On September 6, the borough council of Belmar,N.J., voted to outlaw an increasingly common practice known as “beach spreading," with the new ban set to take effect at the start of the summer 2018 season.

Mayor Matt Doherty called out a beach-goer who had set up a tent on Belmar's beach to watch a movie. "C'Mon Man!" Doherty tweeted.

“In the last few years I’ve been noticing more people with their gear,” Ms. Rosenberg said. She was originally looking to make a comparison between beach-spreading maximalists and just-a-towel-and-a-book minimalists. “But the maximalists just won over,’’ she said.

When in Jersey, do like Jersey, which on the crowded beaches of Sea Isle City on this low-rent No Beach Tag Wednesday, meant an epidemic of beach-spreading.