The summer season is behind everyone and the end of the lets-extend-the-season a little longer parties are beginning to wind down too. There are still a few events that are upcoming at the Jersey shore but even those will be trickling down to nothing fairly soon.

Columbus Day is the last fling for Seaside, as they will be having their Parade and the weekend long Italian Festival. As usual they will be feature what is called a folkloric group as part of the entertainment. The group, Arlecchino, does hail from Italy  and they will be making their first appearance ever in the United States. The group does dance and singing numbers and will perform Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There will also be other entertainment all weekend long, including the big Parade at 1 PM on Sunday.

A scene from Arnold Avenue at the Point Pleasant Beach Seafood Festival

The 32^nd annual Point Pleasant Seafood Festival took place on September 19. Arnold Ave was blocked off, west of route 35, as was a portion of River Avenue and Bay Avenue. The weather was absolutely great. It was about 70 degrees and sunny. Parking was tough during the time I was there, in mid afternoon, but it was something that just required a bit of walking. All around the train station and on the streets just east of the highway were packed with cars. We simply had to move further away from that area to find parking along the street.

The food booths were all along the south side of the street and stretched up to Bay Avenue. The only break in food stands were the music stage, which was set up just opposite River Avenue. Further along Arnold Avenue and along Bay Avenue were arts and crafts booths and some things for the kids to do. You can find antiques, health information, pony rides and children’s games.

We arrived at around 3:30 PM and the crowd was huge at that time. There were so many people that it was difficult to walk at times. If too many people stopped or there were too many people trying to buy something from any single booth it could cause a traffic jam of people.

The food was great this year, at least at the booths that I sampled from. I had lobster, shrimp, scallops and some fresh lemonade. We had visited the Shrimp Box in Point Pleasant Beach the night before. They always have good seafood meals and we did enjoy our dinner. Yet the seafood festival food we had was much better.

This was the first year I was able to attend the seafood festival and I hope I can attend again next year…and that the weather is as nice as it was today!

The annual Island Beach State Park fishing tournament is planned for Sunday October 4. Registration forms can be found here.  In addition to being a great fishing event, the tournament raises money for charity through the collection of registration fees. The funds collected will go towards: marine education, marine restoration work, surf fishing access, access ramps for disabled saltwater anglers, surf fishing instruction programs and equipment and the purchase of beach wheelchairs.

Pre registration (before September 14, by mail) $10
Tournament day sign up – $15

These fees are for those 18 and older. Children under 13 fish for free, those from 13-17 will need to pay $5 (early registration or the day of the event).

Fishing begins at 6:30 AM and ends at 1 PM.

The event is held rain or shine so lets hope the weather is good.

The sponsors for this year include: the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Fish and Wildlife and Division of Parks and Forestry, the New Jersey Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, Jersey Coast Anglers Association, and the New Jersey Beach Buggy Association.

There is no way to understand how families of police officers that are killed in the line of duty cope with the loss of their loved one. It is also difficult to know what to do for such folks, to honor the memory of their fallen family member and to recognize their loss. This does not mean one should not try to hold out a hand or make a point of saying thank you.

In a very generous and thoughtful gesture, the owners of Jenkinson’s Breakwater Beach and Casino Pier in Seaside Heights did a very nice thing for the families who have lost a family member in the line of duty. Over 275 family members were treated to a day of free fun at the beach. Among other things they were able to spend time playing in the water park located just off the boardwalk. There were also a number of NJ state officials, and fellow police officers, on hand to pay tribute to the fallen police officers.

I not only salute the families but also the Storino family, the owners who hosted the events. It was  quite an act of kindness to offer their facilities in the way they did.

The 48th Annual Long Beach Island Beach Patrol Association Lifeguard Tournament was held on August 7 and 8, 2009.

Barnegat Light was the overall winner, taking the tournament from the defending two-time winners Surf City.

• Barnegat Light – 100 points
• Surf City – 74 points
• Long Beach Township – 63 points
• Ship Bottom – 53 points
• Harvey Cedars – 49 points
• Beach Haven – 43 points

The tournament was made up of numerous events spread over the two days, including (event – winner):

• Mile Row – Barnegat Light
• Women’s Paddle – Harvey Cedars
• Bouy Rescue – Surf City
• Paddle Relay – Ship Bottom
• Surf Boat Rescue – Surf City
• Iron Man Race – Barnegat Light
• Run, Swim Relay – Barnegat Light
• 1,000 foot Open Swim, Men – Barnegat Light
• 1,000 foot Open Swim, Women – Barnegat Light
• Paddle Rescue – Barnegat Light
• Line Race – Barnegat Light
• 1,500 foot Paddle Race – Barnegat Light
• Single Row – Long Beach Township
• 1,000 foot Doubles Row – Harvey Cedars

Now Barnegat Light sets themselves up to be the crew to beat next year. Surf City had a nice two year run before them and was in the lead after the first day of competition. Will next year find these two fighting for the top spot once again or will a new winner emerge? We will have to stay tuned for the 49th tournament.

The Lavallette Heritage Committee is once again presenting their free summer concert series. The shows are scheduled for Sunday evenings and begin at 7 PM. Music from 1940’s to modern day tunes are featured with the musicians playing from the Centennial Gazebo on Barnegat Bay.

July 12 – Wilber Witteman 7 Friends

July 19 – The Kootz

July 26 – Happy Days String Band; Special Time 4 PM

August 2 – A Little Bit of Heaven

August 9 – Fatherocket

August 16 – Fred Lehotay – “Ragtimers”

August 23 – John Luckenbill’s Brass Band

August 30 – Lakewood Jazz Ensemble

September 6 – A Little Bit of Heaven

The concerts provide an opportunity to enjoy a relaxing evening along the shore of Barnegat Bay. If the weather is right you can see one of those spectacular sunsets while you and your companions are being entertained by music that can be enjoyed by all ages.

The boardwalk at Long Branch is  one of the oldest in NJ. The modern day version is an amallgamation of brick, wood and composite materials.

The northern end of the boardwalk begins just south of Seven Presidents County Park, just off of Ocean Ave. The walkway extends a little over 2 miles and is much wider for its initial 1/2 mile or so, where it is made of brick. It then turns to a combination of wood and composite material. There are benches along its length.

Long Branch used to be the place to be in the mid to late 1800’s. President Grant added to the notoriety of the location when he began summering here in 1869. His example was then followed by others: Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, McKinley, and Wilson.

The pushpin on the map marks the location of the north end of the Long Branch boardwalk. You can click on the pushpin to open up a dialogue box where you will be able to get directions to this location.

View New Jersey Boardwalks in a larger map

On Saturday June 20th Point Pleasant Beach will be holding their first Blues and Jazz Festival. The event will be centered in the municipal parking lot, at Ocean and Arnold Avenues, and run from noon until 9 p.m.  The music is and there will also be craft vendors and wine tasting with ten local wineries represented at the event.

Roxy Perry and Richie Scarlett will be the headliners but the musical stage will also play host to many other acts throughout the day. It is hoped the the festival can become an annual event, so a lot of hard work is being put into making this initial event be a great one that folks will want to return to next year.

Sunday, April 5th

Point Pleasant Beach

1 PM

Jenkinsons Annual Easter Egg Hunt. Each child is allowed 5 eggs.  There are age specific areas, as follows:

through 4 – in front of Jenkinsons Aquarium

5 – 6 and 7 – 8 — in front of Frank’s Fun Center

9 – 10 — at the amusement park entrance

Seaside Heights

1 PM

15,000 eggs!

This egg hunt it also partitioned into different age specific areas:

Under 2 — spend time with the Easter Bunny

Ages 0-2 — Hancock Avenue beach

Ages 3-4 — Blaine Avenue beach

Ages 5-6 — Sumner Avenue beach

Ages 7-8 — Hamilton Avenue beach

Ages 9-10 — Lincoln Avenue beach

Seaside Heights Easter Egg Hunt

From time to time I will find the need to post something about the beach that has nothing to do with New Jersey. This is my first, hence the #1.

I was come across this blogpost about Galveston Island State Park reopening. This park is located on Galveston Island in Texas and was pretty much wiped out by Hurricane Ike. There were a few camping areas, a welcome center and a picnic area just behind a small dune that seperated the gulf beach from the rest of the park (the park extends from the gulf shoreline to the Galveston Bay shoreline).  The beach was washed away and all this other stuff that was just behind the dunes was smashed to bits.

The interesting part of the story of this place reopening is the way the park got back to being able to be used again. The local “friends” group for the park spent countless hours cleaning up. They literally moved mountains of trash by organizing a lot of volunteer help, and working with the Texas parks department. The beach is still not open and the campsites are still gone, but the rest of the park is now usable.

The state had no idea when they would have opened the park if they would not have had the volunteer stuff that was done. After the hurricane Texas officials basically said they did not anticipate opening the park for the forseable future. Basically everyone was resigned to them taking years to get back to being open, and it was unclear if they would offer any services there again.

Instead what has happened is the park will now be usable, at least for non-campers or people that do not want to visit the beach.  It is remarkable that the volunteers did what they did.

I thought this was a great story about people loving their local beach, so I wanted to pass this along.