Scenes from the 2011 fireworks show, when police presence was ramped up following widespread brawling and drunkeness in 2010. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s largest public event, the annual KaBoom Fireworks show, is off for 2012 and facing steep barriers to a return, organizers said Wednesday morning.
The nonprofit show’s executive committee, after several months of mulling, concluded about a week ago that the costs and challenges of staging the event, which draws an estimated 100,000 visitors to the borough each July 3, could not be met this year, chairman Tim Hogan told redbankgreen.
“It was a victim of its own success,” Hogan said, with increasingly bigger crowds drawn to what was billed as the fourth-largest Independence Day fireworks celebration in America in terms of the number and size of shells lofted into the sky above the Navesink River.
“It was a big event,” he said. “It was a challenge to control the crowd and make sure we were providing security to the folks who came.”
An armored personnel carrier was on hand in 2011 as authorities promised to crack down on unruly behavior after several brawls broke out at the 2010 fireworks. (Click to enlarge)
Organizers have faced rising hurdles in recent years, said Hogan, the president of Riverview Medical Center, one of the event sponsors.
Growing crowds spurred drunkenness and sporadic brawling in the streets, with fights breaking out in 2010 and again in 2011, and dozens of arrests.
The borough government, under tight fiscal restraints, stopped donating police and cleanup services three years ago, saddling the event with an additional $60,000 or more in yearly costs.
Coordination with New Jersey Transit on train scheduling brought thousands more visitors into town, adding to both the crowd size and the need for security, Hogan said.
Meantime, raising money from the private sector became harder as the broader economy struggled to recover from the housing crisis of 2008. Hogan said the 2011 event, in his first year as chairman, started off with a $40,000 deficit from 2010, and though some $360,000 was raised last year, the event just broke even.
Most of the funding came from large donors, including Springpoint Senior Living, which owns the Atrium at Navesink upscale seniors residence on Riverside Avenue; Meridian Health, parent of Riverview Medical Center, where Hogan is president; and Wells Fargo Bank. On-site donations by attendees were relatively paltry, generating less than $15,000 last year.
The organizers themselves, Hogan acknowledged, may have overreached, in 2010 expanding what used to be a one-day event into three days of carnival rides and other attractions that didn’t draw adequate crowds.
In addition, downtown merchants complained that the event caused them problems with rowdy partiers who were more interested in using restaurant and store bathrooms than in spending money.
But the final nail in the event’s coffin may have been the daylong rain that imperiled the show in 2011, said Hogan. The fireworks went off, but turnout was about half of prior years, underscoring for organizers just how fragile the endeavor was.
The show “got big and ambitious, and when the weather doesn’t cooperate…” he said, trailing off. “We saw the effects of that last year.”
Does he see a comeback for the show in 2013? Hogan said the event “can only be successful with community support. There’s a lot of forces that need to come together” to make the event – which he termed “hard to manage, hard to fund” – work.
Might I suggest that the committee come up with a FAMILY event to replace the over-the-top brawl-fest? Something the bad element has absolutely no interest in. Something I wouldn’t be afraid to bring my kids to. Something that’s refreshingly understated, something clever, maybe multi-cultural.
Americans shouldn’t have to be loud, ignorant, and obnoxious, we don’t have to release heavy metals, potassium nitrate, et. al into the air. Our pride should come from ingenuity – let’s do something we can be proud of with this event.
If you didn’t have a reason to vote out the current politicians in Red Bank, this might do it. 50 years of tradition down the drain because they can’t find funding?
Scale it back to one night. Don’t make it a downtown festival. I find it hard to believe they can’t come up with a better alternative. I’d rather pay for this than for lights on all the trees in Red Bank, a visitor’s center & all the other money that is wasted on ridiculous nonsense in town.
Maybe they could dip into their precious “parking fund.”
They’re canceling it because it was “too successful” and they broke even last year? What kind of double-talk is that? I agree, the three-day festival is ridiculous, and the borough needs to put some funding into the event. It shouldn’t all fall on the committee and private donations. How about just ONE day of celebration ending in fireworks?
Wow. Overall pretty pathetic. “The event just broke even”. Well it is a nonprofit organization??? Too bad no local government official could step up to the plate. This has been a Red Bank tradition and something I have always looked forward too. I didn’t see Hovnanian mentioned either and they are a Billion dollar company with headquarters on the Navesink, exactly where the fireworks take place. Also what about our tax dollars?? I’m also pretty sure the cops are getting overtime and or holiday pay which I feel is unnecessary and wasteful. I’m not blaming the committee for the 3 days festival but I agree it didn’t work out and just keep it one day. Changes should be made but it should NOT be canceled.
I moved here in 2003 and went once, then vowed never again because I couldn’t get a stroller through the crowd. There’s your problem right there.
How about they take a few years off to let the knuckleheads kind of forget we ever had fireworks, then reintroduce a nice little understated fireworks show – with no NYC radio station promotions, no marketing, no flashy Kaboomy name, no special trains to and fro, just a little small town fireworks display we can bring our kids to, like they do in 1000′s of other towns across the country every July 4th – with little or no problems.
Wow. Talk about throwing out the baby with the bath water. We have kinks to work out, so you know what, we’ll cancel a fifty year tradition entirely. Logical conclusion. What’s more, let’s cancel foregoing any meaningful public input. Shameful.
Here’s an idea…how about something in this town that happens for the people who LIVE in this town.
I bet if you solicited the residents of this town to raise money for a fireworks show down by the river that did NOT involve mass crowds, NY radio stations, sausage and pepper trucks, vendors of ridiculous “souvenirs”, rides, and on open invitation to every bonehead in the tristate to come drink for three days, you would be able to raise half the money. People who live here LEAVE TOWN that weekend because it is such a zoo. If you broke even with all of that other junk going on, then you can surely make it work for fireworks alone.
I’d like to know who is going to tell my 10 year old on the autism spectrum, that the fireworks he starts talking about months ahead of time aren’t going to happen.
Another step backwards for a once great town.
Oh, and RB Greenman:
I’m a tad disappointed you didn’t think of the “KaBoom goes kaput” headline.
Last summer Shore Flicks showed the movie Independence Day on July 4th at Veteran’s Park in Hazlet. Perhaps this year we’ll see about shifting it to Red Bank.
I’m going to call shenanigans on this whole “cancelling the fireworks” debate. I bet they bow to public pressure to have some sort of fireworks display. No way is it cancelled entirely, if it is…well, then I’ll say I was wrong on July 4th.
How are you going to get the word out to 100k people that the fireworks are cancelled? You will have people coming into town, not knowing that there isn’t a show.
Chris Masi you are 150% correct.
Brian and Jane, I wholeheartedly agree! Red Bank turns into a complete zoo. Unfortunately, the few who are poorly behaved and disrespectful have really tarnished the entire event. I am one of those folks who does leave town for the weekend (leave the whole state in fact)! I like the idea of a very scaled down event that is family friendly and Red Bank focused – not tri-state area focused. Good luck in 2013.
It must have seemed like a great idea at the time to partner with a NYC radio station which made it a regional event.
I had thought the armored personnel carrier was overkill but maybe it can be part of the solution.
Instead of 7/3 fireworks lets send our amphibous vehicle into the Navesink to lob shells on us with the APC firing back from the shore.
Oh wait, that might draw bigger crowds of unruly teens than the fireworks.
I agree with some of you, a nicer smaller event like all the other cities manage without NYC interference. Kaboom had its heart in the right place, just too much for us small town folk. Thanks for the memories.
Jennifer,
I think you’re right crowds of teens will probably still come.
Since 7/3 is on Tues. this year I’ll expect a bigger turnout of teens on 7/4.
We’ll end upcproviding extra police protection without any subsidy from the Fireworks Committee.
There has always been a dispute as to whether the public should be paying anything since the crowds were “good for business”.
That it’s been increasingly viewed as bad for business was the turning point.
Move it to the fourth when everyone else has fireworks and you will decrease the crowd substationly. Get rid of the radio station and make it a small town event not a national event.
I remember going to the RB fireworks 35 years ago. It was small dinky fireworks that were very slow (literally 30 seconds between shells). But me and my family could stroll right through to the water 1 hour in advance with no issues. As a 10 year old I thought they were the best. If a tiny town like seabright can host a decent fireworks show then surely RB can host a scaled down version. It does not have to be the 4th biggest. I would settle for 25th. Also move the date from 7/3 to 7/4. This would directly compete with NYC and other big shows…reducing the out of town factor.
I will also add that not everything is about business and taxes. This is a celebration of OUR country. If there is one holiday the local governments should support this is the one. The fireworks should be about celebrating the country, not to bring in more business to downtown. That is a major issue once this became a promotion of red bank and RB businesses then it lost its message. It is easy for politcians to pull the plug on an business development event that is not profitable and costing tax payor$. It would be more difficult for them to stand up and say we are not supporting the celebration of independence (i dare any republican or Dem to state that publically). I am sure memorial day parades have some municpal costs but we still support those because the cause is right. So is the 4th of july.
David:
I agree that the value of this celebration can’t be measured.
Yet there were heated posts in 2010 by someone going door to door with a petition to stop the fireworks.
They claimed they were going to sue to stop the 2011 fireworks but there were no follow up posts from that person or a lawsuit as 7/3/11 drew near.
this is what you get hen your local government sells the towns old town hall (worth 1.3 million dollars) for 2 bux in the middle of the night – a town where it’s leaders DO NOT care about their constituents time to CLEAN House and vote them all no more. Time for a town for the people and just the Few!!!!
Jennifer, don’t mess with my twinkle lights, you Christmas hating weenie. And you don’t pay for them, anyways. It’s not your taxes paying for them, it’s the RC tax that pays for them, something that’s not paid for by residents. The VIsiters Center is also paid for by RC tax, so you’re not paying for that either. I am, and god knows I wish I wasn’t.
Hands off my twinkles, I likes ‘em. Lol
(and before you all start yelling at me, Jenn is a friend of mine and I’ve called her far worse than weenie.)
The fireworks were great when I was young, great memories but I was ignorant when I was younger as to Who actually pays for the fireworks. As a citizen of Red Bank with high taxes now I understand that not much is for free in your town.
Alot of good points above. The huge crowds should be reduced if it was moved to the 3rd. Just like a business that has to lay off employees – Red Bank has had to lay off the fireworks. With a bad economy the older sponsors do not want to flip the bill any more or do not want the tax write offs?
*** If the TOWN OF RED BANK and it’s citizens want the fireworks or not we should hold a referendum that includes the cost to the tax payer. We can vote on it as a community.
And Rumson is a bunch of 1% hypocrites who don’t want our riff raff. It’s hilarious they cancelled the same day!!
Mayor Ekdahl ! Mayor Ekdahl!” Red Bank has just cancelled their fireworks! AAHHHH!… Cancel ours now, Cancel ours now! sell, sell, sell the stock is dropping the stock is dropping! Cancel – I can’t have all those white trash and New Yorkers in my town! Cancel!….
my first thought was “what a sad day for Red Bank”. then I thought how out of control and over the top the event has become. sounds like the down home family celebration of our nation’s birth has gone haywire. armored personnel carrier? such a shame Red Bank had to prepare for a riot rather than a family night out. sadly, it looks like Red Bank outgrew it self.
“Does he see a comeback for the show in 2013? Hogan said the event “can only be successful with community support. There’s a lot of forces that need to come together” to make the event – which he termed “hard to manage, hard to fund” – work.”
Its real simple take away all the BS and bring back what it was what it used to be a home town event. NOBODY wanted what they turned it into and I was against it turning to a three day event with a circus act on FRONT.
Shame they seem not to understand BIG is not better. Here is a question everyone should ask. WHERE did all that money they raised go too? Who benefited from all this? Way to much fat in it that they they couldn’t trim 50% off by making it manageable for a small town.
And shame on the bourough for not taking charge of a 50 year event nad protecting the good name of the town.
Let’s not let it all go. This was one of the things that made Red Bank special. Let’s trim down, focus on community, and quit complaining about breaking even-especially considering the three-day fiasco. No jazz/blues, no fireworks? Red Bank fizzles!
jazz and blues came back to what it was a Red Bank event Riverfest. the fireworks would work if they didnt need to be the biggest show in the state. I personally dont want to see them go I want them to get redone so we can go back to enjoying them again.
lots of good comments and it seems everyone would like to go back to what it once was…so how do you do that? the event was out of control before the three day festival…how do you stop folks coming into town who really don’t care about the fireworks but want to party in the streets? most folks with young kids with whom I have spoken will not even go downtown that evening because of what they see and hear. how did this happen? Well, we provide easy transportation by train so they don’t have to drive home drunk. We make it easy for them to get soused. and surprise we have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to control them. not clear to me how you easily scale down the part of the crowds that are causing the problems. If that is what the town wants, then someone needs to sit down and understand where the real problems are, layout ways to minimize these problems, and then estimate the costs to do it….from there one can then make an informed decision of whether to continue. sad situation but just wishing will not make it happen
How?
1) Make a big announcement that the fireworks are cancelled. Check.
2) Move it to the 4th.
3) Spend $50k on the fireworks not $275k
4) Don’t advertise anywhere except the Hub, TRT, RedBankGreen, store windows, the newsletter from the town to residents.
If Sea Bright’s show is as big as RB’s and they’re both the same night I’ll bet partiers will choose the beach.
Many of you know I never agree w/ George, but this time he hit the nail right on the head. Bigger is not better. Get back to basics & enjoy the fireworks!
Jennifer I have no idea why you don’t agree with me. Parking I understand. But I’m not an advocate of a garage I’m am advocate of getting the current situation fixed. Lots disgusting, garbage cans rotted, lighting in all lots at 60% working. Riverfest was last year and the town had to bring in portable lighting cause they didn’t know the lights were not working. Ummm if I was running the town and had a huge event coming in and paying for the space I would make sure the park was in good standing to hold it.
As for the parking I would much rather see long term parking remedies til we have a plan in place. 40% of the spaces behind Ashes are never used in the busiest part of a Saturday night. So how do we get people to see them or fix the signage that confuses them to not park their.
This should not be businesses against residents and I don’t know how this ever started. We need each other.
I’m sorry if I ever crossed the line with you but I’m only looking out for the downtown and if the downtown thrives taxes get lowered for residents. Right now it seems landlords are appealing taxes and winning so there will be a short fall soon and it will get passed on to the residents.
As for the fireworks I feel kaboom needs to be replaced with something other then an entity not looking to break even. This is it productions gets paid to put people on Front street to sell carnival food which stops them from spending money in RED BANK. I suggested we put it on the fourth last year I also suggested the heavier police presence to deter the drunks. I was the one who said triple the fines and make those fines pay for the deficit I guess we never found out how many 1000.00 tickets we gave out last year. I also said stop the trains from coming in but increase them going out. Put a bigger police presence on the train tracks and arrest all or refuse them to enter when they look intoxicated.
Bottomline this has turn into such a shitfest you might need to shut it down one year and regroup. Or don’t advertise the fourth and leave it for us. If you do it on the fourth with everyone else you compete with other towns it will never be as big as it was and that’s fine by us. I would much rather stay open and serve all you then close my doors early for fear someone who works for me will get hurt.
We can save this we just need to want too
PS I’m sure this a ploy on kabobs part to let bourough know that they choose not to do it unless the town wants to pay for it. I suggest the town take the event over get rivercenter involved and all the other great RED BANK volunteers and rethink this event. Again i ask who benefited from this event? 275,000 dollars seems an awful lot of money not to get the job done.
Also sponsors back away from this event cause it was not good business any more to be in it. Bring back the family friendly event and all will gladly pay for it.
Kabobs=kaboom ( damn you apple)
George,
Kind of off topic but your last post reminded me of http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com. There’s some pretty funny stuff there. I love my iPad and iPhone but I curse them at times with their unwanted “helpfulness”!
Has there been any thought to banning achohol for a period of time…bring it back to a family event..eliminate that population that needs it to party. Focus on a one day old fashioned type of celebration for our country’s birthday.
Cythia they are coming polluted. Non of our red bank bars would dare to serve 16 year olds. The trains are full of drunken disorderly under age drinkers. Stop that and you will have a great event again. the adults are not the problem its the kids who are over doing it.
Attending Kaboom every year, my comments were not directed at just underage visitors. But you are right about the hoards of youngsters coming off public transportation.