[UPDATE: This event has been postponed to July 28, 2012. For details, click here.]
This Saturday, a group of local surf enthusiasts will run the free event Family Day at the Beach for the 10th year straight at North Beach.
The annual event, which starts with registration at 11:30 a.m. and continues with activities from noon to 5 p.m., started as a way for the surf community to thank the town for creating a surf beach, said Joe Woerner of the Jersey Shore branch of the Surfrider Foundation.
About 10 years ago, the city was one of only a few along the coast to have a law against surfing on its books, Woerner said. Surfrider Foundation organized a campaign to change the legislation, and the city council ended up voting four-to-one to change North Beach into a legal surf spot, and to allow surfing at all beaches in the off-season.
“As a thank-you back to the city, we decided to give a surf clinic,” Woerner said.
For the first two years, the clinic catered to children from all over Monmouth County. Then, event organizers decided to tailor it to children from Asbury Park and Neptune.
Surfrider Foundation and co-sponsors from Langosta Lounge and Lightly Salted work with groups like the Boys and Girls Club and the West Side Community Center to reach the citizens who are most in need of water safety and surf lessons.
“What makes Asbury Park especially cool is the ocean, the beach and the waves,” Woerner said. “We’ve had conversations with a lot of people in town that there has been a barrier for people from the west side to come to the beach, whether it’s economic or social.”
The organizers of Family Day at the Beach work to make those people feel comfortable about coming to the beach, and the city waives badge fees for Family Day participants each year.
Lunch is provided to all participants, and volunteers teach the children about water safety and beach activities. Youths also enjoy surf lessons at the free event.
The Surfrider Foundation is still looking for volunteers to help with surf lessons and to help set up and break down the event, Woerner said. He anticipates about 200 people will show up, and the group will have about 25 volunteers.
“If you do something at the beach you like and you want to share it with kids in Asbury Park, we’d welcome you to come down” and volunteer, Woerner said. Such activities could include paddle-ball or sandcastle-building, he said.
Lunch will be donated by Chat and Nibble, At the Table, Frank’s, Bistro Olé, Langosta Lounge and Lightly Salted, and the Asbury Park Educational Association is another key sponsor in the event, Woerner said.
Event organizers have gotten the word out to potential participants by putting up signs in town in English, Spanish and Creole.
“We’ve made sure fliers are in all three languages to reach the community,” Woerner said. “It’s just a day for kids to come down to the beach and learn about our natural resources there.”
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[Photo from last year’s event by Dan Edelstien]
