Not everyone in Cape May had the day off during the blizzard

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Blizzard hits Cape May

With nearly 10 inches of snow on the ground, snow drifts almost twice that size in some places and winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour in Cape May, not everyone at the Jersey Shore had the day off on Thursday.

Emergency personnel, public works and others were out and about, doing their best to clear the roads and keep everyone safe. But what about people who do not work for the city? A few places were open during the blizzard and were available to help customers.

On Beach Avenue, a sign for The Fudge Kitchen was taking the brunt of a cold, driving gust of wind. Every time the wind bent the sign back, it looked as if it were about to break. However, each time it snapped right back up, only to take another shot from the wind gust. Inside the store stood Tom Manning who had to travel from Wildwood to get to the store. On his way in, he was lucky enough to get behind a plow on the Garden State Parkway.

"It's just about taking the time and not trying to speed through everything," Manning said.

The store, which is open every day of the year except Christmas, had its assortment of fudge ready to go if someone was prepared to go inside.

"If we're open, we might do some business and we're here either way," Manning added. "I'm here checking out the building, making sure that our pipes don't freeze. If we're closed, we're not going to do anything, so we are here if the people that come out to take a look at the water."

Less than a mile away, three workers were shoveling outside of The Ugly Mug. Inside the restaurant, Will was waiting there waiting to serve Apple Knockers, a drink consisting of hot apple cider and apple brandy. From the number of people that were calling into the restaurant, it sounds as if many will be going in and trying the drink in the evening.

"I've already had a couple of calls asking if we are open," Will said."We are one of the places around here that is consistently open for this weather.

He also experienced a little trouble getting into work.

"It was a total whiteout today but we always make it to the Mug," he said.  It wasn't too bad. They plowed some of the roads early."

Sean Brown is the restaurant manager at Hemmingway's. Brown grew up in the area and for a time moved to Colorado. The blizzard wasn't like anything he saw in recent memory. His commute took him a little bit longer than usual.

"I was up the street and got stuck on a snow drift and the guys from maintenance had to come in and dig me out," Brown said. "It took me two hours to go back and forth and to get down here. I lived in Colorado for 10 years and I didn't expect to get stuck in a snow drift."

While Hemmingway's is not open for regular business, the restaurant is staying open for guests in the adjacent Grand Hotel Cape May. It will reopen for lunch and dinner tomorrow.

"We are staying open for our guests who are stuck inside and can't get out. We wanted to take care of them and treat them to a nice dinner."

Although there were some out in snow for work, there were those who were just curious about what was going on -- and catch a glimpse of the beach.  One of those was Cape May resident Cezanne Czworski.

"I wanted to see the beach and the surf. I saw it on the surf cam and wanted to check it out. It's pretty crazy down there."

Chris Franklin can be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cfranklinnews. Find NJ.com on Facebook