Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net
According to NTPD, there will be an “EMERGENCY” this Saturday for an arts and crafts show with 200 vendors sponsored by the OG Chamber of Commercials There will probably be a large crowd, and who will enforce distancing and masking?
This is another of those large smothering events that should not be allowed in our historic town, and since the PD forbids parking downtown for this emergency, guess where everyone will park?
The police call it an “emergency” but will they be there to make sure that the event is safe?
And if it is not safe, it should be shut down immediately. In fact, it never should have been scheduled in the first place, and that risky business is the fault of the Neptuners, the Chamber, and the CMA–caretakers of Pilgrim Pathway.
The streets will be closed off in the busiest parts of downtown Ocean Grove, and who benefits from that inconvenience? That would be tourists, vendors, and the Chamber which sponsors this event which they call a “Fall Harvest Festival.” The only harvest in this town might be some weed growing on an upstairs porch.
The CMA benefits from use fees. They are a private group taking advantage of public spaces, to the detriment of native Grovers who might have a enjoyed a quiet family stroll downtown on a prime Saturday afternoon, perhaps heading to the beach and boardwalk. There is no respect in this town for the tax-paying residents and their life-styles.
This sort of “show” benefits nobody in the Grove. I rarely see Grovers I know at these events. Ocean Grove businesses will be drowned out.
The promoters say there will be “crafters and artisans.” After seeing this event in the past, the fancy language will not fool anyone.
And the “food” will be “carnival gourmet.”
Unfortunately the music consists of the same live groups that the Chamber hires for every event. So boring!!
And, speaking of pilgrims on Pilgrim Pathway, above we see one who suggests a fundamental change in what defines a pilgrim in the Grove.
She’s only following the lyrics from Hello Dolly: “Go down the street and have your picture took…..”
In my day “walking the dog” was a yo-yo trick, but now it is what a pilgrim does on the OG Pilgrim Pathway.
You might wonder what the Camp Meeting thinks of this, but they don’t seem to mind since they are silent on the subject.
CAST OF HELLO DOLLY:
The bare chested dudes who parade down Main Avenue should also be encouraged to cover up.
There is actually a reference to covering up indecent clothing in the good ‘ole CMA “Rules and Regulations” for living in OG.
People can get a copy of that at the CMA office. It certainly wasn’t enforced this summer, with out of town interlopers prancing down to the beach all summer long in thongs and bikinis.
Maybe they thought they were at Belmar, or Seaside Heights. Times and people have changed in OG.