Jersey Shore Cast Feels They Brought Seaside Heights ‘back to life’

Comic relief time.

What would we have done without the cast of 'Jersey Shore'?

Economic engines those kids were….I’m tellin’ ya!

At least if you hear them tell it.

“We definitely brought Seaside Heights back to life,” said Deena Nicole Cortese, during a telephone call Wednesday with cast mate Jennifer “JWoww” Farley.

The duo were promoting the debut episode of “Jersey Shore’s” final season, which airs at 10 p.m. tonight on MTV.

“I live right next to Seaside and nobody wanted to go,” said Cortese, a native of Plumsted Township. “Now everybody wants to go.”

The net effect for the Jersey Shore was a spotlight on summers in Seaside Heights.

“What our production company (495 Productions) wanted the most — because they love Seaside Heights and they grew up here — they just wanted to help the town and the local businesses,” said Farley, a New York native.

“We knew about Seaside Heights but now the world knows about Seaside Heights,” Farley said. “We made it a bigger vacation spot.”

I’ll agree that they attracted more people to Seaside in the past couple of years…but did they make it a bigger vacation spot than it had been.

As I’ve said many times before, 22 years ago when I was working at the then-dance station in New York City playing Stevie B, TKA, and India, Seaside was just as popular with the bridge and tunnel crowd as it is today.

Perhaps they put a little more jingle in the pockets of local merchants…but Seaside will be fine now that they’ve moved onto other pursuits…like hanging out at malls hoping to be recognized.

Do you agree with the members of the Jersey Shore cast that they brought Seaside Heights “back to life!”?