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Tickets to the April 21 Mayor’s Rodeo for Recreation will close Monday, Mayor John Moor has announced.

The event is being held to help fund scholarships for the city’s summer recreation programs.

“Everyone has been asking me about having a Mayor’s Ball but I’m not really a tuxedo person,” Moor said on Jan 27 when the event was announced. “When I learned that there was not enough money to give scholarships to all the children that wanted to participate in last year’s summer program, we began working to create a fundraising event that would be casual and fun.”

Since then city employees Leesha Floyd and Cassandra Dickerson have led the charge in conjunction with Stone Pony manager Caroline O’Toole.

“She has done so much to help make this a success,” Moor said of O’Toole. “Her expertise and resources will make this event ten times better than what we envisioned.”

The fundraiser will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. April 21 at the Stone Pony, located at 913 Ocean Avenue.

According to city officials the Summer Recreation Camp had to turn away over 50 children last summer due to lack of funding.

Chances are that won’t happen this year, with John McGillion of Johnny Macs, The Stone Pony, Pepsi, The Jersey Shore Running Club, The Asbury Park Press, Sackman Enterprises, and Janus solutions signing on as event sponsors. Law firms McManimon, Scotland and Baumann of Roseland and Archer and Greiner of Red Bank also supported the event.

“Everyone, including the city manager and the clerk, has come together to make this event a success,” Moor said.

Established in 2009, the city’s Recreation Department partners with local agencies to provide over 30 programs, activities and resources for the youth, including PAL, Pop Warner, and Little League.

The six-week summer camp is administered by the municipality’s Recreation Department, in conjunction with the Board of Education, and also works as a summer work program for many of the city’s teens.

Supervised trips to Funtime America, Medieval Times, Funplex, and the city’s beach and boardwalk, are a part of the special event outings. The Asbury Park Board of Education sponsors breakfast and summer enrichment classes in the morning that are followed by the municipal funded lunch and afternoon recreation.

Tickets are $75 and include a country-themed food buffet and one-hour open bar as the Lakehouse Music Academy’s youngest talent open for Monmouth County-based country band After the Reign.  Among the highlights will be a personal testimonial from one of the camp’s 11-year-old participants, organizer Leesha Floyd said.

Checks may be payable to: Asbury Park Recreation Trust Account, 1 Municipal Plaza Asbury Park, NJ 07712 Attn: Leesha Floyd, Recreation Director. For more information, contact Leesha Floyd at 732-502-5759 or Cassandra Dickerson at 732-502-5755.

[Feature photo courtesy of band’s media page]

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