset, listen to them, play the the medley that they do. But the first thing I saw was a residence in the Marriott. And I’m like, that was just not a part of the Ocean City vernacular, even in the 90s, you know, late last century, it was like, and I always often wondered, like, why doesn’t Hyatt there? Why? And I thought, well, six months a year, there’s other places those brands go with their money, Disney World, or, you know, whatever. That’s a not considered to be a summer place, but that undo itself has changed the perception of this. And I think the other thing is Maryland brands, especially Baltimore, all of the bars, all the libs, grills, all of them, all of those Baltimore Bell they all have a branch here, right? Just all of them want to extend their brand down here. And I guess part of that was getting the bigger brands to get a Starbucks down here. Even when Hooters came names you’d heard of was not something, I mean, it was Leighton’s nothing wrong with laytons, and it was Phillips and it was secrets. There was all of that the Harrison family. But it is. It’s become much more brand centric. I don’t know what else to say. Yeah,
Tom Perlozzo 13:32
I mean, you know, I kind of, I thought, when you think about it, you know, they, you know, those city was kind of sleepy, you know, back in the day, that people didn’t realize what it could be. And there was, you know, we had vision, but, you know, the
Nestor Aparicio 13:45
major with the plen Plaza. Now that’s exactly my mama, but, but you
8Tom Perlozzo 13:49
look, yeah, we’re a generational community. I mean, you know, the like a, for example, the Harrison group has 1011, hotels. I mean, that family has been here for generations. So, you know,
Nestor Aparicio 14:02
they told me their story about peaches. Do you know, a pizza? Sure. I mean,
Tom Perlozzo 14:07
even Decatur High School, yeah, so, so, and there was a lot of legacy families in town that really operated, Ocean City, the Jenkins groups, the trippers, it’s been, you know, and they were all in a hotel business, you know. I mean, look back in the day, you know, past 60th street there, really, the only thing was, there was the carousel, you know, which was way that was considered way uptown. It was, you know, it’s like 180 let’s just Sands was in Vegas, not way over there. That is the strip. That’s exactly right. So it’s, it’s, you know, it’s grown up. And again, I think the, you know, we’re getting, we’ve had a great summer so far. I will tell you, June and July economically have been really good. You know, we’re pretty proud of that as you compare it to the comp set and what’s going on economically in the world. We’re hoping we finish strong, but we have the events the kind. To help, you know, bolster that. And, you know, we’re like everyone else. We have to make it June, July, August, September. That’s, that’s a priority. So that really carries over. And then we, you know, our town is changed. The clientele changes here in a couple weeks, kids go back to school. You know, we get couples, we get seniors. We get, you know, empty Nestor, a little more quiet, right? Exactly 75 plus group. That’s, that’s it. So we’re, you know, again, we the tourism department. We we market differently, you know, we sure you have to be on top of the game. And I think we got a great agency in BBK. And, you know, our team, our marketing and advertising team in general, is, is, you know, top
Nestor Aparicio 15:41
8not. All right. So if I ever do business with you and you become a sponsor, I need to find the human being, the artist that developed the smiley face. I can show you that. I mean, I just, I’m thinking like you bid this project out a number of years ago. And so we need a new logo. We need a fresh thing, branding and all of that. Now you just go to AI and say, give me 100 ideas. 100 ideas, and it would, but that’s correct, but it wasn’t that way five years ago. So give me the genesis of the rebrand and the marketing. Then we’ll talk concerts. But from the OC, I mean, everybody who watches an Oriole game, you see little happy face, and when it the first time I saw was about three years ago. And I know you, and I know the mayor, I’ve been coming down here for years, and I said, my God, I’m trying to think of anything that has been a rebrand that has an image or a logo that’s better than an O, A C, a smiley face on a sunshine. And I’m thinking, I wish I could be that smart about my Baltimore positive logo. So I just got crabs and Maryland flags is all I got. You
Tom Perlozzo 16:38
know? Yeah, that was, it was a great process. I mean, you know, look, when I came and was the Director of Tourism, there was always something missing from marketing, you know, we, we really just established a campaign every year, you know, because even though I wasn’t the Director of Tourism, you know, as a part of the tourism effort, here, I was on the, you know, the Tourism Commission, I’m Like, look, we, I can sing the jingles.
Nestor Aparicio 17:05
I remember all of those, right,
Tom Perlozzo 17:06
yeah. So we, you know, we felt like we were missing that overall arching concept of why people love Ocean City, you know, we talked, you know, again, generational community. You know, my family came here. My kids are coming here. Their kids will be coming here. We just, we forgot about, you know, really, why people love here, that emotion, that
8Nestor Aparicio 17:29
looking at the place where I had all the funds, that’s right in 88 I’m literally looking at the pictures of me as a 1920 year old guy having smiles. When I think of ocean, I think of the girls. I think of the boys. I think of the bands. I found a picture of me and Batman, the last picture we ever took down at fishtails. Wow. It was 2022 we took a selfie of tour because he and I would go out late night and he bring his bike down with his helmet on. Look at, you know, looking like the Fonz. And I just, I’ve had so many and even you just friendships and people down here that the smile part is really the, yeah, if you’re thinking Ocean City and frowning, you did it
Tom Perlozzo 18:08
wrong Absolutely. And that’s, that’s the point. You mentioned the keyword fun. We’re fun. We’re carefree. We’ve got that feeling of release. I mean, come down here and enjoy yourself. Of course we want you to behave, but you can have fun and not behave. But anyway, I have misbehave. Yeah, way I have to, so, but Mike done that last night, and this, this actually brand logo really stands out. When
Nestor Aparicio 18:30
did you see it the first time? And were there five? I mean, I’m thinking, What? What second place? Because it’s such a great image. Think of any other image where I’m like, that’s the brand. Look at it, you
Tom Perlozzo 18:42
8know. You know, it was really crazy. We did when we first saw this. It was a in a sticker form. We were going to develop these stickers and give out. And I go, whoa, whoa, let’s wait. Because the, you know, we’re not, let’s, let’s do it differently. Let’s just wait and make sure. I mean, because we had a little pushback on the logo, which we don’t have anymore, because, you know, they look they they’re looking at that traditional, you know, want the ocean, and I want this, and I tell you, and that’s the point, you know, when you look, you compare us to Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach, Atlantic City. You put our logo on there, you’re going right to the smiley face every single time. And we’ve done all kinds of studies to prove that. And now it’s kind of, it is, you know, people really accept it and understand what we’re trying to do. So it was a long process. I mean, we had like, four or five opportunities to look at, you know, we went to that retro side of things, which was great. I mean, I love retro, but it really didn’t tell the story of the feeling, the fun. It told the story of generational, you know, opportunities that have occurred here in Ocean City and will continue to occur. But it really didn’t capture the essence of what we were trying
Nestor Aparicio 19:55
to communicate, what’s sort of the why it’s a smiley face in the sunshine. That’s exactly right. That’s it.
Tom Perlozzo 20:00
We change the colors. We do things. It’s, it’s, it’s a unique brand logo, and I’m hoping it’ll be here for a long time.
Nestor Aparicio 20:07
Tom Palazzo here. He does all things tourism. Um, I’d like to be out on the beach right now. I didn’t put my I put my feet in the ocean last night. Took a picture just to say I did it because I know I’m gonna be in this crazy conventional give everyone out there the genesis of all these concerts that get people crazy. I’ve had you in the mayor on and, man, I go back. I was coming down here when there wasn’t a concept on it. And I think I might have even said to you, hey, I came down for that Styx concert because they’re buddies of mine. You had sort of worked it out before the plague. Maybe was like 1819, somewhere in there, Styx came down and played. And the thing I remembered about it was, like, you could sit on the boardwalk and listen to the concert for free. So I’m like, Man, nobody got paid for whatever doing that. That’s right. And the band had its back to the boardwalk, and they played sort of toward the ocean. And I had a great night that night, and I said to my wife, I’m like, how can it be all these years? Because I piled in a car when I stayed at that place 30 years ago, my buddy John Allen and the fabulous Thunderbirds played on the beach in Dewey Beach. Oh, man, 1990 90 was a long, long time ago, and they were big band then, you know, I think Stevie Ray had just died, but his brothers in the band, and we trekked up there in the afternoon Jeep, girls, bikinis, music on the beach. It was like some kind of an MTV, you know, summer thing. And I thought, Why does an Ocean City have conscious and I mean, for me, that was God. I mean, it’s almost 35 years later before you use the sand for a beach, and they have been doing this down in Dothan, Alabama and Panama City, and doing all of that. What was the pushback on doing it? Obviously, zoning, police, all that kind of stuff. Where are we going to do it? Where on the beach are we going to stage it? But doing beach concerts is not a new thing, but it’s sort of a newish thing here, and it’s been, despite the first one you got washed out the first time, but it’s, it’s really been something that everyone in my world circles. And then when Def Leppard shows up that weekend, that group is here, the country, the Bike Fest, all of that you’re about to go into that season, but that season didn’t exist. How did all of that come together? Because the OER guy was a big part of that, right?
8Tom Perlozzo 22:16
Yeah, we are, was a big part. I mean, look here, here was the situation, you know, before, you know, we got the concert promoter. I mean, there are certain pillars in the travel industry, or tourism industry that are really a great segment. So music was one people will travel. For most people pay 25% more for their hotel room and travel to go see music events. You know, it’s intergenerational. Travel was another. There’s, you know, the foodie thing there. There was all these things that we just didn’t capitalize on, you know, as a community. So that was always in a bag of Vermont. Plus, there’s that mentality here. You know, the culture is always one that’s that’s difficult to navigate. It was, you know, they would tell us why we couldn’t all the time, and we kind of changed that. The mayor, city council, tourism, we said, look, forget telling us, you know how we can tell us how
Nestor Aparicio 23:14
we care. We
Tom Perlozzo 23:16
need to do it here. So tell us how
Nestor Aparicio 23:17
8Virginia Beach got 30 years ago, I saw the boating, the smithereens, a bunch of bats. They were doing a Labor Day weekend that they did it in Virginia Beach. And they would bring, you know, modern bands in all the time, the chin blossoms, those kind of bands. And I remember that, and I always wondered like, but so they told you you couldn’t do, what were the challenges and what have you, other than, obviously, my rain,
Tom Perlozzo 23:39
you know, again, the board will all the small businesses, you know, they just really didn’t understand the impact of what we could do. And it took a show and tell. I mean, it really did. We had to prove that we could do it. You know, there were things like, you’ll never get a liquor license, you’ll never be able to enclose the boardwalk. You don’t have enough police. We don’t have enough police, we don’t have enough fire. We don’t have this. You don’t have that. And we’re like, wait a minute, we can find someone so and it was really strange, I will tell you, I wasn’t even I didn’t even start work. I get called from Jessica waters, our marketing and communications director. She goes Tom, you know, before you take the job, you need to come in here. We’ve got this concert promoter that wants to come down. He’ll be at the mayor’s office. Great. So I show up 30 days before I get ready to start work. Concert promoters there. It’s the OER guys, and it’s Tim sweet with c3 they’d like to use our beach. So that’s how the process started. The mayor Jessica myself, and then I took the ball and ran with it. You know, they, they, we went down and vetted them as a concert promoter. We and again, I’m going to give a lot of credit to c3 and Tim Sweetwood. They addressed all of our concerns there. They, I’m telling you, it was like a boxing match every time, every time that we were ready to go, the business community would throw a right hook and make a. Just, you know, start over again. So now we’ve established this. Everyone knows and accepts it. You’ve created another Fourth of July. We have 3/4 of July for Fourth of July. Excuse me, Fourth of July. So it’s one of those situations. And you know, now I will tell you how this thing’s evolved is, you know, everything happens downtown now. Now we have to figure out how to get all those people that have come here. And I will tell you, we sell tickets from every state in the US, plus international destinations. And I’ve got, you know, I’ve got these stats. I know what zip codes are coming from, who’s buying it. It’s amazing. And it’s been, you know, we’re hoping that those people, 70% of those folks, have folks, have not been to Maryland or Ocean City. We’re hoping we convert them back for a summer vacation. So it’s a huge opportunity. It just goes beyond the concert economically. Just so you know, three concerts, 500 million to Ocean City and the state of Maryland,
Nestor Aparicio 25:58
it’s ridiculous say that. Again, 300 500
Tom Perlozzo 26:01
million. Economically,
8Nestor Aparicio 26:04
rooms, taxes, plus, plus, and people are coming for a day. They’re coming for day, three days, four days. If they felt like me trying to sneak in on Friday because they got a football
Tom Perlozzo 26:15
game, yeah. I mean, look that. And look, just to give you the magnitude of the event, one event, the concert promoters probably, you know, he’s got 18 million into it, maybe 20, you know, infrastructure, talent cost, all the setup, everything he and he’s invested. He’s our partner. You know, we want him to continue to come back. We were lucky enough this past year to sign him to a seven year deal. So seven years now there’s breaking news. I didn’t know that. Yeah, I’m learning. That’s why I bring you one. So oceans calling, country calling, and we’re walking, grabbing to the black crows
Nestor Aparicio 26:45
next year. So you want to come see him, you better get down here the and see him here this summer.
Tom Perlozzo 26:49
8So we’re actually working on a fourth but we’re nowhere near that,
Nestor Aparicio 26:53
doing that EDM thing, where all these people come in here. No, I’m in Vegas for that every year. Well, the Maryland party is out there. It’s a Preakness week, and, you know, I got a room over by circus, circus because I couldn’t afford to win. And it was something that’s all I’m going to say. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Twitter, nobody’s wearing any clothes. They’re up all night. It’s but that’s the EDM festival,
Tom Perlozzo 27:14
right? Yeah. The genre thing is, is,
Nestor Aparicio 27:16
hold on. You’re doing country. Let’s see rock, hairspray, rock. You did bike, bike, you got the
8Tom Perlozzo 27:24
bike, bike. Ragers are, you know, metal usually, right? Yeah, that, that’s kind of it. So what are we missing here? I don’t even know. Well, we were looking at, you know, we were looking at pop. It’s more of a crossover soft rock kind of thing that, you know, but we could potentially do like Katy Perry, like yacht Rob ping, let’s do a yacht rock. Come on. We’ve had that request for yacht. Come on. My wife’s got
Nestor Aparicio 27:45
a hat and everything she looks like, like the skipper, the skipper, Skipper. You know, I
Tom Perlozzo 27:49
think it would be really unique to do you never know. You never know. We’re hanging
Nestor Aparicio 27:53
8tough, though. Topper lazos here is, yes, he’s related to Sam. We’ll get some baseball in a minute. He runs tourism here in Ocean City, Maryland. We’re here for Mako. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I have the lucky sevens doublers as well as the pressure lock. I’m trying not to give anybody the Whammy. It’s our 27th anniversary. We’re gonna be out doing a crab cake tour in all sorts of places, including faith Lee’s next week. We’re gonna be pizza John’s next Friday in Essex. We’re gonna be at Solange in nfl’s Point. We’re also going to be Acosta sentimonium. We’re gonna finalize things at Coco’s in Laravel on the 27th but every day, a new place that’s my favorite, my favorite places to eat. So I don’t want to give it away. By the time people hear this, they’ll know. But driving down here to Ocean City, I put up a status yesterday, and I’m going to challenge you, Mr. Maryland guy, I’m going to challenge you with this, because I put this up online yesterday, and I couldn’t believe it, because the state subunit said I need a real show of hands from Baltimore people. How many of you Maryland lifers have never been to Blackwater refuge? I’ve been there. It is an I mean, I’ve been there five times now, all the last five years. The crab cake tour got me to hoopers Island. I went back to hoopers Island yesterday, so I veered off, of course, the Harry Tubman trail, all of that saw her childhood home on a side road. Crazy people don’t explore the whole state, and they don’t do all of this for me. I’m trying to do food. So I went to Salisbury. And I went to the ugly pie, yeah. And I got me a coconut by death, death by coconut, yeah. And then I went into the little grocer up here, about 65th Street on the left, fried chicken, coffee, yeah. I went in there and they had the ugly pie right there. They had pies, in the case, ugly pie. Now my place here, my the featured place of my 27 favorite things to eat. I had to think, what’s my absolute favorite Ocean City thing? And I thought, and the thing that I can’t only get an ocean anymore because they make it in boxes and they send it everywhere, but it’s different when they do the scoopy scoop on the boardwalk and all of that sugar runs together on that popcorn down. Oh yeah. Fisher’s popcorn. I’m going tonight. I’m gonna shoot a video. I think it’s number 19 on my list or 20 on my list, because I’m counting the days down. So I did ugly pie in Salisbury. I did old salties down in hoopers Island. I’m gonna do suicide bridge on the way home. Don’t tell anybody, but I’m doing that, getting off of Cambridge and going north up to her lock. But Ocean City, for me, it’s Fisher’s popcorn. And today I couldn’t do three, I can’t do everything down here. You know, less knows I love it. But fishers has been the thing since I was a little boy with my mother staying at plen Plaza. We would walk down the boardwalk. There. What streets are one of the
Tom Perlozzo 30:36
names? Well, there’s there. They’re all over Caroline, is it? They’re on Caroline Street. That’s what I’m thinking of. Afghanistan, exactly there. Well, they’re there. And actually they’re a little north as well, right at North Division, just south.
Nestor Aparicio 30:49
I’m thinking a big, long one where the glass is in the front, the kids wear the hats, and you got the little box for about $1 that was and it’s hot, gooey.
Tom Perlozzo 30:58
That’s the key. The key is it’s warm. When it’s warm, it is. It’s like Krispy Kreme donuts when the light goes on, that but when you do fishers, popcorn,
8Nestor Aparicio 31:08
walking, doing the boardwalk, because I think everybody in my world, and I told you this when I saw the other night, a problem happens on the boardwalk. Everybody’s got their video cameras out and within. If it happens at three in the morning, I get up five in the morning, and I see it right away. And the bad news of one incident that happens in June. I’m talking about in August. There have been a billion incidents here of good things that happen every single day. I saw it out on a beach last night. But bad news travels. And trying to manage that, because there’s a million people to come down here, something bad is going to happen that’s the way. And and I, I hate when any place gets pinned. You see what happened on board? Walking? Yeah, okay, all right, fine. You know, you don’t see the other things that are happening down here. And I find that that’d be kind of tragic, you know, because I think the boardwalk as a safe, fun place where I used to go and meet girls and take families and the little trams would go, like all of that stuff going down there. I know the boardwalk has changed a little bit. It’s grown up, but the boardwalk is still the place I’m going tonight to get my popcorn.
Tom Perlozzo 32:11
There’s no question. Look, you know, 75% of the folks that come here for vacation are going to the boardwalk. It’s our Times Square. It’s unique. It’s been, it’s very iconic Ocean City, if you go to the port, yeah. I mean, you know, it just the way it is. And, you know, look, that incident you were talking about, you know, it was unfortunate. You know, it happened on a very busy night. We were celebrating, right? We’re celebrating America. And it just, it painted a bad picture in a way. But look, I will tell you, 99.9% of the folks that came here had a terrific time. We’re always going to have that element. I will give credit to the OCPD Fire Department, EMS, etc. They were on top of it. They they squashed it in time. And you know, hopefully, you know, those things don’t happen again in the future. We’re a little better for it. You know, today we understand how that kind of, you know, evolved, and now we can, you know, get ahead of things. Communities
Nestor Aparicio 33:08
can have a crisis management situation just are, and in the modern era, it’s going to be captured on video, and it’s going to make people look bad, but it doesn’t that’s not indicative of now my Ocean City experience
Tom Perlozzo 33:19
8social media has just, you know, exploded the sensational, you know, opportunities by everyone with a camera, everyone is a reporter, everyone you know, has an angle and it’s, it’s difficult to control, but I think we did a good job again. It was not overwhelming in any way. I think the kids just, you know, they just got a little out of hand, and they took advantage of whatever pocket they could find where they can just be mischievous. And, you know, hopefully that won’t happen again in the future, but we’ll be ready for it either way, both from an intelligence standpoint and, you know, a security standpoint, with the number of bodies we need. You know, it’s one thing to control the cars. It’s one thing when they’re individual people in a mass of regular people and families. And, you know, it was just really, it was a situation that we just really had a hard time controlling initially, but then we, you know, we were able to focus the attention on, you know, the trouble and correct it. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 34:19
I’m glad to be here in Ocean City, Maryland. Tom’s here, golf ball. You still
Tom Perlozzo 34:24
golf world? Yeah, I’d like
Nestor Aparicio 34:26
30 years. You tell Buddy What you ran golf down here for a lot I did. I did your brother was the coach for the or before he was a manager, right? Well,
8Tom Perlozzo 34:34
as the director of recreation and parks, I had the opportunity to build Eagles landing the town’s municipal course. Although we call it a resort golf course. It is really, really nice. So I did that, and then I ran, you know, the Ocean City Golf Association for a number of years from point, I just read them out from point, lighthouse, lighthouse. Sound, there you go. There was now, there’s Glenn riddle, there’s eagles. Oh. In city golf club Glenn has 36 holes. That’s where Ruth Chris steakhouse is right on 50, right on 50. So, you know, it’s grown up. I mean, there’s probably, you know, there’s probably 20 courses in the area. 10 or so are in our association. Well, Berlin’s grown up to Oh, Berlin has grown up
Nestor Aparicio 35:18
in Berlin was the outhouse every time there was like a tropical storm coming, everybody would bury her, and they would report, go to Berlin, right? You know, he’d do that anymore. You say, even knew what Berlin is. And now I know, like, I know the people of Burle oaks and, you know, just the breweries and but that’s all part of the grown up part of the shores that West Ocean City. People are using the beach, and people are living down here more than a week.
Tom Perlozzo 35:42
Oh yeah. I mean, look, you know, we want people to live, work and play here in Ocean City. That’s the only way we can grow as a community. We need year round, you know, opportunities we need, you know, we talent.
Nestor Aparicio 35:52
8Ocean City, positive. Ocean City, yeah. Oh yeah, I like that. So why I’m getting older, retire at some point. Come down here. Maybe secrets that have me in the booth, replace Batman? Oh, that’d be good. Just hang out. You know, I know them social. I do that with the last, um, your brother and baseball before I let you get out of here. And I hope the mayor stops by, because I like to make sure he tries. How Sammy, what’s going
Tom Perlozzo 36:19
on? He’s doing great. You know, he’s retired in Tampa doing some, you know, I guess some knockoff work for here and there, meaning they’ll call him up to rehab, you know, an infielder here and there, or he’ll, you know, go do a clinic, or still do an instructional baseball little bit. Yeah, you know, he’s playing more golf than anything. But you know, he’s starting to enjoy his retirement, although, you know, being on the road all that, you know, 40s plus years in baseball. You know, I know he gets a little antsy sitting home. So he likes to be pretty active. I can tell you, he complains to me when I know he’s complaining about being busy. I know he’s doing he’s pretty happy, you
Nestor Aparicio 36:56
know, well, I’ll give you a little baseball Ocean City store, because you’ll appreciate this. So back in the 90s, I Camden Yards open 92 and my show started in 91 so I got my press pass, and I’m, you know, I got to know Cal, got Brady, your your brother, that was all that. L raw, that was that era, right? And we’re losing some of those folks now to me, obviously, Mike Flanagan gets here, people from that period of time, ripping senior was a part of that team. Johnny Oates, other people. And I remember Cal Ripken, maybe this before the streaks, the streak was 95 probably 9394 got to know Cal a little bit. He was always in the clubhouse, goof around with Butch and playing tape ball, whatnot. And I you know, you’re there early in the day and you’re getting dressed, and you just Bies it in the way reporters used to know players, which doesn’t exist anymore. And one time I said to Cal, I’m like, Hey, Cal, I’m going Ocean City this week. I said, What’s your you know, what’s your favorite thing to do in Ocean City? And I swear Cal looked at me. He’s like, literally dead. Like, dead piece 35 years old a time whatever. He’s like, I’ve never really been to ocean That’s correct. And I’m like, Whoa, you’re from average. Like, he’s like, I play baseball every day from February 1 through hopefully October 31 or whatever, right? And I thought to myself, Man, the baseball life and the perception of the outside of the money and the fame and the glory the uniform and whatever, Rockstar life’s harder. I have a lot more rock and roll on here, and I’m like bus to bust town. I had a rock star last week. He didn’t know what town he was. I think we’re in St Augustine. I don’t know where we are. I’m on a bus. I think the baseball life was harder than you realize, and the things that you miss out on in that way, family, all of that, I think it’s a very difficult life, and not just to achieve at that level, as we’re learning with the Adley Rutgers and all these young players, it’s hard to perform once you get there. Your your brother was a hell of a baseball player. He made it for one minute in one second. And that’s right, you got that mariners unify, you know, and all of that. But that’s how hard it wasn’t and how proud you were of him coming up. You thought he’s going to go to Hall of Fame around 40 year career in baseball, doing what he loved to do all of his life, coming out of Cumberland,
Tom Perlozzo 39:03
I’m envious. That’s a good life. Yeah, that’s a terrific life. Yeah, you know, look at is such a hard life, people. And again, look, you can’t go anywhere. You know, you’re Sammy. Didn’t come to Ocean City either, right? No, no, but you know what I tried to do, and that’s when we started a fundraiser for the kids. Is a celebrity golf tournament after the season. But you can realize after they’ve traveled all season long, they’re not going to come though, you know, but we tried to make it more of a family getaway, get him rooms, put a motion front, you know, as I mentioned, October was really nice here. People just didn’t take advantage. Readily available, you know, if we had plenty of, you know, occupancy available, we had beautiful hotels. We put them up anybody you know, we had a bunch of Orioles come down for that. Sam would help us get those guys, the BJ sur off, some like bordicks, do anything else? Oh, my god, yeah. We had them all, you know, I’m trying to think of all the different names, but from every sport you know that we were able to attract them here. Year. And we did that for 15 years. We probably raised half a million dollars over the years. You know, was it wasn’t a lot of money, but it was a lot of money to us. I was buying Little League Baseball uniforms that we didn’t have, you know, you know, our budget was our budget we didn’t have a lot back then and and it just allowed us. We had this advisory board. We funneled the money in there. It was a 501, c3, and they would buy things for the kids that we couldn’t afford to do. So, you know, baseball, basketball, every sports, soccer uniforms, you name it, we were able to capture through that celebrity golf tournament, that advisory board, and create a better experience. You know, we didn’t have money for bats. We didn’t have baseball. It was crazy back then, I can tell you, it was not well.
8Nestor Aparicio 40:42
Now you trying to get a complex built, so I’ll bring the thing full circle. Tom Perla, so is here, I’m gonna let you go. What has to happen. And again, we talked about this a half an hour ago in the segment, but the importance of this sports complex. Look, I remember when these concerts were a dream, you know what I mean. And now you’re five deep, five years into this, $500 million into this, and all of that, I want to come back five, six years from now and see the smiley face here. And you’re like, All right, we got groundbreakings next spring, or whatever, you know, because I know how important this is, a this in the wind. You know, those are the things that I feel and see and hear in Baltimore, above and beyond, the concerts and the fact that it’s Ocean City, friends of mine, like the libertories family, are coming down here and investing, obviously, but this sports thing would be part of what fills all of that, right? Yeah,
Tom Perlozzo 41:30
absolutely. I mean, you hit the nail right on the head. There are two things. One, we need to protect our investment with the offshore wind and not allow the VISTA to be dominated in any way, shape or form, by offshore wind. The second how we grow Ocean City is to build that sports complex. And you know it’s going to happen. We need to, you know, we’re not going to make everyone happy. We’ve got to find, you know, we’ve got to find that location, and we need to get on it. I’m going to tell you it’s not going to happen overnight. We need to. We’ve hired a an operator, sports facility management, I can tell you,
Nestor Aparicio 42:04
they just this wouldn’t be on the peninsula, right?
Tom Perlozzo 42:08
8Yeah. So we’re looking, you know, we’ve, we’ve probably looked at 100 different parcels. We need council to say, hey, we want to do this. Let’s do it. Tom, get it done. Terry, our city managers and involved, really heavily involved the state, though, too, right? Oh, this involves the state. The state looked economically, they’ll support it now. All that was prior to their budget woes. So, you know, again, we’re going to have to navigate that. But I think we have found that we’ve got, you know, a revenue mechanism that’ll support both the operations and the construction of the facility. What makes sense? Yeah, so let’s do it. I mean, look, I can tell you we’ll be sitting here 10 years from now, hopefully, God willing, and we’ll be, you know, if it’s open, we’ll say you should have done that 35 years ago. There’s no question
Nestor Aparicio 42:55
about, I said that about the concerts. I mean, they were doing concerts on the beach in 1991 up in Dewey, right, right? And they were doing them in Florida, you know, 20 years before you kind of came
Tom Perlozzo 43:04
around to do it. Our comp set is way ahead of us, Myrtle Beach, Virginia Beach, they’ve got facilities indoor and outdoor. You know, families are exploring them versus coming here we see it, you know, we know I’ve got employees that have kids in La Crosse, they’re traveling all over the east coast to take their kids. You know, we’re like, look, you know, besides the fact that, you know, the southern half of our county is not economically capable of going to those tournaments and things, we can provide that facility. This is a facility for everyone. It’s not just, you know, tourist trap, sort of, you know, where we drive some
Nestor Aparicio 43:44
year round. It’s like a concert where it’s just like a three day we it’s a 360 right? It
8Tom Perlozzo 43:50
can fill our hotels. It can fill our restaurants. It can create jobs. It is, it is, basically, you know, it’s, it’s the lost leader. We’ve been missing here in Ocean City, and hopefully we’ll be able to get this off the ground here real soon. All right, we’re
Nestor Aparicio 44:03
not missing anything down here in Ocean City, Maryland. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery, in conjunction with curio wellness and GBMC, we’re at the Mako conference down here talking to cool people like Tom Palazzo about how to make Ocean City better. You need to get down here. Like if you’re black crows or Lenny Kravitz, you probably come down. Here’s my problem. I was slated to come down in June, and I didn’t come. And then, like, he got into July, and I’m like, Well, I’m already going in August, so, you know, I knew I was coming down. So this was a little bit of a North Star for me this weekend. And I’m glad the weather has held up here. The
Tom Perlozzo 44:32
weather’s been beautiful. And look out with every listener out there. Go to OC ocean.com the accommodations owner, you can book right from that website. We have an app too, called visit, visit Ocean City, that you can create your own beer trail. As an example, I like that. You know, tip you push notifications. You know what’s happening in town. It’s It’s really terrific. And again, we welcome everyone that wants to come regardless what time of year.
Nestor Aparicio 44:57
All right, so for everything I do love in Ocean City. Here, all the restaurants I love, and and Thrashers and all the cool things I’ve ever done here, I am going to feature Fisher’s popcorn. Is that okay? Is that absolutely right? Absolutely it’s a real Ocean City brand, right? Yep. Oh, here we go. I got royalty here. I got all the ocean city people. Mr. Mary, go sit in you ready to go? All right, listen, thank you, sir, good to see you. And he’s already told me the whole you don’t know I got hit you back in here we have the mayor of city on next top, Laza was here. We’re in Ocean City, Maryland. That’s the old thing, right? Yeah, so I can still sing that we’ll forgive you. Back for more Baltimore positive. Stay with us.
