Vol. 4, No. 3, March 2007
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B-Ball, Suds and More
Okay, you can relax. I’m not going to write a column about smoking. Nor am I going to write about our fine city’s government, or about how some elected officials that were part of that government now reside in concrete and steel quarters with tattooed roommates named Bubba.
No, it’s March, so I’m going to write about all the positive things that are happening in Atlantic City, and in our main industry.
For instance, at various points throughout this magazine, you will find reference to “March Madness,” and to the fact that Boardwalk Hall is host to the Atlantic 10 college basketball championships. This is a really big deal for the city, and for Boardwalk Hall, and for me, because it looks like the Dukes, the team of my alma mater, Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, may actually be in the thing this year. Providing my mention of them in this column doesn’t cause a total collapse, for a change, the Dukes will not be one of the two teams at the bottom of the A-10 who don’t make the tournament.
That aside, the A-10 brings a ton of excitement to town during a month that used to be marked by hotels just trying to survive another long winter. And it’s only one of many cool things happening in March. Just look at our City View column, and you’ll see some of the other stuff—not the least of which is the second annual “Celebration of the Suds” beer festival at the convention center. This is where you spend four and a half hours at a time racing between exhibits set up by more than 50 breweries, and see how many of more than 200 beers you can sample in a weekend. (It is followed by the second annual Belching Festival.)
You’ll be able to bop between the festival and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which is being held the same weekend. Then, you can sleep for a week to get ready for the real St. Patrick’s Day the following weekend.
Yes, this month’s events will provide a good prelude to spring and summer, and some more great stuff coming to Atlantic City. For instance, later this year, the Borgata is opening a new hotel called the Water Club, which will offer upscale lodging for an ever-increasing influx of young and extremely hip people. Harrah’s is working on its new indoor/outdoor domed swimming pool extravaganza, which, by the way, also is going to be extremely hip.
Speaking of extremely hip, if you turn to our Q&A, you’ll find comments by Curtis Bashaw, the former chief of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, on the latest in ultra-hip lodging: He is transforming the Howard Johnson/Holiday Inn property down by the Tropicana into an upscale boutique hotel. It’s an intriguing plan, and something that is a completely new type of hotel product for this market.
Or, you could go to Delaware. You’ll find a feature on some of the stuff you can find in our neighboring state, including a great getaway hotel in Dover with rooms and suites facing a premier dual NASCAR and harness racing track. As racinos go, this one—managed by our old friend, Atlantic City gaming veteran Ed Sutor—is quite possibly the very best in the country.
Finally, as you may have surmised from the masked man on the cover, this is our official health issue. We offer a comprehensive feature concerning the types of health plans and wellness programs currently available to Atlantic City casino employees, and all the particulars about the health centers and hospitals dotting the South Jersey landscape.
We figured that after all the articles about whether or not smoking is going to be allowed in the casinos, maybe we should do an article about something healthy. So sit back, read about all the health and wellness programs, and then go onto the casino floor and have a smoke.
Hey, it looks like we’re going to go smoke-free before long, so smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.
