Have a Blast in Atlantic City

Parties outgrow venues all the time if they’re particularly good. But for an event to outgrow an entire city, it must be pretty spectacular. Such is the case with the annual Sand Blast weekend, which has moved from Asbury Park to the infamous Atlantic City.

Over its 12-year existence, the three-day gay beach party has grown too large for the small town where it began. Producer Brad Hurtado, who brought Sand Blast to Asbury Park and helped redevelop the now-thriving gayborhood, explains, “As the weekend grew, we were starting to see a lot of frustration, where the hotels would book out earlier and earlier and people would have nowhere to stay, and so it just became a bit of a frustration for people that this place that we’d helped make popular, we’d grown to fill it and it was disappointing that we just couldn’t have as many people come as we wanted to come.”

The organizers of Sand Blast were left with a choice to make. “It was a really rough winter as we tried to figure this out,” Hurtado reveals. “There were no good options, and we were in the process of figuring out if Sand Blast would even happen this year, and that’s when the people in Atlantic City found out that we still had not finalized our plans with Asbury Park and that things were still up in the air.” Those people would be the Atlantic City Alliance, whose goal is to bring non-gaming events to the city. “They found out that we were having some issues and they reached out to us and they said, ‘We’d absolutely love to have you come out to Atlantic City; we have an enormous amount of hotel rooms, we have incredible venues and we’re a town that loves to party and we know how to do it and we’d love to help you make this transition.’ And that’s what happened; one phone call from them and a week later I was in City Hall with the mayor sitting next to me doing a presentation to the entire city team about what Sand Blast is and what it would mean to come down there. And they said yes, yes, yes, and yes.”

Sand Blast, for those who have never made the trip, allows gays to come together for a three-day beach vacation, complete with parties, entertainment, and of course, hundreds of sexy men. “It’s filled with non-stop parties for people who want to party and dance and stay up late and meet other guys who have hotel rooms, so there’s that,” Hurtado says, laughing. But Sand Blast also offers attendees the chance to enjoy whatever type of gaycation they want, even if that just means sitting on the beach with a book and enjoying the eye candy. And now that Sand Blast has moved to a larger city, there are also more dining options, performances, sporting events—like the annual volleyball tournament—and of course, gambling.

“Change is really healthy and growth can be painful, but it can also be a challenge,” says Hurtado. “This is our 13th year producing and what I’m most excited about is the opportunity to introduce our guests to something completely new and ask them to consider a completely different kind of Sand Blast. The challenge has always been how do you outdo [yourself] every year, and it’s the same issue that every producer has: how do you top yourself?”

The issue of getting better has been implicitly solved now that Sand Blast is in Atlantic City, and Hurtado’s excitement is palpable. “The venues that we’re in, and the Boardwalk—which was just voted the top boardwalk in the world by Travel Channel—and the beach has allowed us to top ourselves exponentially. You can only bring in so many lights and lasers and pretty dancer boys and make it special and different. This year, because we’re in Atlantic City, the opportunities for us to top ourselves are tenfold. Our guests are going to come and experience Sand Blast and be awed by what we’re able to offer this year.”

Hurtado is also looking forward to showing the mostly straight tourists of Atlantic City how the gays do things. “When we move into town, all the straight people there will be saying, ‘That looks fun. That beach party—why don’t we party like that?’”

FRIDAY

Hit the Gay Beach

Lost at Sea

Urge Underwear Party

SATURDAY

Volleyball Social Games

Third Annual Drag Race

Sand Blast Beach Party

Deep Blue Dance Party

SUNDAY

Rip Tide Pool Party

Sand Blast Tea Dance

Kahuna