After the 2020 edition of Jeep Beach was called off amid the slew of event cancellations tied to the coronavirus pandemic, the Paces were more eager than ever to return to this year s event, which runs through Sunday in Daytona Beach.
“It’s a Jeep family,” Pace said. “It’s a ‘Jamily.’ We’ve met just some of the nicest people here.”
On the beach, the couple parked their customized 2020 Jeep Gladiator next to one of those Jeep Beach friends.
Lance Collins, 51, met the couple at Jeep Beach four years ago in the hotel bar at The Shores Resort & Spa in Daytona Beach Shores. It turned out that he lived less than an hour away from them in Wilmington, Delaware, and that they had mutual connections in the roofing and home design industries.
DAYTONA BEACH When thousands of Jeep vehicles and the people who love them roll into Volusia County for the annual Jeep Beach celebration this week, it marks another welcome sign of optimism for the area’s tourism industry, hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic over the past year.
Hoteliers anticipate sold-out rooms over much of the event, which shifts into high gear on Monday and runs through Sunday, April 25. Likewise, restaurant managers and other tourist-related businesses also are expecting the Jeep fans to boost sales.
The beachside Hard Rock Hotel, the event’s headquarters hotel, will be Ground Zero for many of the week’s activities. The list includes “Jeeps At the Rock,” two days of beach activities on Wednesday and Thursday that feature a surf school, games, vendors, prize raffles, drink specials and a pool party.
A year after Volusia County’s tourism industry took its most devastating hit from the coronavirus pandemic, visitors are flocking again to the World’s Most Famous Beach.
Motivated by the availability of vaccines and stimulus money, as well as raging cases of cabin fever, they have converged in recent weeks on hotel lobbies and beaches, a welcome scene reminiscent of bygone “normal” times.
Yet the pandemic still lingers with case numbers rising in recent weeks and new unpredictable variants in the mix. And its impact is expected to have long-lasting effects on the hotel industry here and nationwide, resulting in new ways to do business that could last even after COVID’s threat has passed.