Early evening (7:45  pm)  on New Jersey Avenue. Paul Goldfinger photo © 8/9/17.  Ocean Grove, NJ.

Teens play ball in Auditorium Square Park. 8/9/17. 7:20 pm.   Shortly after they headed to the Youth Temple. Paul Goldfinger photo ©

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger

The summer evenings have been beautiful lately. Many people are out and about tonight: there is an organ recital and a Summer Band concert.  The soloist in the Great Auditorium was practicing at 7 pm, and all the doors were open—what a treat. At 7:30 the audience wandered in.

Lots of bikers are zipping around since it is still light out.  Dog walkers abound–nothing good goes unsniffed.  Porch life is peaking.  Carl tells us that his favorite time of year here is when it’s the “locals’ summer”—September. Carl is an artist and a bonafide and well known old timer in the Grove.

We met Janice  whose family has been tenting here for  4 generations. She said that their tent burned down two years ago, and now they are back with a thoroughly modern looking interior including AC and a frame-less glass shower.

Janice is a nurse who once worked with me at Dover General. I hadn’t seen her for about 40 years, and then she pops up while I’m recording the organ rehearsal. We talk and she invites me in for a peek.  It’s beautiful–looks like a condo inside. It was great to see her again.

Inside a tent. Newly furnished. The cedar chest has been in the family for years. Blogfinger.net photo ©

What does it sound like inside the Great Auditorium at 7 pm  when there are no people inside, other than an organ soloist who is practicing for a concert scheduled to start at 7:30 pm?

The organ music reminds me of the Phantom of the Opera. But actually it is as if, with the room empty, the Hope-Jones organ can stretch it all out to get every nuance to the far corners of that amazing concert hall.

BEVERLY KENNEY