Main Street. Manasquan, NJ. 20 minutes south of Ocean Grove. Paul Goldfinger photo. 5/12/23.

Sunny’s Nail Shop on Main Street. Manasquan. Paul Goldfinger photo.

May 12, 2023.         Manasquan is a small Jersey Shore town with a population, 6,000, twice that of Ocean Grove. The town is on the ocean, is largely residential, and has the comfortable feel of a typical small town in America.

You walk on Main Street where  you find a  cobbler shop,  a bike shop founded in 1926, some boutiques, hardware, pilates salon,  a barber shop with a spinning flag, jewelry, and other quaint shops.

We interviewed Lauren Francis who operates the Summer Girl Skin Care Studio in town.   Curiously there are about six estheticians in and around Manasquan.

Lauren spoke lovingly about the town, but one thing we were especially interested in was whether or not Manasquan has any mega-events like we have in OG which is an even smaller town.

The answer is that they have small scale events such as the Mother’s Day Plant and Bake Sale sponsored by the Sea Lavender Garden Club.  It is not held on Main Street, but you can go to Curtis Park for a tribute to Mom.  Notice that proceeds will go to scholarships for local high school students.

Take a look at their summer schedule and compare the essence of it to our over-run tourist and religious-based oxygen-sucking large events in our 1/2  square mile historic town.  Notice where their events are held: Manasquan Elks Club, Garden Club, Mallard Park, Stockton Lake, Beach.

And notice what kind of events they have: “Bouquets and Ballads,” Easter Bunny visit, Art Walk, Garden Tour. (10 local gardens,) Woman’s Club market, Firemen’s Fair, Ladies Night Out, Craft shows, Beach Concerts, Sidewalk Sale, Canoe races, PBA Food Truck Festival, plant sale, fireworks for the 4th, Community Day, Scavenger Hunt, Big Sea Day, Berry Fest Market,  and July 4 parade. Is any of this about making money from tourists?

OK: Some of you are whining that if I don’t like the Grove I should move to Manasquan, but the issue is not whether I  like the Grove or not–we have been here since 1998, so that speaks for itself.

But on Blogfinger we have been arguing for an emphasis on the residential community and their lifestyles.  We see a changing population and we see an undue emphasis on mega-money-making events and mega religious events which consume  most seasonal Saturdays and tie up the whole town.

The Chamber of Delusions is just about money, not scholarships, and the Neptune “government” turns a blind eye on the Grove. And our HOA* does little when it comes to being activists on behalf of we the people.

Only the residents can bring about changes. So far it seems that practically no one agrees with us.  But thank you Ben, Tom. George, John, Sam, James, Patrick and Alex for the First Amendment.

And  let’s give three cheers for the two citizens Katy and Betsy who are planning the June 10 OG Art on the Porches home-spun cultural event.

And. of course, The Town-Wide Yard Sale which is in its 12th year.  So far we have 5 participants, but even 5 is something to write home about. However there will be many more by June 17.

*The reference to the HOA is a by comparison with the tough guys of the OG HOA in the 1990’s when Herb Herbst and his activists stood up to Trenton and to Neptune to deal with crooked and dangerous boarding houses, mentally ill comprising  10 % of the population and disrupting life in town, deteriorating economy in town, deteriorating historic houses, prostitutes, drugs and other issues which caused them to find help and actually deal with all those issues, and their Clint Eastwood approach saved the town.

JOHN MAYER.   “Waiting on the World to Change.”