Business Buzz
No matter the season, Seven Mile Beach is buzzing with activity throughout Avalon’s Downtown Shopping District and Stone Harbor’s iconic 96th Street business district. This season, some businesses are celebrating grand openings while others are celebrating milestone anniversaries in town and some have decided to raise money and awareness for charity. We’ve got the scoop on the latest news in the business community.
Allie Killeen, Tom Killeen, Patty Killeen, Mickey McGlynn, Fran McGlynn, KelliAnn McGlynn, and Connor McGlynn enjoy music and drinks during the Windrift’s 50th anniversary party.
WINDRIFT HOSTS GROOVY ANNIVERSARY PARTY
105 80th St., Avalon
609-368-5175
windrifthotel.com
The Windrift Hotel Resort marked its 50th anniversary with a “Party Like It’s 1967” celebration June 30. More than 500 people attended the party wearing ’60s attire, including the staff. Guests danced to the sounds of the Mystery Machine Band and enjoyed $6 ’60s-style cocktails such as the Manhattan, Tom Collins and Grasshopper.
“The staff was very excited about this event and really put a lot of effort into it,” said Rachel Duffy, one of the Windrift’s restaurant managers. “Whether they were first-year employees or 30-year veterans, they really all had fun with it. It was nice to have our customers and the staff come together to celebrate and honor the history of The Windrift.”
In the past 50 years, the Windrift Hotel Resort has become a Seven Mile staple. Throughout the summer, the establishment’s eight unique dining concepts will continue to host weekly specials such as Shuckin’ Sundays, Mexican Mondays, Prime Time Mondays, World Famous Wing Night, Flights and Bites, and Pizza, Pints and Kids Karaoke. A variety of entertainment is scheduled, too, including the sounds of the BLT Orchestra, DJ Radar, and The Exceptions, to name a few. Situated at 80th Street and the beach, it’s the perfect spot to “Eat, Play, Drift” this summer.
For a full lineup of entertainment and specials, go to windrifthotel.com.
ICONA Golden Inn
7849 Dune Drive
609-368-5155
icona.com/golden-inn/
The newly renovated ICONA Golden Inn held its grand-opening celebration on Thursday, July 13 with a ribbon cutting and reception. Icona Resorts Chairman and CEO Eustace Mita and Icona Resorts President and COO Josh McCallen were joined by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, state Sen. Jeff Van Drew, Assemblyman Bruce Land, Mayor Martin Pagliughi and other area mayors, elected officials and members of the community to commemorate the occasion.
“From the bottom of our hearts I want to tell you that we want to make our home, your home,” Mita told the room full of guests. “Not just tonight, but for the rest of your lives. It’s interesting … our name Icona is our mission and if you cover the ‘a’ up, it says ‘icon,’ which on wikipedia is a sacred place, person or thing. And the ‘a’ stands for ahloa which is warmth, welcome and love. We like to say that we hope our guests will come and stay at our sacred place and feel the warmth, welcome, love and the ahloa spirit.”
Hundreds of guests from within the community enjoyed the reception that featured displays of hors d’oeuvres, signature cocktails such as the Blueberry Lemonade and music by the Eturnity Band. During the ceremony, Guadagno noted that the Icona Golden Inn helps accommodate the Jersey Shore’s 100 million visitors anticipated for this summer who bring in
$44 billion in tourism revenue. Van Drew and Land presented Mita with a resolution to honor the resort’s opening and Pagliughi welcomed Mita to Avalon and jokingly thanked him for choosing the “Capital of Cape May County” to open another Icona Resorts. Following the presentations, Mita and McCallen were joined by the elected officials for the official ribbon cutting followed by tours of the entire resort.
Icona Resorts acquired the 50-plus-year-old Golden Inn in December 2015 and work began to renovate the property. After a complete transform, the 156-room hotel began serving its guests last summer and became fully operational this summer with the scheduled Aug. 1 opening of its third dining establishment, the Avalon Brew Pub.
Island Aerobics/Spin Avalon
3206 Dune Drive, #2
609-368-0880
islandaerobics.net
Celebrating more than 25 years in business, Island Aerobics/Spin Avalon offers a variety of classes for its customers, as well as participants in the Stone Harbor and Avalon recreation-department programs.
“Both Avalon and Stone Harbor have graciously included our class offerings in their summer recreation schedules,” says Nancy Crafts, owner of Island Aerobics/Spin Avalon. “I began my aerobic workouts with Sue Orlando at Muscle World in the ’80s. I wanted to share my love of aerobics with my Stone Harbor summer friends, so I began a summer class at Stone Harbor Elementary School. Eventually we moved to the Women’s Civic Club. Island Aerobics has been a labor of love over the years. It is so rewarding to bring fitness and fun to our old and new friends at Island Aerobics.”
Over the years, Crafts has evolved the business to offer a studio in Avalon while also maintaining classes each year as part of the boroughs’ recreation schedules. It was the love of those early classes that inspired her to open a storefront in Avalon. When the business outgrew its location, she purchased its current space with her son, Dave Cox; they owned 3206 Fitness downstairs and Island Aerobics upstairs. While on a trip to California, Cox and his then-fiancée Kristine tried a spinning class with Johnny G at MADD DOGG athletics and decided to offer spinning in addition to the other cutting-edge classes.
In Stone Harbor, Crafts and her staff offer senior fitness year-round on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11am. The classes are free and open to the public. Throughout the summer, classes take place at the Stone Harbor Elementary School, similar to when Crafts first started teaching, and during the offseason the classes move to Stone Harbor Recreation Building.
In addition to the free classes, the business offers SandBarre classes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in Stone Harbor for the summer. The classes are held at the Stone Harbor Recreation Pavilion at 82nd Street and cost $20 per class, 10 classes for $160 or a weekly pass for $55. In Avalon, Island Aerobics hosts beach yoga from the 30th Street beach, Monday through Saturday at 8:30am. The camp, now in its fifth season, features all-level yoga instruction for ages 12 and up and costs $15 per class, or 10 classes for $130. Over the years, Island Aerobics has offered crossfit, boot camp and more in both towns and it continues to explore the most popular new fitness classes to offer at Seven Mile Beach.
For the entire lineup of classes, go to Islandaerobics.net.
Seven Mile Sweets
205 26th St., Avalon
215-771-3081
sevenmilesweets.com
Seven Mile Sweets kicked off the 2017 season of monthly philanthropic events, “Seven Mile Cares,” on June 24 with a lemonade stand at the corner of 26th Street and Dune Drive in support of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, which funds childhood-cancer research. The event raised more than $500.
Owners Maggie and Shawn Jones thought that supporting local and national charities through their family-run business could build and spread empathy at Seven Mile Beach.
“We wanted to do something on a national level, something on a local level, something from home and something from Avalon,” says Maggie Jones. “We decided it was a good lesson for our kids and a way to give back.”
Seven Mile Sweets, which is in its second season in business, is dedicating one day a month in the summer to supporting a charity. On July 22, a portion of sales went to support the Helen L. Diller Vacation Home for Blind Children. For August, donations will go to the Abbey Mallon Foundation, which also received donations from the first Seven Mile Cares event last August.
The candy store was born out of Maggie’s love for the penny-candy stores of her childhood. Reminiscing on those sweet summer memories, the owners wanted to ensure that their five children could have the same experience. They have 6-year-old twins, Molly and Maren, and 5-year-old triplets, Meredith, Kellen and Gavin.
Now, the Jones family is creating new memories— supporting charities close to the heart and bringing love and empathy to Avalon.
