Cleanup time for Bamboozle crews
Site should be back in service by 8 p.m. tomorrow, weather permitting
The Bamboozle cleanup crews have their work cut out for them today and tomorrow. After the three-day festival that drew 23,000 to 40,000 people per day, the site is supposed to be back in action by 8 p.m. Tuesday, weather permitting, said city manager Terence Reidy.
After the festival grounds were drenched in an overnight rain storm, cleanup crews reported to Asbury’s northeastern quadrant to dismantle equipment and clean up debris.
For an album full of photos documenting this morning’s cleanup, click here.
The weekend went smoothly from a police standpoint, said Asbury Park’s police department chief Mark Kinmon.
“We were very, very busy, as expected, but we’re very, very pleased with the whole weekend,” Kinmon said. “There was not a lot in the way of serious or significant incidents related to the event or otherwise.”
There were some minor scuffles and fights resulting in disorderly conduct tickets, but nothing more than that, he said.
“It was well-organized and going into the whole thing, I think everything we could think of was covered.”
Tens of thousands of people attended the festival each day and boardwalk businesses enjoyed a boom in sales as a result. Ashley Stevens, manager of the Asbury Park Roastery’s Convention Hall outpost, has kept her café open all weekend and today.
“We’re pretty much open whenever we can be,” she said.
She enjoyed huge business last night, selling 85 pounds of hot cocoa as the sun went down and the temperature dropped dramatically.
“I didn’t even see where the end of the line was,” she said. Her aunt, who also works at the Roastery, took cab rides around town to pick up supplies from various stores and the coffee purveyors’ Second Avenue headquarters.
Stevens also enjoyed hearing Bon Jovi while she worked the espresso machine, she said, although she didn’t get a chance to see any other bands.
The Bamboozle festival “really helped put Asbury Park on the map,” she said. “People will know now.”
She stayed open today and said most of her business has been cleanup crew members and people passing by to take in the scene.
Convention Hall businesses weren’t the only ones in the entrepreneurial spirit post-Bamboozle. Several people hit the beach with metal detectors to see what they could find. Patrick Flanagan, of West Long Branch, trudged up and down the soggy sand to see what he could find. He said he hadn’t been that lucky so far.
“You never know what you could find, though,” he added.
