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)
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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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.