OCEAN CITY — Hundreds of participants young and old stretched the boundaries of art last week during the first Wacky Wednesday event of the summer — taffy sculpting.
The competition kicked off the summer-long series of wild and wacky (but not tacky) events and competitions starting at 10:30 a.m. weekly under the loggia at the Ocean City Music Pier.
Artists tried their hands at sculpting objects on a paper plate out of salt water taffy donated by Shriver’s Salt Water Taffy & Fudge, which provided 90 pounds of the sweet treat.
The event is run by the city’s Community Services Department, with administrative clerk Samantha Heckler taking the lead.
The events are free and open to the public but a limited number of people can be accommodated at the oceanside tables. Heckler suggested arriving early and asked that parents not take up space where participants could sit.
Divided into age groups, a packed house eagerly awaited their supplies — both to start their sculpture and to indulge their sweet tooth.
“I like seeing all the kids come out and really put everything they have into whatever the task is that day. They have a lot of fun with it,” Heckler said.
Wacky Wednesday events include taffy sculpting, with another shot at that scheduled for Aug. 24, and this week’s event, a Pie Eating Contest — no hands allowed.
Upcoming events are French Fry Sculpting on July 13, Christmas in July on July 20, Mystery Bag on July 27, That’s How the Cookie Crumbles on Aug. 3, Hawaiian Luau on Aug. 10 and Prince and Princess Party on Aug. 17.
“Taffy is definitely one of my favorites, I love pie-eating, too,” Heckler said. “One of our newer ones is Hawaiian Luau. We’re going to have some tiki masks to color, also some crab hats, and a hula-hoop contest for dads.”
She said the luau was new last year and “people really seemed to enjoy it so I’m looking forward to that.”
People traveled from near and far to take part in the event.
Dave Gibson, 42, of Baltimore, Md., and his wife, Laura, 40, sporting a stylish hat, brought daughters Maisey, 6, and Ellia, 4, to participate in the event for the first time.
Gibson often visited the island as a child, meeting his grandparents from Pennsylvania. He remembers taking part when he was a kid and started bringing his daughters.
“The girls were excited to do it so we brought them up to continue the tradition. We’ll see how they can do today,” Gibson said.
He said Ocean City has “just a really nice family vibe, the kids love it.”
Sporting braids, maybe to keep her long locks out of the taffy, was Samantha Bogdon, 7, of Philadelphia.
Noah Lyerly, 6, with grandmother Marie Ketaner, came to town from the Lone Star State.
Robert Goodin and wife Georgene Smith brought their four children — Yeimi Rivera Delgado and Avi Smith Goodin, Kelya Smith Goodin and Ani Smith Goodin — all the way from Los Angeles.
Smith spent her summers at the Flanders Hotel as a child, when she lived in Philadelphia.
“It’s just a great place for the kids,” she said, noting it was the children’s first Wacky Wednesday.
Maeve Cleary, 8, and Keira Cleary, 5, brought parents Kevin and Larissa Cleary of Havertown, Pa., who have been visiting Ocean City for a long time because of its family-friendly atmosphere.
Brian Dow of Bethlehem, Pa., was watching as daughter Maci, 9, and son Kellen, 7, crafted their creation.
“This is wonderful, they’ve been looking forward to it all week,” he said.
Dow said the city offers the “best of both worlds, beach in the day and boardwalk at night.”
“When they have Wacky Wednesday and special events like this we’ll come down to the boardwalk during the day, go home and get lunch, then go to the beach,” Dow said. “Events like this really make it extra special. They were talking about this all week.”
Sitting with her multigenerational family, Karen Moyer, 48, of Moorestown, is a veteran Wacky Wednesday warrior, saying it was probably her 26th time taking part.
“Our whole family has been doing it,” she said, noting some members of the family have won but she personally had not.
Members of the family traveled from New Mexico, Rhode Island, Virginia and New Jersey.
“It’s a chance for us all to be together and enjoy the beach,” Moyer said.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
