GO FOURTH AND MULTIPLY
Have you seen the green? Our mothership site redbankgreen continues to outdo all other major (and mynah) media for coverage of Red Bank’s landmark 50th anniversary edition of KaBoom Fireworks on the Navesink, from some gull’s-eye views of the arriving barges, to the anticipated album of images from this year’s Third of July spectacular, still to set it off as we post this.
Of course, in Red Bank the Fourth is a relatively mellow affair; a collective “KaBoom-heit” if you will. But it’s our understanding that many of the surrounding communities curiously observe Independence Day on July 4. Over in Sea Bright, summer Santa Tim McLoone and the Shirleys retake the beach for a pre-pyrotechnics concert that starts at 7pm (with a Fifth of July raindate). West Long Branch has the era-spanning Party Dolls sparking the fireworks over at Franklin Lake, while Colts Neck has bands on the ground and bangs in the air at Bucks Mill Park.
Over at Ocean Grove’s Great Auditorium, there’s the long-traditional patriotic concert by America’s oldest band — no, not the Jukes; it’s Sousa march specialists The Allentown Band, who we believe knew Sgt. Pepper back in the day. In Asbury Park the revels start early with the annual parade commencing from the area of Cookman and Grand Avenues at 1pm, and the Atlantic Highlands Fireman’s Fair continues Friday and Saturday, with fireworks, food and other fair fare in the always-appreciated setting of the municipal harbor — where on July 4 the winner of the annual boat decorating contest will be revealed.
But if any town around here could be said to have put an own on the Fourth of July, it’s the city of Long Branch, where for the 19th consecutive year the day-long Oceanfest celebration takes full advantage of the city’s long stretch of public beaches and boards to present a carnival/fair atmosphere unlike any other — one that does away with the usual sprawling layout in favor of a stroll that follows the shoreline Promenade, from the Ocean Place Resort & Spa and the assembled shops and eateries of Pier Village, onto the famous Moss Mile, where you can follow your own bliss to some of our favorite West End attractions, and get a healthful walk in the process. Although you’re gonna be running a tempting gauntlet of sausage sandwiches, cheese fries, funnelcakes and plenty of other deep-fried (and deeply felt) delights.
Credit goes out to the Greater LB Chamber of Commerce for pulling this thing together against all odds in this, our year of the corporate-donor fiscal fizzle. If any corners were cut, they’re not showing on the posted Entertainment Schedule, with kid-themed productions and fave dance bands (Ray Rodriguez y Swing Sabroso, The Jazz Lobsters) working the stage of the Great Lawn near the northern end of the Fest. At the Garfield Memorial Site (the plaza honoring the “Seven Presidents” of Long Branch, out back of Ocean Place) you’ll find demonstrations of martial arts, gymnastics and magic, plus a rare performance by Basha Alperin Alade’s organization ZEYBRAH — the one of a kind local exponent of Afro-Caribbean culture that brings some amazing sights and sounds to the promenade each year with the Oceans of Rhythm Festival.
Perhaps most exciting of all — in its own slow and quiet way — is the annual Sand Sculpture Competition, a tourney that attracts some of the genuine masters of this ephemeral art form. While it might not pack the same kind of thrill as watching professional beach volleyball, we recommend taking time to watch these castle kings at work, decreeing into existence some truly awe-inspiring palaces, as well as locally iconic items like the Monmouth University Hawks mascot and, once, a model of Red Bank’s K. Hovnanian building made of sand.
The whole thing climaxes with a top-notch fireworks display that claims to be “the largest along the Jersey coast.” We’ll leave Long Branch and Red Bank to parse sparks over this one. All music fans should follow us now to the next page, where we’ve laid out a few hot tips on the weekend’s races; the rest of you have a safe and a sane, and we’ll see you back here on Monday for the start of another revved up week.














Posted July 03, 2009
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