2. You won't need tickets to enjoy these Ocean City amusements: Start with the Freckle Contest on July 3; stick around for Sand Sculpting on July 9; don't miss the Miss Crustacean Hermit Crab Pageant and races on Aug. 6, or Weird Week in mid-August. It's Shore silliness at its best, and all for free. Go to www.ocnj.us for details.
3. BYOB - as in Bring Your Own Bike. Towns with boardwalks and promenades allow biking along the shoreline most mornings, which is the best time to ride anyway. Atlantic City, Ventnor, Ocean City, Sea Isle, Avalon, the Wildwoods and Cape May all offer wonderful beachfront bike riding. Nothing like watching the morning sun sparkle on the waves.
4. Casino-sponsored beach bars in Atlantic City have been upping their free entertainment quotients in the last couple of years. They have long had house bands and dancing, but now you might find comics, magic acts, acrobats and even boxing matches in beachside rings.
If you really want a cheapie, listen to the music from a perch on the Boardwalk, but it all goes down better with at least a Diet Coke at barside.
5. Each summer evening, there is a cute Sunset Ceremony at Cape May Point, a little bit of nonpartisan patriotism. Most often, you can hear a recording of Kate Smith singing "God Bless America," to which most of those in attendance sing along. Sometimes, a veteran's ashes are slipped into the ocean by relatives. Occasionally, there's even a military fly-over.
Three or four times a summer, the Coast Guard Training and Support Center Cape May, along the southern border of the Cape May Canal, has its Sunset Parade, where new recruits do snappy military drills to commemorate their graduation. More at www.uscg.mil/hq/capeMay.
