“We’re packing them in tighter, with some new vendors we hope will be successful, and just hoping for good weather,” Sourlis tells redbankgreen. And no, he says, the market won’t be displaced this season by the family’s plans to erect a parking garage on the site, on West Front Street at Shrewsbury Avenue.

The market is open every Sunday from 9 a.m to 2 p.m. into mid-November and features locally grown produce and flowers. (Click to enlarge)

Kathleen Fox-Smith chats with a customer on opening day of her Little Silver shop last Friday. (Click to enlarge)

By DANIELLE TEPPER

Home Depot, Costco, PetSmart: With their enormous inventories, the big-box-stores that transformed American retailing in the 1990s destroyed innumerable small, local businesses along the way. They also forced customers to travel farther for the privilege of finding what they need at unbeatable prices.

Kathleen Fox-Smith has chafed against the tradeoff for years.

“I have three dogs, and the nearest major pet store is PetSmart on Route 36″ in Eatontown, says the Little Silver resident. “It’s not that far, but it’s just a nuisance to go over there.”

So, answering a deep desire to own an animal-related business and her belief that area pet owners are ready to again shop locally, Fox-Smith has decided to take on the giants in her own, small way.

Last Friday, Fox-Smith debuted a new shop: Pet’s General Store, in the A&P Plaza on Prospect Avenue, offering food, treats, toys and other accessories for dogs, cats, and birds.

Fox-Smith spent eight years at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital, first as a pharmacy tech and later as head of the purchasing department, the latter of which she said gave her valuable inventory management experience needed to run the store.

After she left RBVH in 2006, she managed an interior design office up until last year. But during the interim, she ached to return to a job that allowed her to work, at least in some capacity, with animals, she said.

When the 1,200 square-foot space that had been the home of the Peppermint Tree, a specialty children’s clothing store, became available, “I decided to go for it,” she told redbankgreen.

While this is her first business venture, Fox-Smith said she is not intimidated.

“The unknown makes you a little nervous, but I’ve always had pets, always loved them, so I’m hoping to become a reliable place for pet owners,” she said.

Fox-Smith plans to carry some products that PetSmart doesn’t, to set her store apart. “If someone comes in and is looking for a brand of food we don’t carry, if I can get it, I’ll get it,” she said.

But she’ll also stock brands that the giants carry, because “the whole purpose here is to help people not have to make that trip,” she said.

After she gets settled in and has the place running smoothly, Fox-Smith would like to see the store become involved with animal rescue efforts.

“If I won the lottery, I would open a rescue,” she said. “If we could do something with that here, maybe help the Humane Society somehow, I would really love to do that.”

Pets General Store is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday; it’s closed on Monday.

By JOHN T. WARD

Two years after losing her teaching job in a budget squeeze, a Rumson woman has reinvented herself as a squeezer of fresh fruits, wheat grass and other healthy ingredients.

Dalmedo opened Freshicas organic juice bar Friday in a corner of Fairwinds Deli in Fair Haven, where she’s blending the juice of apples, beets, kale, lemons and more into all-natural drinks that taste better than they sound.

“It’s amazing how good some things can be when you mix them together,” she told redbankgreen as curious Fairwinds customers made their way to her counter. There, behind an ice cream freezer,  Dalmedo was giving out samples of drinks with names like “Sweet Craving” (apple, cinnamon and celery) and “Emerald Garden” (apple, spinach, lemon, cucumber, celery and kale).

Freshicas was born of Dalmedo’s frustration after she lost her job as a fifth-grade teacher in Rumson due to budget cuts two years ago, and her inability to land a new job. So she decided to turn her interest in healthy living into business, her first.

After a number of unsuccessful attempts to find an existing store in which she might find her footing, Dalmedo pitched the idea to Fairwinds owner Warren Abrahamson, who eagerly made space for her cutting boards, blenders and eyecatching terrarium filled with wheat grass, she said.

Now, she’s hoping Fairwinds, known for its sandwiches, will start offering more salads to attract more health-conscious moms, like herself, and others, she said.

Freshicas is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursdays through Sundays.

The final event on the the multi-town Pink Week calendar is a Zumba workout in Holmdel on Saturday. (Click to enlarge)

They called it a flash mob. That would be stretching the concept.

Still, the vinyasa flow sequence performed by about 30 members of Evenflow Yoga at the Red Bank International Flavour Festival Sunday seemed a fitting tribute to the emergence of the sun after a day of rain.

The yoga enthusiasts wore pink as part of the Pink Bank celebration going on in Red Bank and neighboring towns this week.

Dark clouds broke and thousands of hungry people poured into the Red Bank International Flavour Festival Sunday.

redbankgreen‘s Stacie Fanelli and John T. Ward were there, cameras in hand. Were you?

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

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.

Whoa, easy there, fella. If you smell meat, it’s only because we’ve just come from the butcher shop.

Citarella’s Meats & Deli, that is, on Prospect Avenue in Red Bank. That’s where we took last week’s Where, showing a wine press / cider press that’s on display on the sidewalk in front of the store.

The store’s website has a bit of compelling history to it. Though most of us know Citarella’s as the only remaining grocery on the town’s East Side, the business started as a storefront 101 years ago on Bridge Avenue, opposite the train station. And that was a full decade after Italian immigrant Andrew Citarella started “selling meats from his front porch.”

Thanks to Carmelina MacPherson, jksggiglio, Arlene Holiday, Joseph Lauterwasser, Mart Haviland, Marta Quinn, Joan Jay and Trish DePonti for writing in.

If you know Where our leonine friend above is guarding his turf, please send us an email with “Where Have I Seen This?” in the subject line.

By JOHN T. WARD

You’ll be able to get a bourbon with that porterhouse when Char Steakhouse opens in Red Bank later this year.

And among those who may want to raise a beverage in celebration is landlord Jack Anderson, whose hedge bet on a liquor license has paid off.

“I’d be screwed without it,” he tells redbankgreen.

Anderson won approval from the borough council last week to sell a liquor license he purchased two years ago to his new tenant, which is renovating space at the former location of Ashes Cigar Bar to a rumored tune of $2 million.

Records show Char paid Anderson the same amount he paid to acquire the license from the now-defunct Little Kraut/Red Bank Beer Garden: $385,000.

After legal fees, the license purchase was a money loser, Anderson said. But overall, it was an important element in bringing in the Raritan-based Char as a 30-year tenant, he said.

Anderson bought the Little Kraut license amid rising uncertainty over the legal outlook for Ashes, which had frequent run-ins with local officials over code violations and was a recurring problem for police. The place was widely rumored also to have been the scene of heavy drug use.

But Anderson said he was thinking primarily of using the Little Kraut license to lure another restaurant to the adjoining space he owns at 35 Broad, which was then occupied by he River’s Edge restaurant. Instead, he landed another booze-free tenant, Surf Taco.

Ultimately, though, the state Alcohol Beverage Control division suspended the Ashes license, which Anderson did not own, because undisclosed parties were found to have had interests in it.

A court-appointed receiver, Red Bank lawyer Bunce Atkinson, shut down the restaurant as a money-loser and, in November 2010, auctioned off the liquor license. It went to Eugene Devlin and Sean Dunne, owners of the Dublin House Pub on Monmouth Street, for $395,000.

Anderson says he could not have lasted long in a bidding war against the Dub owners and a third party who dropped out of the auction because of a miscommunication.

“Head to head, I couldn’t bid against them,” he said.

Now, he’s looking back on the Little Kraut license buy with relief as Char guts the building across Broad Street from his primary business, Jack’s Music Shoppe.

“The long shot was that I would need it there [at the Ashes space], but that proved to be exactly where I needed it,” he said.

Anderson said Char is shooting for an early September opening.

*****

In other Churnings:

• Ashley DuPre is aiming for a May 9 opening of her lingerie-and-swimwear store Femme By Ashley at 15 Broad Street.

• Ice Costume Jewelry has opened at 12 Monmouth Street, in the space last occupied by Soapmarket.

Like the past two autumn Oysterfests, Red Bank Flavour’s new International Flavour Fest on Sunday will bulge at the belt line of the White Street parking lot. (Click to enlarge)

It’s panning out to be a busy spring for Red Bank Flavour.

The promotional partnership of borough-based bistros, bars, boites, bakeries, breakfast nooks, banquet halls and better take-out vendors heralded the turn of the season with the return of the Dine Downtown campaign in March. Then in April, the culinary alliance presented a special Broadway in Red Bank showcase that reinforced the notion of the town as dinner-and-show destination.

On Sunday, the Flavour pack joins with Red Bank RiverCenter and a host of local and corporate sponsors for an event with a broader, even global, reach: the first annual Red Bank International Flavour Festival.

Dublin native Steve Reilly and Shore reggae masters Random Test help lend a global vibe to the Red Bank International Flavour Fest, this Sunday afternoon on White Street. 

Presented in the White Street municipal parking lot (scene of September’s Guinness Oysterfests) from noon to 7pm, the rain-or-shine shindig is pitched as “an international culinary experience” that also boasts “international beer and wine,” plus family-friendly activities and a full menu of live music on two stages.

Some 30 of Red Bank’s most proactive purveyors of fine foodstuffs will be offering attendees samples of their wares, as “culinary cultural attaches” for the likes of France (Bienvenue), Ireland (The Dublin House), China (Temple Gourmet), Thailand (Siam Garden), Mexico (SurfTaco), ever-eclectic America (Dish) and points well below sea level. There’s also the expansive international vision of Gary the Soupmeister and Readies, plus gourmet pizza (with other Italian favorites) and the kind of sweet-tooth diplomacy that recognizes no national borders. A full listing of participating vendors (with website links) can be found here.

In a further flavourful twist, the featured entertainment also carries with it an World vibe, with an International Stage showcasing reggae partystarters Random Test, Dublin-born rocker Steve Reilly, Latin/ Salsa showstoppers from The Funktion, and a round-the-world performance by the students of Red Bank’s Kathryn Barnett School of Dance. An All-American stage features local favorites Quincy Mumford and Kirk & The Jirks, as well as Bon Jovi-likes Runaway (take it here for a detailed music schedule and links).

Admission to the Red Bank International Flavour Festival is $5.00 for adults (kids 12 and under free), with proceeds benefitting Red Bank RiverCenter and the Red Bank Regional Buccaneer Athletic Foundation.

The Flavour keeps on lasting, all this spring and throughout the summer, as the grassroots alliance plots the return of the monthly Red Bank Food and Wine Walk promotions, the first of which pounds the pavements on Sunday, May 20 — and about which more to come in the paperless pages of redbankgreen.