During and post-COVID, many from this newspaper’s readership started using their Shore homes throughout the year leading to more year-round restaurants and businesses. Added to the Urban Dictionary in 2010, “shoobie” began as slang for a New Jersey, Delaware or California seashore day-tripper, and evolved to refer to someone with a summer beach home whose permanent residence is elsewhere.

According to World Population Review, in 2024 nearly 18 percent of New Jersey’s population identifies as Italian. Only Rhode Island and Connecticut ranked higher. And the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which collected data from 2018 to 2022, found that Hammonton Township, which hosted the nation’s first Italian festival 149 years ago, was home to nearly 6,000 people who identify as Italian or Italian American – 35.3 percent of the population.