As the headline suggests, the weekend that awaits is jammed with the potential for good times.

We’ve got the fifth Red Bank Townwide Yard Sale, this one making a migration from fall to spring.

We’ve got one of the inaugural events of this year’s weeklong Paint the Town Pink festivities to raise awareness about breast cancer and the importance of early detection.

And capping it all off, rain or shine, is the first-ever Red Bank International Flavour Fest, an outdoor celebration of the wide variety of cuisines available year-round at Red Bank restaurants.

And Mother Nature appears to be in a mood to cooperate.

Details, as they used to say when that was still a two-syllable word, are just below.

SATURDAY: Red Bank Townwide Yard Sale
Location: all over town. Maps available at the Red Bank Public Library and at many of the participating homes.
Time: Officially, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., but sellers can set their own hours.

From an email update from Beth Hanratty, president of the Friends of the Red Bank Public Library, which has hosted the event since 2010:

lots of records, books and air conditioners

SATURDAY: Pink Hat Tea Party
Pilgrim Baptist Church
172 Shrewsbury Avenue
Doors open 10:30 a.m., Event 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Don’t miss this important Paint the Town Pink event, presented by Riverview Medical Center. Gather all the special women in your life to join us for an educational and entertaining Pink Hat Tea, with a hat and apparel fashion show courtesy Geneva’s Boutique of Neptune, a speacial presentation from Adi Smolinsky, M.D., a Riverview Medical Center OB/GYN, education about Paint the Town Pink’s mission of the importance of annual mammography, and more! Refreshments will be provided by Jameson’s Ultimate Southern Cooking Restaurant in Neptune. Don’t forget to wear your pink hat!

*Pink Sale Event. Deck your pink all year long with our exclusive Paint the Town Pink gear and goodies for sale at this signature event.

This event is FREE but registration is required. RSVP: 1-800-DOCTORS

SUNDAY: Paint Everything Pink Community Day
Riverview Medical Center parking lot
1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Pink your town, pink your house, pink your family. Everything is pink at our family-centered, free Community Day! Featuring many of the same pink “zones” families have come to expect as well as exciting new ones, this year’s event will feature:

Kids’ Fun & Games: Rides, arts and crafts, face painting – all the things your kids have come to love! And don’t miss photos with Dr. Bernard from the Pawsitive Action Team at
K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital.

Pink it Yourself Man Cave: In line with this year’s theme of Men in Pink, our “man cave” will offer the men in your life an area just for them. Activities will include DYI demonstrations from the Home Depot, interactive games, and of course our exclusive Real Men Wear Pink t-shirts.

Rockin’ Country Thunder 106.3: Bring out the country in you! With live music from a local country artist, this local-favorite station will have you dancin’ in your boots. Your kids will love our pony rides and everyone can enjoy some good old fashioned root beer!

And that’s not all! Enjoy some snack-food favorites and other sweet treats, and beverages from a number of local pink partners, and don’t forget to stop by our educational tables to pick-up important information about Paint the Town Pink’s mission of raising awareness of the importance of annual mammography.

Special Pink Cotton Candy and Snow Cones presented by Arrow Limousine.

SUNDAY: Red Bank International Flavour Festival
White Street Parking Lot
12 p.m. to 7 p.m., rain or shine

Here’s the National Weather Service forecast:

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. Northeast wind between 10 and 13 mph.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. Northeast wind around 9 mph.

By JOHN T. WARD

Here’s a stocking-stuffer idea that’s as local as they come.

A series of note cards by Red Bank artist Terry McCue honors the borough’s history by preserving, in pen-and-ink,  some of its most noteworthy buildings.

And the proceeds from the sale of the cards go to support an institution that occupies one of those structures: the Red Bank Public Library, which makes its home in the former Sigmund Eisner mansion on West Front Street.

McCue’s drawings, done over several decades, were the product of a twist in a long career in the graphic arts that took many, she tells redbankgreen.

Now 89 years old, she’s been a sketcher of window displays for New York department stores; a draftsman at Fort Monmouth; a creator of ads for the now-gone Vogel’s department store in Long Branch; and a designer of sheets and towels – not to mention a mother of six, grandmother of 11, and wife to her husband, Martin, a former Red Bank borough clerk and volunteer firefighter.

The 40-plus-year resident of Pinckney Road says the series of drawings came about after she made a drawing of the house next door as a gift when the owner moved away. Displayed in the recipient’s new home in Rumson, it was spotted by Realtor Gloria Nilson, who hired McCue to execute illustrations of homes for clients.

“The agents would give them as gifts to buyers,” McCue says.

That set her on the path of house illustrations. When she had time, she started doing drawings of old Red Bank buildings that caught her eye. Working from photos she’d take from several angles, “with close-ups of the details.”

Among the buildings committed to paper: the former Anthony Reckless Estate, now the Woman’s Club of Red Bank; the train station; the Dublin House; and the John Stout House, now the office of Red Bank Family EyeCare on East Front Street.

“I like the old buildings,” McCue says. “They’re there, they’re settled. They look like they ought to be there.”

Some of the homes McCue had hoped to get to were torn down before she could draw them, including the Rullman House, built in 1805, which the borough demolished in 1999 to create Riverside Gardens Park, and the Thomas Morford House, destroyed by the developer of what’s now a bank across the street from library.

Still, “eventually, I had a collection” of about a dozen, McCue says. The library once mounted a show of the drawings, but they sat gathering dust in a closet at her home until recently, when she pulled them out and donated them to the library. She signed over the copyrights, allowing the library to use them as it wishes.

“They’re just beautiful drawings of architecturally significant buildings,” said library director Mary Faith Chmiel. “They make great little gifts for people who used to live in town.”

Bundles of six note cards and envelopes are available at the library, with a suggested donation of $10.

Spectators watching the  2010 fireworks from outside the Red Bank Public Library. (Click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

The weekend extravaganza that is Kaboomfest kicks off Friday night, a three-day indulgence on the banks of our beautiful Navesink that includes rides, amusements, live music and one breathtaking pyrotechnics show that qualifies as one of the country’s largest.

There’s a lot to soak in of the borough’s lauded tradition, from parking to security, to where to catch the show and how to beat out after it’s done.

Your friends at redbankgreen have got you covered, and the articles below touch on all the facets of the show. Below is a shrunken version of those stories, providing a snapshot of what this weekend is all about.

Volunteers will be out with  bright yellow buckets soliciting cash support the non-profit show. (Click to enlarge)

But first, a  bit of perspective on the show for any newcomers.

• Now in the 52nd year in Red Bank, the fireworks show now known as KaBoom has gone through some growing pains the last year.

In the 2010 edition, alcohol-related problems, including increased incidents of violence put the show’s organizers on the griddle. There was even discussion, because of the sky high cost of putting on the event, of doing away with it altogether.

Responding to the criticism, the fireworks committee hit the refresh button, and the result is  a return, they say, to KaBoom’s roots: a family friendly weekend with no room for reprobate behavior.

Red Bank police, at the behest of the borough council, are taking a zero-tolerance approach this year. Security is beefed up to include all members of Red Bank’s police force, plus officers from surrounding towns. They’ll be out in the streets keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble, plus conducting bag and cooler checks for alcohol, which is prohibited in public.

The borough has recommended that anybody acting out of line face the maximum penalty, in some cases, like disorderly conduct, reaching fines of up to $2,500.

“We will try not to tolerate any behavior that is considered anti-social,” Mayor Pasquale Menna said in recent weeks.

(See a statement from the RBPD below)

That goes for the entire weekend, not just Sunday night’s fireworks.

• Beginning Friday night, the borough opens its downtown up for games, food and rides which last through the weekend. On Saturday night, the band Human Wheels, a John Mellencamp cover band, headlines at the Riverside Gardens Park stage for the Rock The River concert. Tickets are $10.

On Sunday afternoon, from 3 to 7 p.m., the youth-oriented Kid Kaboom festivities take place. That will include live music, games and crafts hosted by the Community YMCA on Maple Avenue.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, the gates at Riverside Gardens Park open up for Kaboom’s Family, Fun and Fireworks, where, for $10 for adults and $5 for children, you can get an up-close view of the fireworks. As part of the aforementioned revamped fundraising efforts, this is the first year organizers are charging at borough-owned property.

• Beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday, and running up until the show starts, multiple bands will play at Marine Park, which is one of the best locations to view the fireworks (others are Maple Cove, Riverside Gardens and, if you’re lucky, a private party up against the river).

• Then it’s time for the big bang, or bangs, put on by Garden State Fireworks. At about 9 p.m., the company will launch a near 30-minute salvo from the Navesink River into the night sky synchronized with music.

• This open-air mastery comes with a price, in terms of money, patience and personal space. As of Thursday, fundraisers had brought in some $200,000 of the expected $275,000 cost of the event, officials said. Volunteers will be out all weekend with bright yellow buckets soliciting donations to defray the balance. So if you think it’s worth a couple of your own bucks, consider dropping a couple into the yellow buckets being waved around this weekend for donations.

• Parking is at a premium on Sunday. By 4 p.m. the downtown is essentially cut off, so be sure to arrive early and don’t be afraid to mill around town to see what the town has to offer. All parking lots and garages will open and free of charge, but it’s highly recommended to take advantage of New Jersey Transit’s rail system, which is discounted at $5 round-trip tickets on the North Jersey Coastline. Tickets can be purchased on the transit’s website.

Upwards of 150,000 people pour into Red Bank to catch the fireworks, so the downtown is bound for congestion. Be prepared to rub elbows and maybe even run into a knucklehead or two, but if you do, grab a cop, they’ll be everywhere.

If there’s one thing to remember, committee spokeswoman Judy Musa said, “this is family friendly.”

Here’s a statement issued by the RBPD Friday afternoon:

On Sunday, July 3, 2011 the Borough of Red Bank will be holding its annual Fireworks Display.  This event typically draws a crowd of approximately 150,000 people.  In order to make this event safe the Red Bank Police Department draws law enforcement resources from throughout Monmouth County and other parts of the state.

This year the Mayor and Council passed a resolution calling for strict enforcement of state statutes and borough ordinances during the evening of the fireworks.  To accomplish this, the police department will be increasing the size of its force considerably from previous years and will deploy officers strategically based on past experiences.  The overall goal of this initiative is to provide a safe atmosphere for everyone and to continue the event as it was intended, a family oriented evening.

In keeping with the intention of the resolution enacted by the Mayor and Council, the police department will be seeking the maximum allowable fines to be imposed on people charged with disorderly persons and borough ordinance offenses on the evening of the fireworks celebration.  Electronic message boards will be placed throughout the town advising attendees of this increased enforcement in hopes that these messages along with the visibly increased police presence will prevent a great deal of unruly behavior that is at times associated with large crowds.

As in previous years numerous road closings will also be in place to ease and direct the flow of traffic and to further provide a safe atmosphere for pedestrians.  At 4pm all roads immediately surrounding Marine Park will be closed to vehicular traffic with the exception of emergency traffic accessing Riverview Medical Center.  At 6pm all roads in the downtown area between Spring Street and Maple Avenue and north of Harding Road will be closed to all vehicular traffic.  Motorists should follow the posted detour pattern.  It is recommended that anyone able to utilize mass transit do so, as NJ Transit will be providing increased service on the evening of July 3^rd.  Motorists who choose to drive into town should allow extra travel time and should expect up to a two hour delay in leaving town after the display.

Capt. Darren McConnell

]]> http://www.redbankgreen.com/2011/07/kaboomers-tout-return-to-family-show.html/feed 0 http://www.redbankgreen.com/2011/06/knitters-drop-a-soft-bomb-on-fair-haven.html http://www.redbankgreen.com/2011/06/knitters-drop-a-soft-bomb-on-fair-haven.html#comments Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:25:10 +0000 Dustin http://www.redbankgreen.com/?p=44282 The yarn bombers at work. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

In the craggy moments just after dawn Saturday, when not much was moving except bleary-eyed bakers and the  innards of a nearby traffic light, three women sat on a bench outside Fair Haven’s River Road Books, each with a somewhat mischievous smirk on her face, knitting.

The women — two from Fair Haven and the third from Middletown — were in the beginning stages of what was a well-planned sort of guerrilla art project, a stealth mission that toed a fine line between public art and vandalism. In ever-growing circles across the nation and beyond, it’s called yarn bombing, a paradoxical designation that instantly lends itself to head-scratching. Often, it involves wrapping trees and streetlamps in bright knits, without permission.

In this case, though, the matronly vandals had gotten an advance OK from the owner of the bench they were about to attack.

So imagine, as the sun itself needled through iron-gray skies, what passersby thought when they slowly shuffled into the corner bakery for coffee or turned to look from their cars at the stop light.

The yarn bombers after. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

Knitting and grafitti have been around for ages. The marriage between the two, however, has only taken hold in recent years, and its surge in popularity is what brought Rachel Griffin and Cynthia Barabas — and, incidentally, Christyn Budzyna — together Saturday morning.

Barabas and Griffin, avid knitters who both have daughters in Fair Haven’s schools, corresponded via email over the winter, trading stories about yarn bombings and tossing around the idea of doing their own bombing.

So with the help of the bookstore in providing a privately owned location – read, ‘willing victim’  – and Red Bank’s Wooly Monmouth knitting supply store to help spread the word, the two set out to bomb with the aim of bringing a fresh and slightly devilish form of art to Fair Haven.

Earlier last week, a small group met at Griffin’s home to knit pieces that would be used for Saturday — international yarn bombing day.

Then, in the early hours of the overcast weekend morning, the trio arrived for about 90 minutes purling red, white and purple yarn onto a bench outside the book store. Budzyna, a 22-year-old who’s made a couple solo bombings in Middletown, heard about it and decided to join in, meeting the other two women for the first time Saturday.

The early start, Barabas said, is because “I think there’s a little ‘a-ha’ moment when people who drove by last night… go out this morning.”

“It lumps into after-hours, guerrilla graffiti art,” Griffin said.

Nobody over the course of the bombing stopped to ask the women what they were doing, and just a few passed by with quizzical looks. The intent, however, wasn’t to gain attention on the spot, Griffin said, but to give people something to think about for as long as the yarn-adorned bench — and a couple of handmade flowers in a planter — remain outside the River Road business.

“Honestly, I’m going to look at this and laugh or chuckle or smile,” she said. “Whether other people do, it doesn’t affect my feeling.”

By the time they were done, Barabas was sitting on a bare wooden bench next to the piece, and looking at the final product: a fully covered bench that read on its back, “after,” a word thought up by her 14-year-old daughter, Rebecca.

“‘Finishing’ is a big thing for knitters. Getting it all together is a totally different beast,” Barabas said. “Finishing this project in less than a week really makes me feel like I can knit a sweater now.”

To enlarge the photo display, start it, then click the embiggen symbol in the lower right corner. To return to redbankgreen, hit your escape key.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

It’s time to polish momma’s apple, locavores.

Red Bank’s ever-popular, always-growing open-air emporium, the Red Bank Farmers’ Market, returns to the blacktop of The Galleria on Mother’s Day for its 12th season of dishing out homegrown fruits, vegetables and miscellaneous wares.

“All our main guys are coming back,” said George Sourlis, owner of the hosting site of the market, The Galleria.

That means upwards of 35 of your favorite purveyors of locally-grown bites, from fresh vegetables and fruits to oils and breads, plus a list of trinkets and assorted goods crafted from some of the most talented artisans in the area, said Megan Prenderville, of Frame To Please, which returns for its eighth year to the market.

“The vendors are all artisans. They make their crafts and I think that’s a lot different than just having a retail space,” Prenderville said. “It’s really wonderful when you’re able to speak directly with the person that produced the food for you. And they’re all really talented.”

Also making a return to the borough’s breezy bazaar is Adam Sobel’s Cinnamon Snail organic and vegan mobile kitchen.

“Hell yeah,” he said, when asked if he’d come back for a fifth year.

Sobel, who’s still pushing to get space to park and sell his wildly popular dishes on a borough street, has continued in the off-season to push his product on the streets of New York City and Hoboken, and this past year, he said, “has been record-breaking. We’ve had some extremely busy days.”

“I’m sure it’s going to be great in Red Bank. I can’t wait to get back and serve the community,” said Sobel, of Chestnut Street. “I’ve been looking forward to this all winter.”

The Cinnamon Snail will be there every Sunday through the market’s season, except the second Sunday of each month, when cohort and longtime downtown retailer Patti Siciliano of Funk and Standard will set up a spot to sell Sobel’s creations, along with her recently-launched Yummy Yummy Good Stuff stuff.

Not in the plans this year is The Galleria’s construction of a parking deck, Sourlis said. The plans, which have hit another delay, could get moving in the next few months, but Sourlis assured redbankgreen that when construction does start, the market will remain in some capacity. But that’s highly unlikely this season, he said.

“The market will never be affected,” he said. “We would make alternate plans.”

Sourlis also said he and and his team are planning some special additions to this year’s market, but they’re still in the works so he’s keeping it under wraps.

But for now, he said, “We’re looking forward to Sunday, and hopefully the weather will cooperate.”

Weatherbot says it likely will. The forecast says it’ll be partly sunny with a 30-percent chance of showers, and highs in the upper 60s.

The market runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday through mid-November.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

The iceberg-sized snowmounds are still here. The temps are near arctic. It’s the winter blahs, perhaps the slowest time of year for action, especially in the arts world. And in the Red Bank sector, not much is doing now.

Or at all, really, in the way of grassroots endeavors to showcase local talent, says Mellisa Pickering, one of the town’s more recognizable faces — and voices, with her Irish brogue — on the coffee scene.

Take those elements and it’s precisely the right time to get something going, said Pickering, who has a graphic design background and a passion for art.

“Red Bank is so quiet right now. I’m sick of waiting for something to happen,” she said. “So we decided to make something happen ourselves.”

The result is a winterlong, and perhaps yearlong, biweekly arts show at Broad Street’s Zebu Forno, where Pickering works. The show kicked off Saturday and continued Sunday.

About a dozen artists showed off their wares, ranging from original paintings, photographs and handcrafted jewelry to niche crafts such as medieval chain armor and trinkets made from recycled materials.

You’d be hard-pressed to find an assembly of artists like this one anywhere else.

“The different talents they do have here is pretty good,” said Krista McCaffery, of Perth Amboy, who was selling jewelry she makes out of sea glass. “It has potential.”

Pickering, with the help of a Craigslist ad, culled a mix of artists both locally and from all over the state to fill Zebu’s recently-completed back room.

The show gave the artists a chance to expose their work at a time when opportunities are few.

“A venue like this, and Mellisa, who wants to support local artists at a very low price, is very helpful, especially in the winter months. ” said Michelle Renee Bernard, an Ocean Grove artist who uses recycled materials to make jewelry and assorted crafts. “This is perfect.”

While the venue may have been perfect, it posed a small problem for Ryan Dougherty, who takes stainless steel and recreates medieval body armor.

“I’m a little worried about the food over there,” he said. “The profits may go right back in.”

Still, like most of the other artists, Southerland said he’d likely be back for the show, which is on a fluid schedule right now, Pickering said.

Originally intended to be a weekly event, held on Saturdays and Sundays, Pickering said coordination may push it to be held every other weekend.

But there’s lot of interest, she said, leading her to believe that rather than running the shows through the winter, she may make it year-round.

“I’ve got three hundred emails,” she said. “We’ll just have to see.”

Anyone interested in learning more of getting involved can email Pickering here.

When the clock ran out on the annual fresh-everything extravaganza known as the Red Bank Farmers’ Market three weeks ago, some of the vendors wondered why it had to end.

The market traditionally runs from Mother’s Day to mid-November in the parking lot of at the Galleria Red Bank shopping center. But there’s still a cornucopia of vegetables, fruits, baked goods and crafts to sell.

“We said, as this comes to an end, there will be no place for us to go,” said Laura Dardi of Red Bank, an employee of E.R. & Son Farm, a Colts Neck grower of certified organic produce. “To be cut off two weeks before Thanksgiving is at the worst possible time.”

So Dardi looked across Hubbard’s Bridge, to the River Plaza section of Middletown, where Chris’s Deli & Liquor has a large parking lot for a boat launch. After a quick conversation, a deal was struck.

Two weeks ago, on what might have been their first idle Sunday since May, about half the 30 or so vendors who participate in the Red Bank market popped their portable tents and dropped their tailgates less than a mile away.

Last week’s edition saw purveyors of baguettes, clams and oysters, fresh ravioli, apples, leeks pies and tacos hawking their wares. Coming soon: Christmas trees. And if the event takes off, Dardi envisions live bluegrass music at the riverside location.

“Chris said we could come as long as we want,” said Dardi, who collects $25 rent from each vendor (less from those selling original art or crafts) and hands it over to the landlord.

The market has a Facebook page, natch.

Stacey Gentile, of Cherry Grove Farm in Lawrenceville, hands out cheese samples to visitors of Red Bank’s farmers market. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Cherry Grove Farm has been at the Red Bank Farmers Market for two weeks, and it’s one of the first such open-air markets the Lawrencville-based farm has decided to take part in. Employee Stacey Gentile says Red Bank was at the top of the list of places for the business to try and branch out.

Schnitzie Snacks, a homemade dog-treat business from Long Branch, doesn’t take part in other farmers markets, just Red Bank.

And for the last six years, the owner of Bohemians Panes, out of Tinton Falls, has made the parking lot at The Galleria her No. 1 spot to sell an array of arts and crafts.

These three businesses could set up shop at markets elsewhere, but they choose not to.

For one reason or another, Red Bank is preferred.

And for more than 1,000 people each Sunday, it’s the preferred place to stroll along the blacktop for a taste of what the market has to offer. This isn’t just a place to pick up a fresh local tomato or a bottle of olive oil. Along the wide aisles, there are finds that make the market scene more flea than farmer.

That’s what attracts Sharon Hill, owner of Bohemians Panes.

“It’s beautiful to us,” she said. “A lot of people come down here just to see what they can get as far as gifts.”

Scattered among the locally-produced fruits and vegetables, fresh baked breads and homemade pie are stands like Hill’s. She has a range of wares, from stained glass to jewelry to sun catchers. Somewhere else you will find Schnitzie, a homemade dog treat business. Elsewhere, you can find the hard-to-find, like whey-fed pork and raw milk cheeses from Cherry Grove.

“They have a little bit of everything going on,” Hill said.

Borough residents Renee and Bill Doehler make it a point to visit the market at least once or twice a month to support  local businesses. Although it appears the market is gaining attention, it bodes well for the whole town to get more people into the market, the couple said.

“Anything that brings people into town, that’s a plus,” Bill Doehler said.

The market continues from 9a to 2p each Sunday until mid-November.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

The Dad Vail Regatta won’t be coming to Rumson next year after all, officials announced Thursday, much to the shock and disappointment of Rumson leaders who were assured the popular intercollegiate race would be taking place on the Navesink River.

“That is unfortunately true,” Rumson Mayor John Ekdahl said, just a half-hour after he received the news via telephone from Dad Vail committee member Jim Hanna. “I’m not sure what happened.”

According to Philadelphia news reports, committee members met Thursday morning at a press conference at Philadelphia City Hall to make the announcement. Details at the press conference were few, the report said.

Even Ekdahl wasn’t fully involved in what was going on in Philly, saying that the reason organizers chose to retain the regatta, which has taken place on the Schuylkill River since the 1950s, were political.

“(Hanna) said, ‘you guys did nothing wrong.’ He said it was a political problem in Philly, whatever that means,” Ekdahl said.

Rumson officials, he said, weren’t even invited to discuss what was happening in Philadelphia and hadn’t talked to committee members in two weeks, when they last visited Rumson to talk about the details of the event.

“We were never given any indication of it moving back to Philly. In fact, we were told Rumson was the choice,” he said.

Ekdahl said he and other local organizers recently submitted a letter of understanding to Dad Vail officials outlining the financing goals to support the event, which was expected to draw more than 100 colleges and upwards of 15,000 collegiate rowers and spectators to the shore town. There were four deadlines to be met in order to raise the $250,000 goal set. Two River Times owner Mickey Gooch fronted the initial $100,00, and the following payments of about $50,000 each, were to be gained through local fundraising, Ekdahl said. However, Rumson made no guarantee in the letter of understanding that the goal would be met within the short time frame the committee set forth.

“I think we could’ve hit that goal, possibly exceeded it, but there was no guarantee,” Ekdahl said, adding that Rumson was courted by local and national advertisers . “They had to have an out. They had to have an excuse, and I think they’re using that.”

The $100,000 Gooch put up to lure organizers to bring Dad Vail to Rumson will be repaid, Ekdahl added.

Considering the manner in which Rumson was seemingly spurned by Thursday’s announcement, Ekdahl said the likelihood of the borough pursuing the regatta’s return to the area are slim to none.

“I would say no chance. An awful lot of effort went into the planning and working with the Dad Vail people, and then to have it end in this fashion, without being told they had reopened negotiations, under the circumstances, I don’t think we will become involved with them again,” he said. “Even being such a great event, it ended on a real sour note.”

Ekdahl said that there’s still a desire to host some sort of rowing event on the Navesink, possible a high school race. But at the moment, the sting of losing Dad Vail in 2010 is still fresh.

“It would’ve been great fun for everybody and I know that we would’ve done a great job hosting it,” he said.