Today’s Red Bank oRBit has early word of a couple of new happenings going on around the borough business district, where Red Bank RiverCenter is getting ready to launch a new series of Third Thursdays promotions — a monthly slate of sales incentives, in-store promos and outdoor entertainment designed to turn your Thursdays into something resembling the new Friday. We’ve got the details for you, in advance of next week’s debut.

We’ve also got a way-in-advance look at a special event that’s being cooked up for later in September: A Taste of Red Bank, a self-guided, pay-one-price tour of some 30 participating borough bistros. We’ve got an up-to-date list and all the links you’ll need to get started on your savory stroll.

But if Thursday’s the new Friday, then it looks like Saturday’s going to have to do the work of both Saturday and Sunday, as the annual Clearwater Festival — that edu-taining and environmentally themed summer celebration presented by the newly rebranded New Jersey Friends of Clearwater — marks its tenth year in Asbury Park.

Here in 2009, the Red Bank-based Friends have condensed the event into a one-day affair, with an all new FREE admission policy and a lineup of talent that’s highlighted by folk legend Oscar Brand (pictured) and pedigreed bluesman Guy Davis.

All this and more choices for the weekend, coming up over the next couple of days, not only in Red Bank — but only in Red Bank oRBit!