Bamboozle attendance on Sunday was over 25,000
Attendance projections of 90,000 met, public heeded calls not to drive into city
The attendance projections of 90,000 for the Bamboozle festival appear to have been met.
On the third and final day of the event on Sunday, the most updated attendance figure available was 25,481, according to Asbury Park city manager Terry Reidy. Attendance was approximately 23,000 on Friday and 40,000 on Saturday, he said.
That totals just under 90,000, which was the last attendance estimate made before the event by festival promoter LiveNation.
The city and LiveNation have an agreement to share revenue from Bamboozle after ticket sales reach a certain level. LiveNation covered all costs of the event and the city received a fee of $200,000 for use of the beachfront. Reidy said the city will have the figure for any additional amounts due it by the end of the week.
Those attending the festival heeded the calls by public officials not to drive into the event, and the general public stayed away from Asbury Park during the weekend because of the expected crowds. Buses regularly entered and exited the city throughout the festival, ferrying people who left their cars at Monmouth Park in Oceanport. Trains to Asbury disgorged hundred of Bamboozle attendees with each arrival, almost all of them in their late teens and early twenties who walked down Cookman Avenue to the beachfront. Many others came by taxi, walked or bicycled in. Area hotels and bed and breakfasts were full, and those further away offered shuttle service.
As a result, traffic was surprisingly light in Asbury Park this weekend. At many times during the festival, the streets west of Grand Avenue more closely resembled the city during the quiet morning hours. With the exception of back-ups from those leaving the festival at the end of each day, the only traffic delays were on Asbury Avenue at times from people coming off the Asbury circle to attend the event. But even those Asbury Avenue back-ups were not particularly heavy and were mostly the result of the traffic lights on that street.
Meanwhile, the downtown business district and its restaurants in particular were quiet during the weekend, as people stayed away from the city and those attending Bamboozle kept to the festival grounds. Once admitted, ticket-holders could not leave and return to the event. There was a rush of business reported among the bars in the downtown late on Friday and Saturday nights after Bamboozle concluded.
