Bradley Beacher comes to OG Giant Flea Market; he can’t get this in his home town.    Paul Goldfinger in the Auditorium Pavilion. 6/4/22 ©

Scene:  Auditorium Pavilion during the Giant Flea Market.  I met two men who wore Bradley Beach shirts and who said that they were residents there.    One was here with two women; the other (above) was solo.

Me– I spoke to both of them separately:  “Do you have giant events like this in Bradley Beach?”

They both said, “No.”

And I asked both of them, “Would you like to have giant events like this in your town?”

They both said “No.”

Man  #1:   “We only have a large event on Memorial Day weekend, and that is confined to the boardwalk. Otherwise, the town has no large events through the entire summer”

Man #1:  “As a resident of Bradley Beach, I enjoy access to our town in prime season and I would not welcome hordes of tourists in my town.”

Me: “I wouldn’t mind this Flea Market here in OG  if there were no other large events in the Grove, but we are swamped all summer long.”

Man #2  “I can understand what is happening in Ocean Grove, because you have someone telling you what to do”

Me:  “You mean the Camp Meeting Association? ”

Man #2:  “Yes–that religious group which is powerful here.”

Woman  #1:    “I can understand why Ocean Grove  needs to have such big events.  It’s because Ocean Grove needs the money.”

Me: “But you don’t understand : Ocean Grove is the town and it doesn’t make  money from such events. You mean the private religious group who needs the money–ie the Camp Meeting Association?”

“The citizens of this town have to endure the tourist onslaughts that occur all summer long–and we pay taxes, but none of the tourist events money reverts to us.”

Woman #2:  ” In Bradley we have small events, often held in Riley Park, near the train station.  There is a band stand there for small concerts.  She and her friend agreed that they don’t want giant  events in their town.

It’s not easy to get a glimpse of the ocean due to the crowds. Blogfinger photo.  6/4/22

Me:    (now talking to you,  the BF audience) I visited one  of those small Bradley events  in May.  It was a mom and pop craft show with maybe 10 booths.  The crowd was small and seemed to be locals.

As for who makes the money from this event, it is officially sponsored by the Chamber of Commercials.  We don’t know how the money is divided, but undoubtedly the CMA charges land use fees, and Neptune also probably gets a cut.   But our citizens who pay taxes and pay to keep up our Victorian homes, which the tourists are drawn to, make nothing despite the parking glut, inconveniences, and  the crowds.

Addendum.  Our Bradley Beach interviewees were enjoying this  Giant  flea Market, but they were happy to return home to their resident-friendly town.  BB  used to have a massive summer seafood festival, but it was cancelled due to resident objections. They were going to move it to the autumn, but the sponsors objected because the crowds would be “too small.”

The power of the people and local resident-friendly governance won the battle.

I also spoke today to an OG resident who was a seller at the flea show.   She had a large amount of items to sell such as furniture, so she rented two spaces at the flea market yesterday.  She was thrilled because she sold most of her merchandise by 9 am.

It cost her about $125.00 for one space plus she needed a U-haul to carry her items to the sale and she needed strong men  (her 2 sons) to do the schlepping.  She is new to town and she loved the Flea Market. She found that the flea folks (sellers and shoppers) were having a wonderful time, but what about the resident Grovers who were reluctant  to move their cars for the entire day?

And what about those visitors who paid $17.00 for a sausage sandwich at the show?  ( recent NBC News report about food truck prices )

One more thing:   There were lots of pretty girls in town for the flea market:

Paul Goldfinger photo at the Flea Market. 6/4/22

LEN CARIOU  from the original London cast of the show “Ziegfeld.”