"More so, I have to work around my 'Special Events Window' of time available to me," Public Works Director Hal Adkins told OC Today-Dispatch in September. He was talking about a short stretch of new Boardwalk at the south end, but the line covers the whole winter.
Ocean City usually treats the months after Sunfest as a pause. This year they are the town's main work season. Offshore dredging will rebuild the beach. New boards are planned beside the Life-Saving Station Museum. Holes at Eagle's Landing are being raised and drained. The holiday calendar has to fit around all of it. Every one of these projects has a finish date set before the summer crowds come back, so a year-round resident will spend the winter next to active work.
What the September storm took
The schedule got tighter in late September. A nor'easter came ashore on a Friday and lasted through the weekend. OC Today-Dispatch reported northeast gusts up to 50 mph. WBAL described erosion from Friday through Sunday. Maryland Matters reported that the storm canceled the weekend's music festival.
City Manager Terry McGean reported significant beach erosion and dune damage, with no dune breaches. According to the same OC Today-Dispatch cleanup report, high tides reached the dunes and the access walkways, washed sand away, destroyed dune fencing and left debris behind. City Engineer Brad Parks said some beach-access paths had hazardous drop-offs. Several emergency-vehicle access points could not be used, and the town planned cleanup and reopening work with Maryland DNR. Mayor Rick Meehan thanked public works and public safety crews for their storm response.
Two days later, on September 29, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Baltimore District announced the contract that will put the sand back.
Sand from seven miles out
The Corps awarded a $25.7 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company to place about 982,000 cubic yards of sand and bring the engineered beach berm back to its full design elevation. The sand will come from Weaver Shoal, which sits more than seven miles offshore on the Outer Continental Shelf. Dredging Today describes the method: sand mixed with water is pumped ashore through a pipeline, and bulldozers shape it on the beach.
The work was already due before the storm hit. In its release, the Corps says Ocean City's beaches are generally renourished every four years, and the last contract was completed in 2021. The storm simply gives the crews more ground to cover. The Corps also points out that the beach, the seawall along the Boardwalk and the vegetated dunes are designed to work as one system. USACE Project Manager Todd M. Beser explained that nor'easter waves pull sand just offshore, and calmer waves later carry some of it back. "Renourishment efforts will supplement this natural process," he said.
Five years has made a big difference in cost. According to OC Today-Dispatch, McGean told the City Council that the 2021 project cost $16 million, while the total for this one is $28 million for about the same volume of sand. The town's local share ended up larger than the balance in its maintenance fund. The costs are split under a 1994 agreement: 53% federal, 23.5% state, and 11.75% each for Worcester County and the town. Ocean City puts $500,000 a year toward that fund. Town officials have called renourishment "the most important project we do in Ocean City."
The start date is still open. In September, the town's engineering report expected construction to begin between mid-October and early November. The Corps' later release gives a wider window, "between late 2026 and early 2027," and promises completion "prior to Memorial Day 2027." As of this writing, the town's beach replenishment page says to check back for updates. No one has announced which block the pipe will reach first.
A few more boards at the south end
The second project on the winter list began as an elevator. In 2023, the Maryland Department of General Services gave the town $600,000 to add an elevator on the east side of the Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum so visitors who cannot use the stairs could reach the second floor. When bids came in during summer 2024, they ran from $1.22 million to $1.47 million, and the town went back to the drawing board.
The new plan, which the City Council approved in March, uses the remaining $457,436 to extend the Boardwalk east of the museum. It adds railings, landscaping, an ADA-compliant interpretive kiosk inside the museum, and an archway sign paid for with money left over from the Boardwalk signage project. Adkins hoped to put it out to bid by late October. If bids come in within budget, work could start by December 1 and finish by April 1. "Being this is simply a 'wood' project I am not overly concerned about any long lead times," he told OC Today-Dispatch.
His bigger constraint is the calendar. The December 1 start falls right in the middle of the town's holiday season.
A shorter course at Eagle's Landing
The third project is out at the city-owned Eagle's Landing golf course. Tidal flooding there has grown more frequent. Superintendent Joel McTavish told the City Council during a budget session, as reported by OC Today-Dispatch, that water covered the grass at certain holes four times last year, and "there's certain holes you can't even get to, let alone play." McDonald & Sons won the remediation contract after revising its estimate down to $1.49 million. One hole will be raised three or four feet, and others will be bermed and drained.
The plan has shifted. In that budget session, held before the September update, officials described closing six holes on November 1 and running a 12-hole course into spring 2027. Golfers could play six, 12 or 18 holes, with six repeated, and the goal was to finish by May 1. The September update is narrower. Crews mobilize the last week of October, work affects holes five, seven, 17 and 18 starting in November, and the target finish is April 15. Deputy City Manager JR Harmon said modified play will continue throughout.
Every deadline lands before the crowds
Put the three projects next to the event calendar and you can see how the winter is laid out. The work starts as summer ends and is due to finish before the next one begins.
| What | Where | Window | Status at publication |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beach renourishment | Oceanfront, start point not announced | Late 2026 or early 2027 to before Memorial Day 2027 | Contract awarded Sept. 29 |
| Eagle's Landing remediation | Holes 5, 7, 17 and 18 | Mobilizing last week of October to April 15 | Modified play during work |
| Boardwalk extension | East of the Life-Saving Station Museum | By Dec. 1 to April 1 | Planned, pending bids |
| Winterfest of Lights | Northside Park, 200 125th St. | Nov. 19 to Jan. 2 | Scheduled |
| Ocean City Christmas Parade | Old Landing Road to 120th Street | Dec. 5, 11 a.m. | Scheduled |
The locations matter as much as the dates. Most of the town's holiday programming is uptown. The town's Winterfest page lists hours of 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Northside Park. Ococean.com lists admission at $6 plus fees for ages 12 and up, and children 11 and under get in free. The Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 5, ends at 120th Street, with family activities and awards at the Carousel afterward. The planned Boardwalk work is at the opposite end of town, by the inlet.
Winterfest also sets aside particular nights:
- Fire & Ice nights, with live entertainment and ice carving, on Fridays and Saturdays from Nov. 20 through Dec. 26, plus Jan. 1 and 2
- Pet-friendly Wednesdays on Nov. 25 and Dec. 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30
- Carriage-only evenings on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21 and 22
- Fireworks on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day
Berlin's calendar runs at the same time on Main Street. According to the Town of Berlin, the Christmas tree arrives at the Atlantic Hotel on November 6. Ice Ice Berlin and the tree lighting are November 27, and the Merry Marketplace sets up at 14 S. Main St. on Saturdays starting November 28. The Christmas Parade is December 3 at 7 p.m., the Hanukkah celebration at The Inn Berlin is December 10, and the New Year's Eve ball drop starts at 6 p.m.
Before any of that, this weekend has its own events. The OC RV & Van Lifestyle Show runs October 29 through November 1, and Bronco Beach Bash runs October 30 through November 1, according to the town's October events roundup. Crews are also scheduled to be mobilizing at Eagle's Landing that week.
The Corps has said it wants the beach work finished before Memorial Day 2027 "to minimize impacts to beachgoers and local businesses." That leaves the dredge pipe, the new boards and the regraded fairways for the people who are in Ocean City in January.
The town works within its off-season, and private projects on the coast face the same limits on timing. If you're thinking about a renovation or addition on the shore and want it done by next summer, Chesapeake Custom Homes & Development can help you work out the sequence, the procurement lead times and a realistic completion date before work starts. Schedule a Feasibility Consultation.
