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The Asbury Park Recreation gathered at Springwood Avenue Park 12:30 p.m. Thursday for their annual Mayor’s End of Summer Recognition celebration.

“This is one of the best events I’ve seen in my 28 years of teaching,” said Councilman Jesse Kendle, Chair of the city’s Recreation Committee.

Launching immediately after the school year ended the Asbury Park recreation summer camp ends Friday. Pre-K to 7th grade students were given opportunities to try their hand in basketball, skating, bowling and swim lessons at the local Boys and Girls Club, as well as field trips throughout the Jersey Shore area, including to Jenkinson’s Aquarium, Fun Flex, iPlay America, and to Sandy Hook.

Honored this year were the hardworking Torran Jordan, Cassandra McCloud-Dowd, and Recreation Department Director Leesha Floyd and her Asbury Park School District organizational counterpart Genise Hughes.

“We really had the best relationship this year working with the Board of Education,” Recreation Department Director Leesha Floyd said. “That really made the program more cohesive.”

Floyd said new partnerships were formed this year allowing campers to experience the offerings of city businesses like Hot Sands, The ShowRoom Cinema, Pink Elephant Pottery Studio, Cookman Creamery, Eddie Confetti, Silverball Museum, and Asbury Splash Park.

“Our kids really got a chance to experience what is happening in our own town, in addition to things going on throughout the state,” Floyd said.

Sodexo food services donated the hot dogs, hamburgers, and side accouterments; and the seniors joined the celebration this year.

“In my heart, I believe when you combine our youth with our seniors, you get magic,” said Hughes, who serves as the school district’s College and Career Readiness Coordinator. “If you look around in Asbury Park, we have a lot going on. We are no longer working as little islands; those islands are coming together and we are forming a community that we can be really proud of.”

The event included performances, dance and song and spoken word, by the campers, and games and bouncies.

Each of the over 20 camp counselors received personal thanks by way of a handshake from Mayor John Moor.

“It’s great to see the children and the elderly like myself here today,” Moor said. “I want to thank all the people that make this happen and the children themselves. The only thing bad about this is that it goes by too fast. We started right after school ended and here we are, camp is ending.”

Floyd said 240 children participated in the program, the highest registration in recent years. The summer camp has run for 23 years. The program was administered from Thurgood Marshall and Bradley Elementary schools. Scholarships were made available via the Mayor’s Rodeo for Recreation fund.

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