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Tewksbury girls at our  Spring Flea Market 2015. Paul Goldfinger photo. Blogfinger.net. Click once to enlarge.

9/01/19:      Yes, let’s keep the beach open. The CMA loves the free advertising, starring Mrs. Brown’s lovely daughters.    Blogfinger photo. ©  09/01/19. Click once.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net.  2019.

Other Jersey Shore towns have 0-1 events each year where streets are closed and /or throngs of tourists show up.   Ocean Grove has 6 not counting 3 or 4 CMA events such as Bridgefest, and these events begin in May and end in October.   (That’s at lease 6 months.)

Most shore towns have small events, such as art shows, movies in the parks, jitterbug on the boardwalk, sidewalk sales, town-wide yard sales,, and street musicians.

Can you name another Jersey Shore town that has a giant flea market?  And what other part of Neptune is host to a giant event?  Having it at a Neptune ball field would work—more parking, and football is on Friday.  You could even have a marching band.  Why is having it in our town better for the people of Ocean Grove?

If you want a mega/glut event for the people of Monmouth County, go somewhere else.  The crowds would be even bigger without the worries about parking.  And yes, there are tourists who will not come to the Grove for any of these events including shows at the GA because of the stress of parking.

So,  in the Grove, our big events  either inconvenience those who live here, or they overwhelm us and cause parking glut,  and congestion of our parks, and sidewalks,   or they just compromise our quality of life in a variety of ways..

Yesterday a bunch of neighborhood kids were playing Wiffle Ball in Firemen’s Park. One Dad was supervising and pitching.  It looked like so much fun, but when we are having a mega-event, everything changes from peace of mind, to crowds downtown, to noisy  live “music” downtown, to kids watching out for unsavory characters, to our spirit of neighborhoods, porch culture, and history.

Most of these are sponsored by the Chamber of Commercials, while one, the June Crafts  mish-mash is by the OGCMA.

So, putting aside the large religious based events for the moment, what is the reason for the others, from the British Car Show to two flea markets?   If you live here and find them to be “fun” then OK, but 6?

Who benefits? It’s not those of us who live here, many of whom pay exorbitant taxes.   It is the tourists and vendors  who benefit and clog our town and cause Parking Derangement Syndrome, and esophageal reflux due to sausage, peppers and onions.    I guess the Township gets some money and so does the CMA ,  but are nearly 10 events including the CMA’s necessary?

When does the community of residents go to the top of OG’s priorities.?  We want our town back for some of those in-season weekends when gangs of Visigoths come to town to  pillage and lay waste.

I say the the people  (forget about the Groaners Ass.) should push the Township to allow maybe just  2 such events  each year,  excluding CMA events,  and forget  the rest in the interest of the residents of the Grove.

In the recent past, the people of Bradley Beach forced a huge event to be held away from the center of town.

And if we did that, and we were to balance the pluses and minuses, the pluses win out every time.

HERMAN’S HERMITS:

Sample schedule--LARGE EVENTS:  .  Does not include CMA events which bring in substantial numbers of religious tourists for their impressive number of events. (Just check their summer booklet.). The schedule may not be accurate–need confirmation by sponsors

May ?: Arts and Crafts Show–How about just an arts show on the boardwalk which they had in the past?

May 02.  Spring Market.  AKA Flea. Market.   “What’s in a Name?”   Shakespeare will have a booth—be careful of kids picking a pocket or two.

?: Vintage Car Show–this is a scam to get people to buy stuff.

June 1:  Giant Flea Market–Isn’t one giant flea market enough each year?  Why do we need two?

June 15:  Giant Craft Show  (CMA sponsored.)  –This one began in 1981; not exactly a historic tradition.   What did the towns people do for over 100 years before that for giant crafts?

6/27. BLOGFINGER TOWN-WIDE YARD SALE.   no crowds, only local junk, no parking issues, great fun.  Join by contacting Blogfinger.    Blogfinger@verizon.net.  Send to Eileen

7/18. Summer rat show

Sept. 12:  Giant Fall Flea Market.   (This is a fraud; autumn begins Sept.  24)

Sept 26:  British Car Show–how about a Ukranian Car Show for some variety;