Gus Carter gets a round of applause after Mayor Billy Portman reads a proclamation honoring him for the 2026 Community Spirit Award. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
It was Gus the barber in a runaway.
When Red Bank’s Community Engagement & Equity Advisory Committee went to count the nominations submitted by community members for its 2026 Community Spirit Award, 60 percent of the nominations were for one person: Angus “Gus” Carter.
Carter, 84, owner of Gus’s Barber Shop at 243 Shrewsbury Avenue, has been in business in Red Bank since 1978.
He’s known for haircuts, advice, loaning a few bucks or giving a free trim to those in need, as well as his steady, genteel countenance.
So it was no surprise, that when the Mayor and Borough Council honored him with a proclamation Thursday night, friends, family and neighborhood residents filled the chamber.
A big turnout for Gus Carter at the meeting of the Red Bank Mayor and Borough Council.
Further testament to what Gus means to so many people can be seen in the video redbankgreen shot last month, in which a former Red Bank resident who has moved to Florida returns to New Jersey and makes a beeline directly to Gus’s Barber Shop, just to sit and talk with him.
Here’s the text of the media release from the Community Engagement and Equity Committee:
Augusta “Gus” Carter is the 2026 recipient of the Red Bank Community Engagement and Equity Committee’s Community Spirit Award having received over sixty percent of the nominations when the committee opened the nomination process to the community this year.
Mr. Carter opened Gus’ Barbershop in 1978 and has been a vital part of the Red Bank Westside Community ever since. For almost five decades, he has opened his doors cutting hair and providing traditional barbering services making it a go-to form guys who want a classic cut without fuss.
But Mr. Carter is far more than an entrepreneur; not only has he trained and influenced many local barbers, he has opened his doors to those who could not afford the cost of a good cut and provided a space for the homeless in the borough to clean up and take a shower.His generosity extends outside of his shop by providing services for free and hospitals and nursing homes to those in need – most notably Riverview Hospital and Monmouth Medical.He also makes home visits to those who are shut in or cannot get to his shop traveling outside of Red Bank to Ocean and Neptune.
Mr. Carter has been an active and faithful member of Shrewsbury Avenue AME Zion Church for more than 50 years and has served as a leader in the administration and finances of the church as well as the Zion ministries.
He is married to Donna Carter and father to Augustus Carter and Kayla Carter-Owens. He is grandfather to Aniyah Booker, Madison Booker, Gina Carter and Okami Owens.Gus is certainly beloved here in Red Bank especially within the Aftican-American Community on the west side of the borough. It is said that everyone’s family member has had their hair cut a Gus’s Barbershop for generations.
Residents commented that Gus’s shop was not only a place to get a hair cut but a place to gather for the community – getting wisdom and life lessons from Gus but a lot of laughs along the way.
Further proving the admiration for Gus – in the last year he has now been honored three times – could be a first for a red bank resident.
Tonight he is receiving the Red Bank Community Engagement and Equity Community Spirit Award. Just last week, he was awarded one of the Lifetime Achievement Awards (along with Rudy Sigler) by the Red Bank Community Block Party Committee. And in 2025 was honored by the Red Bank Council and will receive a plaque of honor when Johnny Jazz Park is renovated.
It is a privilege to honor a man so well loved in Red Bank by so many. Gus is just the second recipient of the award; the first going to Ethel Brandon in 2024.The Red Bank Community Engagement and Equity Committee created the Community Service Award to honor individual(s) whose contributions should be recognized as they make the borough a better place to live, work and study for everyone in Red Bank.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331.
