OG Saturday Giant Flea Market June 2016. Gridlock. Blogfinger photo. © Where else can you find this? Click once to make the crowd bigger.
OG mega Flea Market. Blogfinger photo 2016 ©
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor@Blogfinger.net. May, 2018.
May 5 Spring Fling Chamber of Commerce closes down Main Avenue: gridlock
May 19 Vintage Car Show CC closes down Main Avenue: gridlock
June 2 Giant Spring Flea Market CC floods Ocean Pathway with thousands of junksters: gridlock
June 16 OGCMA Giant Craft Show —-300 artisans: Gridlock all over town
June 23 OGCMA Huge Christian festival: Bridgefest: Gridlock all over town.
August 4 OGCMA Saturday of the Camp Meeting Week: Gridlock all over town.
August 18 OGCMA Beach boys: Gridlock evening.
Sept 1 Doo /wop: Gridlock evening
Sept. 8 Giant Fall flea Market: CC floods Ocean Pathway —gridlock
Sept 16 British Car Show CC closes down Main Avenue: gridlock
October 6 Fall Harvest Festival CC closes down Main Avenue: gridlock
Note: Every Saturday during the summer season is a gridlock day due to beach attendance and when residents and their guests crowd the town during all those weekends. But that is to be expected. This is a beach town.
But now we are addressing mega Saturday tourist events such as the Giant Craft Show on the Pathway which make the town hopelessly paralyzed.
So what other Jersey Shore towns have so many gridlock Saturday special events geared towards tourists and oppressively imposed on the residents?
Consider Bradley Beach: Just one–The Lobster Festival. Holiday celebrations such as Memorial Day weekend don’t count because they are automatically part of summer. The rest are things like line dancing, music on the boards, opera by the sea, Italian Festival, Bradley Beach Day etc. which are primarily for the residents and don’t cause gridlock.
Here is a link to our recent piece about the struggle in Bradley Beach over one such mega event. It’s very interesting:
Bf reports on Bradley Beach struggle with mega-event
Consider Belmar mega: Just a car show and the NJ Seafood Festival.
Consider Avon mega: no mega events
Consider Asbury mega: Oyster Festival. They have many activities including music, shows, farmers markets, fine restaurants, bars and boardwalk events like the Zombies, but these enhance the image of A. Park and are not merely mega events to suck in huge numbers of tourists like we have. They have crowds and parking issues, but those crowds are drawn to the vibe of A. Park not to giant marketplaces where you can just buy stuff.
Consider Seaside Heights: Nothing mega. Jersey Shore Festival; otherwise arts and crafts, boardwalk fun/food, and soccer tourney.
Consider Spring Lake: Nothing mega. Just sensible small events for residents and guests: House tour, art in the park, garden tour, art walk, sidewalk sale, etc.
Only OG has huge events that overwhelm the town. What good does any of this do for the people of Ocean Grove? The CMA mostly attracts crowds from outside the Grove. All of the Shore towns have events, but they are primarily for the residents, such as ballroom dancing, concerts on the boardwalk, competitions for kids, etc.
Of the towns listed, we are the smallest and the most paralyzed by contrived tourist events. There is no reason to continue these overwhelming Saturday gridlocks—the Township needs to reduce the numbers to be in line with other Jersey Shore towns. But will they? No. These other communities make sure that their citizens enjoy the summer season in their home towns. Tourism, yes, but sensibly done.
Do the people of Ocean Grove want their town to be a circus every Saturday in season? Here is a march from Barnum and Bailey:
Millie – When the residents can’t even go to the beach or enjoy weekends it’s time to look at the festivals. We pay taxes. They don’t . We should be able to enjoy our town for the reasons we bought houses here. It’s a circus now.
Reblogged this on Blogfinger and commented:
Why do we allow the circus to come to the Grove so often? This 2018 post discusses mega events that smother our neighborhoods. The powers that be here will do nothing to provide relief. And the “new” North End Plan will make it worse. —-Paul @ BLOGFINGER. Click on our name below.
Millie. This town has been evolving during the years that you have resided here. We have experienced increased congestion of cars and tourists that affect the quality of life of those who live here.
We also have seen many new space-clogging condominiums being built in violation of land use laws.
The mega-events ruin the weekends in season for residents while providing culture-free thrills for visitors who don’t pay taxes or live here. Who benefits from those events? It is the Chamber of Commerce, outside merchants, tourists, and the CMA. Maybe some residents would prefer more community oriented events as are found in other Jersey Shore towns.
During the historical times of OG (late 19th and early 20th centuries) there were no flea markets, car shows, craft shows, etc. The only tourism was religious. Those mega-events that we are now discussing are not part of the town’s historic “character and tradition.”
So don’t be surprised if some don’t like the Neptune land use abuses and the weekend circuses that occur here now. It is not surprising that the changing demographics of residents in the Grove might be changing their minds about the direction our town is taking.
It would have been better if your comment had discussed the facts rather than be offended that some might disagree with you.
I can’t imagine who really benefits. Do the businesses really benefit when outside vendors are brought in for these events?
It couldn’t be CMA when so many of the invasions have nothing to do with the “Mission”. If anything, most of these events prevent the citizens of OG from enjoying their own town and neighbors, and keep them from really digging in to the community.
A loss for all as “home” becomes just a place to hang a summer hat.
Editor’s note: Right on Taxed! We cannot hope to get a conversation going on this without realizing that these “invasions” are a scam to enrich others while ignoring the tax payers who chose to make Ocean Grove their home.
How can we develop a sense of community in theory and in actuality when we are being held hostage by the sponsors of the mega-events and their enablers? This town is on its way to an identity crisis. We are being betrayed by our elected officials, our Home Groaners Ass. and by the Chamber of Commerce. And, for the citizens, we do have a lot of sand for them to stick their heads into.
If you don’t think that there is favoritism in this town designed to exploit the residents, just look at the current plot to take parking spaces downtown away from residents, or the plot to emasculate the HPC, or the plot to continue creating illegal condominium projects without parking, and the plot to turn the North End into a commercial mishmash–among other wrong headed plans to transform the Grove into a crazy quilt without a clear identity.
You are so right, what is the benefit to residents?