The Ocean City Tourism Commission, which is made up of members of City Council, business owners, and representatives of the restaurant and lodging industries, met Monday at the convention center on 40th Street where they discussed several upcoming events and topics.

Director of Special Events Frank Miller said Professional Bull Riding, or PBR, organizers are looking for $75,000 worth of financial assistance from the resort to help cover costs associated with holding a first-time event at the beach from June 3-5.

In return, organizers said they will give the city $5 per $50 ticket sold, and if the event sells out, they claim it will be “a wash,” according to Miller.

Tom Perlozzo, the city’s director of tourism and business development said 1,028 tickets out of 15,000 tickets had been sold to the general admission event.

While the commission gave a favorable recommendation to help PBR, a monetary amount was not suggested. Instead, the recommendation was to forward the request to City Council to discuss.

One thing that should change, commission members said, was the name listed on advertisements. Many people do not know the correlation between PBR and Professional Bull Riding. Some may see PBR and think of the beer Pabst Blue Ribbon.

The recommendation was to spell out Professional Bull Riding.

As far as the money, Perlozzo said the city has helped several other events financially, including the Air Show.

Many events are being planned for the upcoming summer season. Among them are several added-value attractions to be produced by Bob Rothermel and Team Productions. Rothermel will present a the list to City Council soon, according to Miller.

Some of the events being considered incorporate the Ocean City Art League and Kite Loft and will be zero to low cost.

As for other happening, MOUs, or memorandums of understanding, will be presented to council for the upcoming Jellyfish Festival and Air Show on Monday, and Jeep Week organizers are still working on their application.

The BikeFest layout is still being worked on, and as a result, the application is still pending, according to Miller. The bands that have been announced for the motorcycle-themed event include Zac Brown Band and Kix.

And finally, Sunfest is being revamped this year, as new concepts are being discussed that will modify the old layout while keeping some of the festival’s old characteristics. Miller said the idea is to make it new and fresh for attendees.

Miller said ice is always available to vendors at Spring Fest, and as costs continue to rise, even on frozen water, options are being looked at to lessen the blow.

The special events director suggested to the commission it consider adding ice vending machines that charge $4 per bag instead of the anticipated $8 per bag of ice.

“We’re going to be the pilot,” Miller said, adding it will be zero cost to the town and the machine can be placed at Spring Fest. “The machine keeps the cost down to where it was historically.”

The ice machine can produce 1,900 pounds of ice per day and would have the option of eliminating plastic bags as ice can be dispensed directly into coolers.

The new device would also reduce the carbon footprint of the delivery truck, Miller added, which operates on a diesel engine.

If the ice machine does well, it could be used all over town, Miller said.

City Manager Terry McGean said the device could be used for Springfest, but if the vendor wants to place ice machines all over town, it will have to go before City Council members and an MOU would need to be drafted.

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