photo Andi MonickSwimmers line up for the start of the second annual Ray Licata Memorial Swim Aug. 20. The one-mile swim started on the beach at Pier Village in Long Branch and finished at West End Beach. Several hundred spectators were on hand to watch the swim held in honor of Licata, Ocean Township, who was an avid beach-goer. The event raised more than $8,000, which will be presented to the Long Branch Department of Recreation to support swimmer safety at the beachfront. The Autumn Kitchen Tour & Tasting will take place on Sept. 30 and will feature kitchens in Ocean Township, Allenhurst, Interlaken, Loch Arbor and Ocean Grove. The event will begin at Pope John XXIII Regional Catholic School on Wickapecko Drive in Ocean at 10 a.m. and will feature a cuisine sampling by area chefs and caterers, as well as table settings by local designers and businesses at the tour kitchens. Tickets are $45, but can be purchased in advance for $40. For more information, call (732) 663-0736 or visit www.pj23events.com.
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The Long Branch Public Schools will hold a Sept. 11 commemoration ceremony at the rear of Long Branch High School on Westwood Avenue at 10 a.m. on the fifth anniversary of the disaster. District students will participate in the ceremony and all members of the community are welcome to attend.
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Manfredi Orthotic & Prosthetic Affiliates of Long Branch hosted a First Volley adaptive tennis clinic for amputees, orthotic wearers and patients with limb difference on Aug. 25 at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft. More than 20 people attended the event and participated in various tennis drills, according to a press release from Manfredi O & P Affiliates. For more information on future clinics, call Jean Manfredi at (800) 400-2580.
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The Long Branch Housing Authority has rescheduled its Back 2 School Festival for Saturday at Jerry Morgan Park, where it will be part of Long Branch Day festivities scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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A vintage streetscape mural of the downtown Broadway area in Long Branch will be unveiled Tuesday at the new Siperstein’s location on Joline Avenue at 10:30 a.m. The 126-by-16-foot mural by Robert Mataranglo is painted on the outside wall of the new Siperstein’s building at Siperstein’s Plaza at 700 Joline Ave.
Siperstein’s is still open at its Broadway location, but will move and open at its new location soon to clear the way for the redevelopment of the downtown Broadway zone. A series of three new postcards for Long Branch will also be unveiled at the event. The postcards will feature Oceanfest, the West End Beach mural on Brighton Avenue and the newly unveiled mural titled “Broadway, Long Branch: 1939.”
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The Mid-Jersey Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society announced that the MS Walk and the Coast to Coast MS Bike Tour held in the spring each raised over $1 million. The money raised is devoted to MS research and is used to provide programs and services for local families with MS in the Central Jersey area. For additional information, call (732) 660-1005 or visit www.nationalmssociety.org.