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Today is the last chance to “Vibe in the Streets” this summer, as Asbury Park’s Thursday street party series comes to a close.

Vibe in the Streets is organized by APVibe, a marketing campaign to promote downtown Asbury Park as a dining and cultural destination. For the Vibe events, vehicular traffic on Cookman Avenue, from Grand Avenue to Emory Street, is replaced with foot traffic, in-street dining and drinking, musical acts, games and live art demonstrations.

Originally scheduled to take place every Thursday in June, event organizers were forced to reschedule the events throughout the summer due to unfavorable weather conditions.

In fact, of the three scheduled to take place in June, only one was not rained out. The event attracted over 600 people to the downtown area.

“It really did just rain almost every Thursday the entire summer,” said Rosemary Crean, who organized the APVibe campaign with Morgan Sackman. “I learned I’m not going to have an outdoor wedding. Not a chance,” she said.

The rain — and a July heat wave — caused  Sackman and Crean to cancel some of Vibe in the Streets events they had rescheduled in July and August, too, Sackman said.

Despite the inclement weather hindering what was supposed to create and build a weekly buzz to draw those who live outside of Asbury to the downtown, the two are pleased with their efforts, and have plans for future Vibe in the Streets parties next summer.

This year gave them “a good shot to work the kinks out,” Crean said.

“It was a good step in the right direction,” said Sackman. “We developed a solid skeleton [for future Vibe in the Streets events].

“It wasn’t supposed to be a money maker for APVibe, just positive exposure to downtown,” Crean said.

What was supposed to draw outsiders into town turned out to be more of a local event, according to Sackman.

“Locally, everyone loved it,” she said. “It became a local joke about the rain, too.”

Kimmee Masi, co-owner of Confections of a Rockstar located on Cookman Avenue, said although people were a little confused about when and if the street parties would take place, when they did happen they “definitely helped business.”

“It definitely helped with foot traffic, and that is the most important thing,” she said.

The events brought in a lot of people who had not visited Asbury Park in years –or who had never been to Asbury Park – into her store, she said.

“That’s the thing, people don’t know [Asbury Park] has become what it has become, and we are still growing,” said Masi.

Tonight’s Vibe in the Streets will last from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The Thomas Wesley Stern band is scheduled to perform.

For more information about Vibe in the Streets or other APVibe events, visit apvibedowntown.com. 

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