By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net
The Spring Fling was held on Saturday, May 4, sponsored by the Chamber of Commercials. There were over 200 “artisans and crafters.” We walked through the entire event and did not meet any Grovers that we knew. Clearly it was mostly tourists.
Main Avenue was shut down between Pilgrim Pathway and Central Ave, and the Pilgrim Pathway was also shut down on its north end from Main Ave. to Auditorium Park.
The biggest problem is that the event has no focus. Is it supposed to enhance the reputation of Ocean Grove as a lovely, historic, cultured, family-oriented town where residents can spend a spring Saturday with friends and family?
Is it supposed to bring business to our shops?—not likely because everyone was walking in the streets.
Was it supposed to bring joy to the residents of Ocean Grove? Hardly….most of the booths were selling a mediocre mish-mash of goods. On Pilgrim Pathway there were food trucks selling sidewalk foods. Who can vouch for the safety of those cuisines.
The live music would have been more at home in the Pine Barrens.
Is it supposed to show off one of the nation’s most magnificent historic buildings? Well, the Auditorium Square Park, ordinarily a lovely place to walk, play with the kids, sit to relax, converse, and stroll over to the Pathway on the way to the ocean, was crowded with “spring flingers.”
Today, its charms were hidden as white tents flooded the place with commercial exploitation and lightweight “art.”
Where is the historic society with reenactments? The art community with a juried show in the park? A juried craft show? The arts center with some plays for the kids? The music lovers with a string quartet, a flute ensemble or a jazz quintet? Public readings of short stories and poems?
This sort of event is of no use to a town which should be polishing its credentials as one of New Jersey’s most glorious small residential communities. You only have to look around at Spring Lake, Allenhurst, Deal, and Avon to realize that we are peddling backwards with the Spring Fling and other similar flings held here routinely.
So I ask you: what is the point?
PAUL ANKA.
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