
OG Saturday Giant Flea Market June 2016. Gridlock. Blogfinger photo. © Where else can you find this? Click once to make the crowd bigger.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor@Blogfinger.net. May, 2018.
May 5 Spring Fling Chamber of Commerce closes down Main Avenue: gridlock
May 19 Vintage Car Show CC closes down Main Avenue: gridlock
June 2 Giant Spring Flea Market CC floods Ocean Pathway with thousands of junksters: gridlock
June 16 OGCMA Giant Craft Show —-300 artisans: Gridlock all over town
June 23 OGCMA Huge Christian festival: Bridgefest: Gridlock all over town.
August 4 OGCMA Saturday of the Camp Meeting Week: Gridlock all over town.
August 18 OGCMA Beach boys: Gridlock evening.
Sept 1 Doo /wop: Gridlock evening
Sept. 8 Giant Fall flea Market: CC floods Ocean Pathway —gridlock
Sept 16 British Car Show CC closes down Main Avenue: gridlock
October 6 Fall Harvest Festival CC closes down Main Avenue: gridlock
Note: Every Saturday during the summer season is a gridlock day due to beach attendance and when residents and their guests crowd the town during all those weekends. But that is to be expected. This is a beach town.
But now we are addressing mega Saturday tourist events such as the Giant Craft Show on the Pathway which make the town hopelessly paralyzed.
So what other Jersey Shore towns have so many gridlock Saturday special events geared towards tourists and oppressively imposed on the residents?
Consider Bradley Beach: Just one–The Lobster Festival. Holiday celebrations such as Memorial Day weekend don’t count because they are automatically part of summer. The rest are things like line dancing, music on the boards, opera by the sea, Italian Festival, Bradley Beach Day etc. which are primarily for the residents and don’t cause gridlock.
Here is a link to our recent piece about the struggle in Bradley Beach over one such mega event. It’s very interesting:
Bf reports on Bradley Beach struggle with mega-event
Consider Belmar mega: Just a car show and the NJ Seafood Festival.
Consider Avon mega: no mega events
Consider Asbury mega: Oyster Festival. They have many activities including music, shows, farmers markets, fine restaurants, bars and boardwalk events like the Zombies, but these enhance the image of A. Park and are not merely mega events to suck in huge numbers of tourists like we have. They have crowds and parking issues, but those crowds are drawn to the vibe of A. Park not to giant marketplaces where you can just buy stuff.
Consider Seaside Heights: Nothing mega. Jersey Shore Festival; otherwise arts and crafts, boardwalk fun/food, and soccer tourney.
Consider Spring Lake: Nothing mega. Just sensible small events for residents and guests: House tour, art in the park, garden tour, art walk, sidewalk sale, etc.
Only OG has huge events that overwhelm the town. What good does any of this do for the people of Ocean Grove? The CMA mostly attracts crowds from outside the Grove. All of the Shore towns have events, but they are primarily for the residents, such as ballroom dancing, concerts on the boardwalk, competitions for kids, etc.
Of the towns listed, we are the smallest and the most paralyzed by contrived tourist events. There is no reason to continue these overwhelming Saturday gridlocks—the Township needs to reduce the numbers to be in line with other Jersey Shore towns. But will they? No. These other communities make sure that their citizens enjoy the summer season in their home towns. Tourism, yes, but sensibly done.
Do the people of Ocean Grove want their town to be a circus every Saturday in season? Here is a march from Barnum and Bailey: