The Wildwood Events Commission on Wednesday, Oct. 1, approved a $95,000 budget recommendation for the Celebrate Wildwood event in fiscal 2026 and reviewed vendor feedback from the 2025 event while flagging safety concerns about this year’s parade route.

The decision matters because the commission is planning the event’s move to a new venue next year and because police and residents raised emergency-access and child-safety concerns that commissioners said should be resolved before the next parade.

Commission members received a vendor survey summary and verbal reports from staff, who said 55 vendors responded and that the majority reported positive experiences despite patchy rain during the 2025 event. "Generally very favorable," a staff member told the commission when summarizing vendor responses.

Staff presented the preliminary 2025 financial summary and said event costs ran higher than the $95,000 starting budget. "We spent, well, I think it's about a $116,000," a staff member said, adding sponsorships, fees and in-kind contributions reduced the net taxpayer cost. The staff member reported a sponsorship goal of $35,000 and said actual receipts and sponsorships left the event "about $15,000 in the green," which staff calculated as an approximate $80,000 cost to taxpayers after offsets.

After discussion, a commissioner moved and the commission voted by voice to set the commission’s recommended budget for next year at $95,000. The motion carried by voice vote.

A substantial portion of the meeting focused on parade management and safety. Sergeant Grama of the police department told the commission he and other officers saw multiple safety risks during this year’s parade, including blocked emergency access to neighborhoods off Manchester Road and children approaching moving vehicles to pick up candy. "I have concerns about emergency access to Village Hills, Cherry Hills," Sergeant Grama said, adding that vehicles breaking down and unsecured trailers had created additional hazards during the procession.

Grama also outlined the event’s police costs, noting that officers work on overtime for set-up, the parade and event staffing. He said the parade itself accounted for roughly $10,000 in direct event costs (largely golf-cart rentals and related logistics) and that overtime for officers represented a separate and significant expense.

Commissioners and staff discussed possible changes to the parade to reduce risk: route changes, more volunteer spotters, larger barricades (plastic or concrete jersey barriers) and limiting vehicle participation. Staff noted the event is moving to a new venue next year and that parts of Main Street are not yet completed, which affects staging, generator needs and power connections. "Main Street isn't ready, so we're already probably 20 tents down," a staff member said, describing logistics and power shortfalls that could change next year’s equipment needs and costs.

The commission did not cancel the parade. Instead members asked staff to return with options and cost estimates. Staff was asked to produce sponsorship-level proposals, a new logo and a program plan for the October meeting and to bring parade routing and safety recommendations to the January planning session.

Next steps: the commission will meet again on Wednesday, Oct. 29, to begin planning sponsorships and branding for the new venue and will revisit parade routing and safety in January. The commission also asked staff to gather more detailed cost comparisons for generators, stage and lighting options at the new site.

Reporting note: direct quotations in this article come from speakers listed in the meeting record; other financial and operational figures are taken from staff presentations at the Oct. 1 meeting.