Winter Schedule

Expanded winter schedule offers more things to do on weekends

Photo by Frank Scott

CAPE MAY – Cape May MAC’s schedule of year-round tours, activities and events in 2020 and 2021 were pared back to comply with state mandates and out of concern for the health and safety of our guests, staff and volunteers due to COVID-19.

Now, however, the schedule is beginning to rebound.

Winter in Cape May is traditionally the time of year when things slow way down in America’s First Seaside Resort, and at Cape May MAC, the tours, events and activities that help drive the economic engine of this town year-round are sparse in January and February. It’s a time for planning, for renewal and reflection, for evaluation and for creative brainstorming.

But this year, it’s also a time when visitors will find a slightly expanded schedule with more tour and activity options on the weekends.

“In prior years during the winter months of January and February, we generally opened just on Saturdays beginning in midJanuary for the Cape May Lighthouse, the Physick House Museum and the trolley tours,” said Director and CEO Jody Alessandrine. “This year, we opened weekends without a break after the New Year’s weekend, and added the full weekend to the schedule, from Friday through Sunday, along with any Monday holidays. That continues through Visitors to Cape May can take a guided tour of the Physick House Museum, or a Combination Physick Estate/Historic District Trolley Tour and can also climb the Cape May Lighthouse. It’s thanks to subsidies from business community partners that Cape May MAC can offer these expanded offerings.

March with some tours offered daily beginning March 1.”

Visitors to Cape May can take a guided tour of the Physick House Museum, or a Combination Physick Estate/Historic District Trolley Tour, on Friday, Saturday or Sunday this winter, and can also climb the Cape May Lighthouse from 12pm to 3pm on those days. It’s thanks to subsidies from business community partners that Cape May MAC can offer these expanded hours.

Partners pay $600 and receive this amount of value in trolley tour tickets to provide to their guests from January through April. Participating partners are Congress Hall, La Mer, The Grand Hotel, Queen Victoria Bed & Breakfast, Icona Cape May, The Harrison, The Montreal, RE/MAX Surfside, and Coastline Realty.

“We normally would offer tours only on Saturday and now we offer tours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as well as holiday Mondays.,” said Alessandrine. “We are so grateful for the support given by our accommodations and real estate partners that allow us to offer additional tour times during this slow time of year. They are helping to attract visitors to Cape May, and we are helping to provide those visitors with interesting things to do.”

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CAPE MAY – Cape May MAC bought its first computer 39 years ago in 1983 from Radio Shack - a Tandy computer - and staff immediately dubbed it “Cupcake,” because it sounded like a popular Tastykake product. Alongside the Tandy computer was a giant (and very loud) dot-matrix printer. The pair held a place of honor in the Hill House office. Now, in 2022, Cape May MAC staff work mainly on laptops, in the cloud, enabling some to work remotely but all to be both flexible and secure in their communications and work product.

When it comes to technology, there is always something new. Cape May MAC’s Information Technology (IT) Manager, Cathy Baldacchini, stays ahead of technological developments to help keep staff working smoothly, operations flowing efficiently and customers’ experiences satisfying. The latest IT project involves the addition of hardware and software called SwipeTrack to Cape May MAC operations. SwipeTrack provides three key functions for staff and customers. It allows customers to purchase certain tour tickets on their own from kiosks on the grounds, it allows staff to accept credit card purchases at large festivals like the Craft Beer, Music & Crab Festival and off-site events like the Cape May Music Festival, and it allows staff to “check in” customers who’ve purchased certain tickets in advance, like the Christmas Candlelight House Tours, when they arrive for their tours.

Kiosks and terminals are fitted in place on the grounds of the Emlen Physick Estate, in the Carriage House Museum Shop, at the Washington Street Mall Information Booth and at the Cape May Lighthouse. Once a kiosk is fully operational, customers can purchase some of Cape May MAC’s most popular tours via the self-service kiosk. The outdoor locations are cleverly housed in outbuildings: the Playhouse on the estate grounds and a new “Privy” on the lighthouse grounds. The Information Booth kiosk is located inside and is accessible via a window. Cape May MAC maintenance staff did the work of creating or retrofitting the kiosks.

Now that the kiosks and most of the terminals are in place, training is ongoing, to help staff understand how to use the technology and help customers use it. The benefits flow to both the organization and to customers in the form of speed and accuracy, Baldacchini said.

“We’re making sure people are in the right tour at the right time,” said Baldacchini, regarding the check-in piece. “And it’s the speed that benefits everyone for checking in at an event like the music festival or our candlelight tours.”

The self-serve kiosks are one more way customers can explore offerings and purchase tickets.

“It allows us to use technology to help extend our reach for customers to purchase tickets. It’s a user-friendly environment that allows people to purchase tickets as they’re walking on the property.”

Finally, with the addition of handhelds during festivals for accepting credit card purchases from festival-goers, when thousands of thirsty patrons are eager to buy a beer, accuracy and speed improve everyone’s experience.

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Left, customers can now use these self-service kiosks outdoors on the grounds of the Physick Estate and indoors in the Carriage House Museum Shop to purchase tickets to select tours. Below, a kiosk is also located at the Cape May Lighthouse and will soon be operational there, located in a newly installed “privy” kiosk on the grounds.