"It's gorgeous down here, you know? You can't beat it. Weather's a little hot, but what can you do?" said beachgoer, Charles Hanson.
The beach was packed long before noon. Families hit the scorching sand with their kids and their coolers, their blankets and their beach chairs.
They spread out, shoulder-to-shoulder, towel-to-towel, so close, you could smell the other guy's sunscreen. By midday, it was too much for Korey Jones and Eva Patel.
"We were one of the first people here, but it is, unfortunately, too hot. So, we are heading home," said beachgoer, Korey Jones.
Still, Patel said it was worth it.
"I was in the ocean the whole time," she said.
The blistering sun beat down on Jenkinson's Boardwalk, where overheated beachgoers were buying hot food, like pizza and funnel cake, French fries and fried chicken.
The rides were running, including Patriot's Run, their new rollercoaster, which was ready just in time for the Fourth of July.
"The drops-they look like they're gonna go slow, but then they go, like, they drop really, really fast and they go down fast and up fast," said rollercoaster rider Layla Fanslau. "Just put your hands up and scream."
For the concessions... they depend on holidays like this. It's a bonanza.
"When we have these holiday weekends, we really bank on the nice weather," said Alex Taylor on Jenkinson's Boardwalk. "Just because people are down, they're renting houses. You know, what better way to come to the boardwalk, get a slice of pizza, get a hot dog, and you celebrate the red, white, and blue here?"
There was a breeze on the Jersey Shore... a 95-degree breeze. It was hot, but good enough to make people forget how Memorial Day weekend got rained out.
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