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The Asbury Park boardwalk should open by Saturday, May 18, Mayor Ed Johnson [pictured at right] announced at a press conference at Stella Marina Friday afternoon — as long as the weather holds out.

“We’re not going to have [the especially snowy winter we had two years ago],” Johnson joked. “We’re hoping for last winter.”

The city will celebrate with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 18, he said.

“This is a wonderful moment for Asbury Park,” Johnson said. “Today is the day we start our march toward summer.”

Earlier, Johnson spoke of the damage near the beach front in the days after Hurricane Sandy hit on Oct. 29, 2012.

“Everyone just had that sort of dazed look of, ‘Where do we begin?'” he said. “Standing on Ocean Avenue, it looked like a sand street. Seeing the Stone Pony with a crêpe restaurant in its yard. Seeing a pool of fish down on Fifth Avenue. The doors of Convention Hall burst through. Windows on the pavilions buckled in. The beach looked like the D-Day invasion in Normandy.”

Johnson likened the post-Sandy rebuilding to the original construction of Asbury Park and other Jersey Shore towns at the turn of the 20th century.

“This is the stuff history books are made of,” Johnson said. “I remember coming to Asbury Park for the first time, reading the history of Asbury Park … the magnificent things people did, the wonderful architecture, creating whole communities and growing a Jersey Shore. Well, folks, this is it.”

Johnson praised the city officials and emergency workers who handled the storm’s aftermath, as well as the downtown businesses which were able to reopen just two weeks after Sandy struck. He also congratulated various oceanfront businesses like Stella Marina and Tim McLoone’s Supper Club for having reopened.

A MUSICAL TRIBUTE

Marc Ribler [pictured in photo at top, on right] led a band in performing “Our Spirit is Strong,” a song Ribler wrote in the days following Sandy.

“When Sandy happened, I felt helpless,” he said. “As soon as the lights came on, I started writing songs and I’ve written a couple songs for the relief effort.”

“Our Spirit is Strong” is one such song. Ribler made a video, recorded the song with friends, and raised nearly $1,500 for Sandy relief. All proceeds from the song are being donated to the Sandy relief charity started by Gov. Chris Christie and his wife, Mary Pat.

TIM MCLOONE’S RECOVERY STORY

The owner of Tim McLoone’s Supper Club spoke about being one of the first businesses to reopen on the boardwalk in the days after Hurricane Sandy.

“The real truth of this is that Howard Johnson’s built a great building,” he said. “What the heck. The damage we had was only in the newer part.”

McLoone’s restaurant occupies a former Howard Johnson’s restaurant just south of Convention Hall.

McLoone was also one of the first new businesses to come into Asbury Park at the beginning of the city’s renaissance.

“We’re Asbury believers,” he said. “We were just thinking, ‘If we’re one tenth of one 100th of one percent of the recovery in Asbury Park, it’s worth it.'”

McLoone said Asbury’s ascent won’t be complete “until the west side of Asbury Park joins the east side of Asbury Park and everyone can feel something really good is happening here.”

OTHER BOARDWALK BUSINESSES

Stella Marina opened last weekend, and their sister restaurant, Cubacan, located a few doors down, will likely open next weekend, city special events coordinator Tom Gilmour said. Watermark has been open since a few weeks after the storm, and Convention Hall has been open since the beginning of December. It hosted a successful Beer Festival last weekend.

“We’re all survivors in this city,” Gilmour said. “Business people sometimes complain that things are tough. They’ve always been tough, and they’ll continue to be tough. But for some reason, the business community here in Asbury Park knows how to handle that.”

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