Summer arrived on the Greater Red Bank Green (and, possibly, elsewhere) with the solstice Saturday evening, and redbankgreen found no shortage of local folks ready to demonstrate their joy with an ecstatic jump.
Among them, as you’ll see if you scroll all the way to the end, was an infant and her family with something special to celebrate. (Photos by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge. Jump to feel young.)
How happy are you that the summer of 2016 has arrived? redbankgreen photographer Trish Russoniello wandered the Greater Red Bank Green Monday morning, hours before the solstice, asking strangers to express their feelings in a jump. Not only did almost everyone she approached agree, but all — including Gabrielle and Bryan, seen above in Riverside Gardens Park in Red Bank — literally leapt at the opportunity.
Click to see 16 more airborne odes to joy. (Photos by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge. Jump to feel young.)
8:24 p.m.: Closing out the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun descended over the Navesink River, as seen from Red Bank Marina. (Photo by Stacie Fanelli. Click to enlarge)
5:30 p.m.: Rasheen Johnson, left, of Red Bank, with Matthew Huston of Shrewsbury at Patterson Park in Shrewsbury. Johnson said his goals this summer were to “lose weight, get some color, feel good.”
Still with the jumping? Well, yeah. After all, this is the first day of summer, and the longest day of the year. Who wouldn’t want to leap at the very thought? Especially with Sol Searching prodding people to jump like youre nine years old and just got out of school for the summer.
These photos were taken in Shrewsbury. Please check out our jump shots from Little Silver and Red Bank.
(Photos by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge. Jump to feel younger.)
5:47 p.m.: Father’s Day arrived slightly late for Maria and Kenny Sutherland, brother and sister, who celebrated the occasion on the water Wednesday, instead of Sunday, with both their parents.
After a day on the Navesink River and New York Harbor, dear old dad gave himself a present. He “left us to clean the boat,” Maria said. (Photo by Connor ‘Solstice’ Soltas. Click to enlarge)
Today, redbankgreen engages in a bit of Sol Searching as we chase the sun across the Green on the longest thanks to the Summer Solstice and, by coincidence, so-far-hottest day of the year. Please check in regularly to see where we’ve been. Suggestions? Send ’em here, please.
4:50 p.m. Among the dozen or more ice cream junkies seated outside Crazees Institute of Fine Ice Cream and Nuts in Rumson at this hour were Duncan Straine, 6, and his brother, Hugh, 8, of Fair Haven, with a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough and a milkshake, respectively.
The kids spent the day at their beach club unwinding after a rough school year and running through sprinklers in the park.
A cashier said the West River Road stand was busy, as expected, and that almost 300 people had been served since 11 a.m.
“Today was extra special because it was the last day of school around here, too,” she said. (Photos by Stacie Fanelli. Click to enlarge)
4:31 p.m.: Amelia Liberatore, Sarah Pyne and Vanessa Romano, all of Middletown, head home after six hours at the Anchorage beach in Sea Bright. They stayed in the water most of that time after finding tanning in the mid-90-degree heat uncomfortable to the point of pain.
“It’s annoying once you stay too long,” Romano said. “But I thought it was a good beach day because the water was warm. It was so refreshing, but without the water, it would’ve been bad.” (Photo by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)
3:20 p.m.: Pudgie Conroy feeding Violet, a calf, at Sheep’s Run farm on Rumson Road in Rumson. (Photos by Connor ‘Solstice’ Soltas. Click to enlarge)
“Okay, Stinky. That’s it.”
The one-year-old calf’s name is Violet. But to Pudgie Conroy, a Middletown native turned full-time stable tenant in Rumson, calling her bovine charge “Stinky” not to mention “muddy” and “sweaty” on the year’s hottest afternoon yet works just as well.
Said Conroy, “I feed Violet once a day, but I’ve been cutting her back little-by-little because she’s a year old now and doesn’t need as much.”
Once Violet’s milk bottle is drained, Conroy heads to the stables to shower Buck, a horse.
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3:49 p.m. Dave Dries doesn’t like air conditioning, and a day of record heat doesn’t faze him. With temperatures in the mid-90s, Dries, of Lincroft had Red Bank’s Marine Park nearly to himself when Sol Searching visited Wednesday afternoon. Nestled in the shade with the famous Navesink view a glance away, he spent the day reading and relaxing while others tanned and waded elsewhere. (Photo by Stacie Fanelli. Click to enlarge)
1:15 p.m.: On request, Jay Overton, of Shrewsbury, took to the sky with a cool, classic jumping style at Gianni’s Pizza on Maple Avenue. “Summer is my favorite time of year,” he says.
More evidence of what happens when Sol Searching asks perfectly normal adults to jump like youre nine years old and just got out of school for the summer.
These photos were taken in Red Bank. See also our jump shots from Little Silver.
(Photos by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge. Jump to feel young.)
12:41 p.m. With temperatures in the mid-90s, shops in downtown Red Bank were losing the battle with Mother Nature Wednesday, with some reporting far fewer customers than on an average day.
Billy Anania, who works at Jack’s Music Shoppe, attributed the lighter traffic to the beach weather, and an employee at Funk and Standard said that he saw only seven customers before noon, compared to 50 during the comparable period Tuesday.
Even cold-dessert purveyor Frozsürt reported a drop in business, probably because people don’t think stepping out into the brutal heat is worth a cone of frozen yogurt, an employee there said. (Photos by Stacie Fanelli, with thanks to Dave Bender for the ride in the cherry picker. Click to enlarge)
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12:24 p.m. Molly Fallon of Middletown might have be doing little more than crashing into virtual trees in a racing game at Yestercades, but she’s just happy to be keeping cool indoors as the temperature outside pushes past 90 degrees. The retro gaming arcade on Broad Street in Red Bank was the first place Molly’s dad, Vinny, thought to bring her for heatstroke-free entertainment.
“Today, we decided to do something to get out without actually being out,” he said, while trying his own hand at a game of pinball. (Photo by Stacie Fanelli. Click to enlarge)
11:14 a.m. In an effort to help those without AC in their homes escape the sweltering heat, Lunch Break is staying open an extra three hours past its usual lunch hour Wednesday. Games and television will be provided until 4 p.m. so those who need to can stay cool, said executive assistant Millie Jeter.
“These people are like family to us,” said Jeter. “We want them to be comfortable and hydrated.” (Photo by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)
12:00 p.m.: Going by the thermostat in George Laboussis’ hand, the temperature inside the G&G Hot Dog Truck in Red Bank had already edged past 95 degrees by noontime and that was with the air conditioner running.
Laboussis has been manning the truck for the past three months with his wife, Dimi, for his father-in-law, Gus Tangalos, who’s owned the Shrewsbury Avenue institution-on-wheels for 40 years and is recovering from a triple bypass operation. (Click to enlarge)
11:04 a.m. A crew hired by the borough digs out the worn curb on Peters Place in Red Bank. (Photos by Stacie Fanelli. Click to enlarge)
The borough has been trying to get the sidewalk replacement and repaving job started for a week, but coincidentally, to the dismay of these construction workers, it didn’t begin until the hottest day so far this year.
10:21 a.m. Mark (left) and Michael (right) Montagu of New York City get a tennis lesson at Victory Park in Rumson. The twins are following in their tennis-loving father’s footsteps at the tender age of 4. (Photo by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)
9:35 a.m.: Bikram Yoga student Robbie Trochia holds the “dandayamana-bibhaktapada-janushirasana” (Sanskrit for “standing separate leg head to knee”) pose at Synergy Hot Yoga on River Road in Fair Haven. (Photo by Connor ‘Solstice’ Soltas. Click to enlarge)
For Fair Haven yoga teacher and Synergy founder Jen Portman, not even the worst of summer heat is hot enough. In her “Hot 26” Bikram Yoga classes, she sets the thermostat at 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
“It actually helps you deal with the heat,” said Portman. “Your body becomes accustomed. It helps your body deal with adversity, really. Hot yoga is a really good thing to do in summer.”
9:34 a.m. Red Bank Pop Warner football commissioner Steve Turner gives future Buccaneers a lesson in proper stance and blocking techniques.
At the “Be a Buc” football camp, run at Red Bank Regional, current members of the RBR football team assist school and league coaches in training the younger players. (Video and photo by Stacie Fanelli)
9:19 A.M: “I didn’t even know it was the first day of summer,” said Megan Davis, of Fair Haven, picking up her daughter at camp in Little Silver.
This is what you get when you go Sol Searching and, encountering willing and eager locals, ask them to “jump like you’re nine years old and just got out of school for the summer.”
(More photos, by Trish Russoniello, below. Click to enlarge. Jump to feel young.)
8:46 a.m.: Dian Woodroffe, of Shrewsbury, tends to the potted plants and flowers outside Ten Thousand Villages on Broad Street in Red Bank.
A member of the Navesink Garden Club, Woodroffe follows a route around Red Bank once a week that includes 26 pots to trim, and, as she says, “fluff up a bit.” While Red Bank RiverCenter takes care of the watering nearly every day and cares for the hanging baskets high up on street lamps, she likes to walk the beat regularly to make sure everything is growing on schedule.
“It’s such a nice town, and it’s just little things that make it nicer,” she said. (Photo by Stacie Fanelli. Click to enlarge)
7:40 a.m.: The ladies of the Early Morning Walking and Talking Club toast a member absent because of knee surgery. Two of the women sport pink shirts printed with “R2K,” for “Rita’s two Knees” in support of their friend.
Monday through Friday at 5:30 a.m., year-round, longtime friends from Fair Haven, Rumson, Shrewsbury and Little Silver meet at the Church of the Nativity to begin their four-mile walk, which always ends at a picnic table in front of Gourmet Picnic in Fair Haven with a celebratory coffee over gossip.
6:03 a.m.: Colin Henry, 11, checks out the coffee urns at his father’s Java Stop on River Road in Fair Haven. 6:37 a.m.: Stevie Thompson out for a walk with her dog on the same street, below. (Photos by Connor ‘Soltice’ Soltas. Click to enlarge)
Today, redbankgreen engages in a bit of Sol Searching as we chase the sun across the Green on the longest thanks to the Summer Solstice and, by coincidence, so-far-hottest day of the year. Please check in regularly to see where we’ve been. Suggestions? Send ’em here, please.
Today, redbankgreen engages in a bit of Sol Searching as we chase the sun across the Green on the longest thanks to the Summer Solstice and, by coincidence, so-far-hottest day of the year. Please check in regularly to see where we’ve been. Suggestions? Send ’em here, please.
6:05 a.m. The frontrunners in Monmouth Boat Club‘s annual solstice race make a U-turn just east of the Oceanic Bridge. Taking off just before sunrise in Red Bank, they finished in daylight.
The solstice race, once Navesink River Rowing‘s traditional first of the season, is the second race this year in a biweekly series among the “Rowing Fleet” of the MBC. The two rowing organizations are intertwined today as members of both join in the fun.
“Our speeds are so different that there is usually little actual competition,” said Jim Shelton, fleet captain. “Rather, the ‘competition’ is more frequently against our own individual record.”
(Photo by Stacie Fanelli. Click to enlarge)
5:43 a.m.: Sunrise amid gauzy cloud cover, as seen from Sea Bright’s public beach. (Photo by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)
Today, the Summer of 2012 bares a toothy grin but watch out for those gnarly incisors.
A heat advisory from the National Weather Service is in effect as temperatures are expected to soar into the mid-90s along the Green.
redbankgreen will be out on the streets of our towns today, chasing the sun Sol Searching, as we call it on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. (Be sure to refresh your browser if you haven’t seen our temporary masthead, above).