Coming to ‘best party of the year’ in NJ? Wildwood mayor nixes ‘Project X’

☑️ Internet posts are promoting an event called "Project X" for July

☑️ Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr said the city won't allow it

☑️ Unruly crowds shut down the Wildwood boardwalk on Memorial Day weekend

WILDWOOD — A Jersey Shore city says it is ready for yet another unauthorized event being promoted on social media that could potentially bring thousands to town.

“Project X in Wildwood” was promoted in two posts on TikTok, which included little detail about the event. One of the posts was titled "let this be the best party of the year."

A post about the event on the The Wildwoods, NJ Community Facebook page included a date of July 12 and an image from the 2012 movie "Project X." Three Californhia high school students throw a party for a friend's 17th birthday that quickly grows out of control as news of the party spreads, according to IMDB.

Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. in the comments of the Facebook post wrote, "we will be on top of it."  In a second comment, he wrote, "This will not be allowed and the police will shut this down."

"We are grateful for your notification. We will track the issue and resolve it efficiently before it causes further disruption," Wildwood public safety commissioner Steve Mikulski wrote.

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Dangerous 'Project X' car meetup in Philadelphia

Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland and Wildwood Police Chief
Joseph Murphy said they are working to find the organizers of the pop-up party and will pursue every legal avenue to stop it from happening.

“We will not tolerate any illegal gatherings that disrupt the safety and well-being of the
residents of Cape May County, visitors, and law enforcement personnel,” Sutherland and Murphy said in a statement.

A car meetup in Philadelphia that got out of control in September was called "Project X" online, Philadelphia Police Department Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore told the city council at a hearing abut the event. According to Philadelphia district attorney Lawrence S. Krasner a large group of vehicles gathered for an illegal car meetup at a PepBoy's in Northeast Philadelphia. Between 50 and 200 cars were there, 6abc reported.

Alexis Boyce, 20, of Englishtown, turned herself after pictures of her Dodge Challenger were posted as being part of the rally.

Wildwood has had its share of out-of-control crowds, including the closure of the boardwalk during Memorial Day weekend in 2024 after unruly teens flouted the city's 10 p.m. curfew.  Firecrackers were thrown at police and video showed families running off the boardwalk to get away from the "stampeding" teens.

Previous reporting by Sergio Bichao and Rick Rickman was used in this report

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