Residents of Freehold Bor-ough and Freehold Town-ship will welcome back an old friend this summer. A committee of volunteers is already hard at work planning the return of Old Freehold Day, which will be held on the shores of Lake Topanemus, Pond Road, in August.
Old Freehold Day will return after a 17-year absence.
For the past decade or so the downtown area of Freehold Borough has become known for its spring and summer events, ranging from antique fairs, to Kruise Nite, to a Thursday night concert series. Thousands of people come to the borough to enjoy these family-oriented events.
Now planning is under way for a party that will be a celebration for the township and the borough. Nonresidents will of course be welcome at Lake Topanemus, but the focus of Old Freehold Day will be a celebration of the two communities that share the lake.
Lake Topanemus is in the township, but owned by the borough. The two towns share membership on the Lake Topanemus Commission, a body that has, over the past few years, spent much time and effort directing the restoration of the lake and the park, preserving land around this natural resource and establishing nature trails at the facility.
The lake is the type of place that can be too easily ignored, given the area’s more modern recreation offerings — theme parks, indoor sports courts, sprawling outdoor recreation centers, and more.
But long before all of those places were even dreamed about, Lake Topanemus was the recreation center for the Freehold area. We look forward to the return of Old Freehold Day this summer and wish the planning committee well in its endeavors to bring back a little bit of the "old days."