There are many unique aspects to life in Ocean Grove, but one of the most amazing is the Annual Embury Avenue Music Bash where bands show up all day long and make music in a tent erected on a Victorian front lawn. 7 groups appeared and performed on a strict schedule, and it all came about like clockwork.
There were 3 big bands and the rest were ensembles that specialized in dixieland, swing, jazz and pop—most often from the Sinatra era. Jimmy Nicoletti, a smooth relaxed baritone, sang some tunes reminiscent of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, including some of the arrangements from that era. Jimmy performed with the Colts Neck Swing Band, a polished throwback to the 1940’s.. (see video on top) He told me that he wanted to “keep that music alive.”
Other performers included the Bill Henry Trio and Vanguard Jazz Ensemble (video below) ; The River City Trombone Quartet and CaNTique; The Dixie Six; The Nocturnes Big Band; Mark Cohn, Cid Citarelli and Friends; and John Nobile’s Summer Swing Orchestra.
The music was impressively performed by these groups, and the outdoor venue was marvelous, with the audience changing and evolving as the day went on. People sat on folding chairs and enjoyed food and drink. It was like Woodstock only with older music and people. Nobody took off their shirts, got soaked in the rain, dressed like hippies or smoked dope, but everyone had a great time. The only drugs at the event included beta blockers and Lipitor.
Chairs are set up all over the block.
I have been to these bashes before, and it always is incredible that such a musical event, free and open to all, could be happening in our town. This region obviously has a wonderful plethora of great musicians. It is so special. The organizers have to be congratulated for bringing such a unique musical extravaganza to the Grove.
Link to last year’s event, when it rained. 2014 bash
Founders Park. Ocean Grove. This is an authentic Civil War canon and it’s aimed at Asbury Park. Paul Goldfinger photo 2018
Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
You can get a smile out of Ted Bell when you point out the direction of our canon. The young lady, an intern from the Historical Society of OG, helps warm up a cold day and a cold canon.
Founders Park, the best park in Ocean Grove, is next to the “Wesley Retention/Detention Basin” and is just west of the corpse of the Warrington Hotel, and then a little more east we come to the site of the North End Redevelopment Plan (“NERP”) which will be located next to the Boardwalk and a short distance away from where the dirty storm water will flow into the Basin and then into the Ocean.
We wrote about the history of this Union canon; just do a search at the top of this page.
OG flea market. 2017. This is the only way Led Zeppelin will get to OG. Paul Goldfinger photo.
September 2026:
Now we have a new name (” Fall Market”) for an old event (“Fall Flea Market”). Can someone explain why the name change and what is this “Fall Market” about?
Paul Goldfinger. Editor at Blogfinger.net. Updated September 2026
For many years, the Chester Lions Club ran a weekly flea market. It was held in an out-of-the-way dirt lot and its size was modest. It was a fund raiser by the Lions whose main interest was helping those with visual impairments. It was a treasure for the community and it caused no parking or traffic problems or crowding in the Borough.
In Ocean Grove we have a Chamber of Commercials that sponsored a “giant flea market” on September 09, 2023 which had over 300 vendors and lured thousands of visitors. The fees alone generated well $50,000. It has other such events in spring and fall.
A great deal of money was generated for vendors, the Chamber and the land owner—OGCMA. The Township also will be feeding at the trough with fees.
But how much money will we-the-people make for our town’s needs in exchange for putting up with the mob with its carbon dioxide, babbling conversations, Covid and other viruses, blocked breezes, $10.00 cold sandwiches, and an endless supply of crappy merchandise?
What does the Chamber do with the money it gets? Why does the Chamber need to make money? And why are we Grovers the hosts of their fund raising and tourist promotions? We are not a commercial town–we are primarily a residential town. What other Jersey Shore towns sponsor such ridiculous events.
In Rhinebeck NY, a town much smaller than Neptune, they keep the town wonderful while having events such as flea markets at the Duchess County Fairgrounds about a mile out of town.
Monmouth County has the East Freehold Showgrounds for such big events: “This is an 81-acre showground for horse shows, dog shows, and special events each year. East Freehold Showgrounds is also the home of the annual Monmouth County Fair. Upwards of 75,000 people enjoy the 5-day late July event. Check the Monmouth County Fair page for more information regarding the Fair.
Let’s free Ocean Grove from the tyranny of excessive tourism. Where are the Home Groaners on this topic? You can go to their web OGHOA.org but if you do, you will find essentially nothing., even though one of their main goals is to “improve the Grover quality of life:”
What do Giant Flea markets do for the community? The answer is nothing. We get crowding, tourists all over town, and parking distress.
The Town-wide Yard Sale and Art on the Porches are much better events for small town America—which we are.
But looking at this topic in a broader sense, we ask the question: “How is this event a benefit for our town?” There are thousands of citizens who make Ocean Grove their home, and other than creating a spectacle, these events are totally unnecessary—a detriment from the point of view of OG’s citizens and “community.”
Define “community” as those who actually live here.
The Flea Mess is one of many events held in the Grove that are popular because this is a beautiful town on the ocean, and if it weren’t for the care of our historic homes and the friendliness of our citizens, these events would be a lot less popular, or at least a lot more junkier.
The recent name changes are supposed to give the illusion that OG has somehow gained prestige and classiness.
Why can’t the Chamber and the CMA host their mega events elsewhere?
The answer is that they profit from our Victorian architecture and gardens, along with our porch culture which is so inviting to tourists. Who says that OG should be a commercial magnet when it is actually a small, residential shore town with a historic and a religious flavor?
Neptune Township should protect us from exploitation, but it doesn’t care–it is part of the “Historic District” band wagon and feeding frenzy coupled with an ancient “one hand washes the other” relationship with the CMA.
The presence of the OGCMA is another related topic because of their many summer-long religious events creating crowds that no other Jersey Shore town has to deal with.
They may own the land, but they don’t own the town.
Some have told Blogfinger that anyone who doesn’t like what goes on here should not have moved here, but that assumes that Chamber and CMA events are set in stone and must be continued into the future; but most towns evolve in ways that satisfy the needs of their tax paying citizens. Witness what has happened and still happens in Bradley Beach where they no longer have mega-events and where they are becoming much more cultured, affluent, sophisticated, attractive and prestigious.
They are currently undergoing a housing boom to attract younger and more middle-class/diverse residents. They will race past Asbury Park and Ocean Grove as desirable places to live for more new citizens.
The idea that OG is a historic place is belied by the presence of such happenings as giant flea markets. Where is the dedication to OG as a recipient of historic designations?
2026 update: Now the newly named “Fall Market” featuring “vintage,” “antique,” “flea market finds” and food trucks will occur on 9/12/26. What does this description tell us as to what to expect? These descriptors are deceptive gibberish.
When will the Grovarian townspeople put a stop to such mash-mash designed to attract throngs of tourists in the interest of making money? Why does the CMA and the Township put up with these “markets?” Which organization in town shows any interest in such issues? The “Home Groaners” have disappeared into the sunset while also acquiring a new and deceptive name.
Ocean Grove United demonstrating in the Grove. Mary Walton photograph. 2012
Editorial by Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor Blogfinger.net. Repost from 2023 in the Grove.
There has been no sign of “hate” in Ocean Grove (except for an occasional sign that says, “Hate has no home here.”)
Interestingly, it is impossible to find an accepted definition for the terms “hate speech” or “hate crime.”Miriam-Webster says that”hate speech” is defined as “speech expressing hatred of a particular group of people.” Even the Anti-Defamation League does not attempt to define these terms. They basically oppose discrimination of all types.
So this broad definition allows for the term to be used for all sorts of groups, so no particular group owns the complaint of “hate speech.” I don’t know how the Neptune Police define “hate crime,” but they did use the term in 2019. Their web site doesn’t clarify the term.
November, 2018: During 2018 Mischief Night, some individuals “vandalized cars with swastikas and racial slurs in Ocean Grove.” (APP 11/7/18) The Neptune Police Department said that they were not viewing the incident as a bias crime or anything “politically motivated.”
Deputy Mayor Carol Rizzo (a Grover) said , “The community should view this as simply ‘something that happened during Mischief Night. I don’t think we should give it anymore credence than that. ‘”
The descriptions of the event in the news did not include any antisemitic language, and swastikas are not necessarily antisemitic symbols. Some kids, like punk rockers, may draw a swastika without thinking of Jews. The “N word” was also found, according to the APP.
A representative, Joshua Cohen, of the NJ Regional Office of ADL said, “The swastika has become a ubiquitous symbol in graffiti, but it does not always carry “’antsemitic intent.’”
He also said, “A random swastika appearing in a neutral location is an entirely different proposition than compared to one on a synagogue.”
“Incidents involving the image found with no accompanying antisemitic imagery or writing on, say, a dumpster at a 7-Eleven or an overpass on the Garden State Parkway, fall into a category that the ADL has stopped including in its annual audit of anti-Jewish hate crimes. There is no indication that such cases specifically target Jews.”
Cohen concluded by saying, “Regardless of the specific intent, it would be a mistake to minimize the swastika. It shocks the conscience, and we all know what it is. It’s a hate symbol.”
The NTPD was going to investigate the possibility of a “hate crime,” but they have so far come up with nothing.
OGU joined forces with the OGHOA to fan the flames of controversy when other such incidents did not occur before or since that night.
But, the OGU/HOA combined complainers consortium (CCC) have invited the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an international organization that fights antisemitism world-wide, to come here in January 2019 to “speak on this issue.”
Is this what the members of the Home Groaners want their organization to get involved with? And why is the HOA having any sort of joint activity with the highly partisan group ironically called Ocean Grove United.
It is almost laughable for the OGU and its ally the Home Groaners to jump on this bandwagon. Jews have been subject to all sorts of murder and mayhem since the times of the Romans, so the Jewish people have largely developed a thick skin over minor incidents such as what the OGU and HOA are jumping up and down over in Ocean Grove.
The ADL says, “Anti-Semitism is the belief or behavior hostile toward Jews just because they are Jewish.”
Is that what’s going on in the Grove? Doesn’t the ADL have some terrorism, synagogue shootings, or murders of civilians to spend their time with?
The truth is that anti-Semitism does not “have a home” in the Grove, and many Jewish people live here without such concerns.
Most popular sentiment in the Grove is to assume the Halloween vandalism to be the work of ignorant out-of-towners, probably kids looking for trouble. Most think that the incident should have been dropped as an indicator of bias in this town, and as a news story, it lasted about 24 hours, with no noise coming out of the Grove.
OGU, a group that seems to be in a deep sleep most of the time, reappears, like Brigadoon, whenever they find an excuse to complain about bias in the Grove. They say that the ADL meeting in January 2019 is “in response to the concerns of Ocean Grove residents.”
Perhaps they should tell us how many OG residents would like to see the big guns (ADL) brought into the Grove to satisfy those “concerns?”
In our recent piece about the “hate has no home here” signs, we had a flurry of opinions in the Comments, but hardly any concern about the Mischief Night event.
In America we live in a free society, one which is not perfect and where hate is sometimes expressed and where such hate needs to be opposed, but Ocean Grove is not such a place.
Addendum: This Blogfinger article below says a lot about Ocean Grove United:
The parade was a big hit on a beautiful day in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. Click one image and follow the arrows. Use the X on the left side to return to civilization.
The Blogfinger photo staff was busy: Jean Bredin, Eileen Goldfinger, Paul Goldfinger
Yes Virginia, there is a Louis Armstrong—live at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960:
For the third year in a row, the weather posed a threat to the Town-Wide Yard Sale. Last week we postponed the May 13th setting because of horrible rain. Today, May 20, we expected sunshine, but when we woke up we heard wind gusts, and then, looking out the window, we saw clouds. It was chilly at 60 degrees, and there were a few little showers late in the morning, causing sellers to open up, cover up, and then start again, often moving to the porch briefly. One out-of-towner was cold, so he bought a hoodie from us.
We estimate that the Grove had about 60 yard sale sites. We signed up 49, and there were a number of others that joined in without signing up–I met 3 of those without having to look very hard. Asbury Park also had a town sale today but they were expecting only 25, and that is over an area larger than the Grove. Our yard sale manager Vincent Cannavo said that the density of yard sales in our small town makes for a perfect location for an annual town-wide sale. Last year we outnumbered Bradley Beach. There is no data as to how many of our sellers failed to open up because of the weather, but I don’t think there were more than a few.
It’s impossible to know the number of attendees at our yard sales, Yard sailors told me that they had a fairly successful day with a steady stream of shoppers despite the lack of sunshine.
As usual, the best thing about the TWYS is the social component. We met Grovers whom we never met before and we saw others whom we see only occasionally, as well as visitors some of whom are regulars in town and who love the yard sales. They come, often stay over, eat out, and patronize our merchants.
Eileen and I met a multi-lingual visitor (4 languages) who bought bowls from us and did a fine impression of a Parisian waiter. A women from Staten Island gave me a lecture as to why rubbing lemongrass oil over your liver was better than Lipitor for cholesterol. Exchanging stories and observations about our town is always fun, especially with strangers who give us some “out-of-the bubble” points of view.
A couple of out-of towners won the fashion award on Mt. Hermon Way. He bought a record “Stand By Me” but she already was. Blogfinger photo. 5/20/17.
Many Grovers and visitors stopped by our place to talk about Blogfinger, and, without exception, they were supportive. Some commenters came out of the closet to help me match the face with the pseudonym. Aggravated Curmudgeon’s wife told me that Curmudgeon is actually a nice guy and isn’t always aggravated. He was home selling stuff.
Conversations are always part of the action and are very entertaining and informative. 5/20/17. Paul Goldfinger photo on Delaware Avenue.
We met visitors from the outer reaches of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Cincinnati, and New York—Staten Island, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Some of the Grovers we spoke to are new residents in town including Lucy and Reena (both of whom had sales today.)
Several early visitors at our sale were looking for vinyl, but what interested me was that one was a young man. It turns out young music lovers are taking a keen interest in collecting and playing vinyl. An antique dealer from a neighboring town told me that sales of “old’ antiques were down because young couples aren’t interested, but there is enhanced interest in vintage stuff such as from the forties and the fifties.
So thanks to all of you Grovers who participated. It actually can be fairly stressful and difficult to prepare for a yard sale, and when it’s over, you’re still not done working. But despite that, it is fun.
Did you ever dream of traveling around the country in a van with a rock band? Well, Daniel Hickman of Tennessee, currently of Ocean Grove, did just that for five years when he was in his twenties. But he wasn’t a musician. He was a technician who made sure that the group’s guitars were fit as a fiddle. Daniel loved the experience; is there any doubt? ——– especially if you read Keith Richards biography.
Daniel has trained for years working on guitars—-repairing them and building them. He continued studying his craft with experts along the way as he traveled all over America with the Latin Rock group “de Sol.” He calls himself a “luthier” (definition: “a maker of stringed instruments such as violins or guitars.”)
Daniel comes from an artistic family and he probably inhaled guitar music living near Nashville. His career as a luthier has been progressing since 2005. After that rock gig, he moved to New Jersey and found himself with a very special business opportunity at the Jersey Shore Arts Center in Ocean Grove (66 South Main Street in Neptune) where he has had a workshop/studio since 2015 called “Don’t Fret Music.”
Daniel is grateful to the late Herb Herbst and the staff at the JSAC for providing him with a rare situation. He not only builds and repairs guitars and other stringed instruments,, but he has begun a program to provide lessons in guitar, piano, and uke. Dan has recruited a talented young teacher to work with students of all ages, and the lessons are given in a separate space off Dan’s workshop. He also repairs amps and he is moving into “retail.” Daniel plans to develop a “full service guitar shop and music store.” His shop is downstairs off the parking lot, with a private entrance to the left.
At the age of 32, Daniel is ambitious and enthused. “We are in the infancy of Don’t Fret Music.”
Daniel’s workshop/studio is a fascinating place, and to watch him work, you get the impression that he is highly competent. He worked on my guitar–he is an exacting craftsman.
Daniel is excited about the future of the Jersey Shore Arts Center. “There is a lot going on here,” he says; “The venue is full of talented artists in residence ,some of whom paint, do screen printing, social media, and photography.” There also is an acting ensemble “La Strada.” He wants to be supportive of his artist colleagues at JSAC.
One of his ambitions is to see a variety of new music performances in the JSAC theater. He hopes for bluegrass and jazz among the choices. This ambition seems very real given the recent downsizing of the secular programming in the Great Auditorium and the real need for some musical variety to satisfy OG’s diverse demographics and to balance against the music scene in Asbury Park.
Blogfinger will help promote new music and arts programs in Ocean Grove. It sounds like the JSAC may be on the threshold of something more than yoga and children’s ballet. Currently there is an arts show going on. Call them for details.
Daniel’s shop is open Tuesday through Saturday 3 pm -7 pm except Saturday which is 11 am to 5 pm. Call 732 361 5060 or DontFretNJ@gmail.com or the web site: DontFretNJ.com.
And, for the record, Daniel lives in Ocean Grove and he “loves the town.” It makes him happy because he knows his neighbors, people say hello, and the town is charming. Daniel knows most of the business people in the Grove and he feels at home here.
de Sol “Blanco y Negro.”
Here is a link to a 2018 piece about “Don’t Fret.”
