Ocean City NJ Lets Dogs on the Boardwalk for Two Days a Year, and Saturday Ends With a Howl-O-Ween Parade

Ocean City is opening its boardwalk to leashed dogs on Saturday, Oct. 24, and Sunday, Oct. 25. It's the city's sixth Dog Day weekend, and no other day of the year are pet dogs allowed up on those boards. Saturday, they also get a costume parade.

Two days. Out of 365. Hold on. What is happening? I thought a boardwalk was a place you walk on. Boards. Walk. It's right there in the name. Nobody told me it has a door policy.

Here's how it works, and pay attention, because the sand and the boards follow two totally different sets of rules. From Oct. 1 through April 30, the city lets leashed dogs on the beach. The boardwalk lets them on never. Not on a leash, not in somebody's arms, not in a bike basket, not in a cart. The only exception all year is this weekend. So every fall, a dog can stand legally on the sand, maybe twenty feet from the boardwalk, and look up at the one place he can't go.

That's when I figured it out. Ocean City's boardwalk is the toughest club to get into in all of New Jersey. The beach is the line outside.

Start at the door, because every club story starts there.

The bouncer at this club is the city code, and he's undefeated. He checks totes. He checks bike baskets. A chihuahua could show up in a designer purse with sunglasses on and a fake name, and he'd still get bounced. Three dachshunds stacked in a trench coat wouldn't make it past the first step. This weekend the bouncer finally steps aside: Saturday from 9 in the morning until 5, and Sunday from 9 until 3. A whole crowd of dogs who've been waiting outside all year is about to walk in like they own the place.

Get past the door and you're in the VIP section.

Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., under the loggia at the Music Pier, you can get a free photo with Santa sitting in a lifeguard boat. In October. Santa is the guy who shows up to the party two months early, refuses to leave and somehow ends up working the VIP booth. Give it a few more years and he's doing bottle service, handing out bowls of water to golden retrievers in little bow ties.

At noon, also at the Music Pier, the Humane Society of Ocean City names its Pet of the Year. So this club has its own awards night. Some pug is going to win, walk up to the mic, and thank his trainer, his groomer and the guy at the deli who keeps dropping turkey.

Then comes the red carpet.

Then the Howl-O-Ween Parade steps off Saturday at 3 p.m., starting at Sixth Street and running up the boards to 14th. NJ 101.5 reports a Toy Story theme, with Buzz Lightyear and Woody as grand marshals, and expects hundreds of dogs in costume. Owners are encouraged to dress up too.

And here's the Jersey part. This town keeps dogs off its boardwalk 363 days a year. Then it rolls out eight blocks of red carpet, books Santa and throws them an awards show. It won't let them in for almost the whole year, and when it finally does, it treats them like movie stars. That's this whole state. A Jersey guy will absolutely hold the door for you. He'll also sigh like you just made him miss his own wedding, check his watch like the five seconds you cost him were coming out of his retirement, and tell his grandkids about it someday. But he holds it. Every time. And once you're through, you're family, and he's the one handing you a plate.

And like any club worth the wait, there's a cover charge.

Getting your dog into the parade costs $10, or $20 for two dogs, and two is the limit. The money goes to the Humane Society of Ocean City, so the cover charge at the fanciest dog club in the state goes to a good cause. Online sign-ups close Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 4 p.m. on the city's registration page. Miss that and you can still register on the day: registration and packet pickup open at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Sports & Civic Center, which sits at Sixth and the boardwalk. Saturday also brings dog vendors and photo stations along the boards. Sunday has no events at all, just dogs and the boardwalk from 9 to 3.

So let me lay out the club rules for anybody still standing in line. The beach is the line, and it's open Oct. 1 through April 30. The boardwalk is the club, and dogs get in two days a year. Santa runs the VIP booth, some lucky pet wins an award, NJ 101.5 says a cowboy and a space ranger lead the red carpet, and the cover goes to charity.

And me? I can walk up those boards any day of the year. No list. No line. No questions. And this weekend none of that will matter, because the bouncer is going to wave in a beagle dressed as a pumpkin and look right through me. I've had an all-access pass to the hardest door in New Jersey this whole time.

And the one weekend it's actually worth getting into, I'm the plus-one.

Sources

• City of Ocean City, Dog Day and Howl-O-Ween Parade
• NJ 101.5, Eddie Davis, Oct. 20, 2026
• City of Ocean City, 2026 Howl-O-Ween Parade registration
• City of Ocean City Beach FAQs (dogs on the beach, Oct. 1-April 30)
• City of Ocean City Police FAQs and Ocean City code, Chapter 11
• Cape May Current, Aug. 25, 2026