In response to people parking vehicles on Rehoboth Avenue the entire week leading up to last year’s annual Sea Witch parade, Rehoboth Beach has instituted a new overnight parking restriction that goes into effect two nights before this year’s parade.

Officially, there is no parking on all of Rehoboth Avenue from 1 to 6 a.m., Friday, Oct. 24.

Carol Everhart, Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce president, is anticipating there will be some folks who don’t get the message. No matter what the chamber or city does to advertise the new restriction, someone is going to miss it, she said.

For years now, there has been no median parking on Rehoboth Avenue beginning at 1 a.m., the morning of the parade. That restriction remains.

There was confusion the first year or two when that restriction went into place, said Everhart. Hopefully, there won’t be as much confusion this time around, she said.

The new restriction was brought up at the end of 2024 as part of the city’s annual look-back at the just-completed parking season to see if any changes should be considered in advance of the 2025 season.

Parking during Sea Witch falls outside the city’s pay-to-park season, but the initial discussion took place a month after last year’s parade, and concerns were raised by city officials, chamber members and business owners about parking availability on Rehoboth Avenue the week of the parade.

City officials talked about enforcing a no-overnight-parking policy the entire week of the parade, but were concerned about the costs and headache of enforcement all week long. Ultimately, a consensus was reached to restrict parking Thursday night into Friday morning.

Cars will be towed by Coastal Towing, which is located at 33012 Cedar Grove Road, Lewes. They can be reached at 302-645-6300.