Task force suggests lottery for performers

Sometimes the obvious solution is the best one, even if it doesn’t please everyone.

Following last month’s hearing when performers roundly criticised the first-come, first-serve Boardwalk space system instituted for 2015, Ocean City’s Boardwalk Task Force endorsed the idea Wednesday of creating a lottery for spaces.

“The selection of the spaces was definitely the thing we heard the most about,” said Task Force Chair Greg Shockley.

City Clerk Diana Chavis, whose office has become responsible for administering the city’s performer-allocation system, provided the task force this week with an outline of a new procedure that was endorsed with only a few changes.

The major point of contention with street performers over the past summer was the twice-weekly space signups, which began at 9 a.m. on Mondays for spaces to be used the following Monday-Thursday, and at 9 a.m. on Fridays for spaces to be occupied the following Friday-Sunday.

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