RED BANK: ANOTHER RIVERFEST REVIVAL
Brian Kirk and the Jirks — the veteran Shore partystarters who’ve never been shy about taking their act outside — headline the slate of live entertainment at Riverfest 2014, the three-day fantasia of food, folks and fun that commandeers Marine Park beginning Friday evening.
It’s a matchup of sounds, sights and savory flavorings that seems a natural fit to a pre-summer’s weekend on the banks of the Navesink. And, when the fourth annual edition of the revived Riverfest pitches its tents and stages at Marine Park for another three-day stay that kicks off Friday night, it’s as if that whole decade-long layoff never happened.
A presentation of the Eastern Monmouth County Chamber of Commerce with Hoboken-based This Is It! Productions — and an event with roots in the modestly scaled Red Bank Food Festivals of yore — Riverfest came rolling back in 2011, having spent most of the Noughties exiled from the park by the Red Bank Jazz & Blues Festival. While that event relied on out-of-town food vendors, however, the present-day ‘fest puts the emphasis primarily on a more local base of restaurants, caterers and purveyors.
It also represents a more diverse sonic smorgasbord of sounds, with live mainstage entertainment spotlighting such party-percolating favorites as JoBonnano & the Godsons, Motor City Revue, and Brian Kirk & The Jirks. There’s also a Rock the River Stage programmed by the Asbury Park-based nonprofit Musicians on a Mission, and featuring a full schedule of regional acoustic acts.