By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD Some residents living near the new site of the Freedom Fest State Fair at what locals call Reed Park bombarded the Township Committee with complaints last week, predicting the six-day event will cause problems with traffic, parking, trash and noise in their neighborhoods.
Residents of Allentown and the Galloping Brook Road neighborhood in Upper Freehold who live near the 22-acre former Reed property, now owned by the township, demanded to know the parking plan for the thousands of visitors expected to attend Freedom Fest from July 12-17. Last year the event was held at the Horse Park of New Jersey and attracted 60,000 people.
”Where are all these cars going to be parking?” Galloping Brook Road resident Kirsten Howell asked at the March 17 Township Committee meeting.
”What’s going to be done to ensure that the Galloping Brook development is going to be safe and not have cars driving back and forth?”
Township Committee member Stanley Moslowski Jr. tried to allay residents’ concerns, saying he and Allentown Borough Council members Audrey Mount and Jean Hunter met with county officials March 15 and learned the tentative plan is to close the bypass connecting Route 526 to North Main Street and use the bypass itself as the main parking lot for the fair. One bypass lane will stay open for emergency vehicles and to allow cars in and out of the makeshift lot, he said.
There also would be overflow parking in the field and, if the school district agrees, at Allentown High School on High Street, Mr. Moslowski said. Shuttle buses would have to run back and forth between the fair and the school parking lots. In addition, the Hope Fire Company could allow fair-goers to park on its property on Route 526 in return for a donation to Fire Department, he said.
The RVs that operators of the amusement park rides live in will be parked at the Horse Park of New Jersey as they have in the past, Mr. Moslowski said.
”We saw the traffic plan and there’s a couple of things that have to be done … but the concept was OK,” Mr. Moslowski said. “Security-wise they have the sheriffs,” he said, explaining they would be stationed at each end of the bypass.
Parking along nearby Galloping Brook Road will be “discouraged” during Freedom Fest, but an outright parking ban would be problematic, Mr. Moslowski said. If people living in the development invite friends and relatives to visit during that week and suggest they park in front of their homes so they can walk to the fair, that’s “not something the township can control,” he said.
”I understand your concern, and we had that concern as well, but it is a public road that people are allowed to park on,” Mr. Moslowski said.
Linda Pontell, another Galloping Brook Road resident, was not persuaded.
”We want temporary no-parking signs put up,” Ms. Pontell said. “I’m very, very unhappy that someone even thought of putting this near my development. We don’t want this near our homes.”
Mayor LoriSue Mount suggested there could be people living in the neighborhood who are actually looking forward to Freedom Fest and that Ms. Pontell’s proposed parking ban would prevent them from having friends over to attend the fair or any other gatherings that they might plan during that same week.
”So if this is such a big issue, then give everyone two or three parking passes,” Ms. Pontell responded. “The invasion of this large circus-like atmosphere is what I object to, Ms. Mount.”
Committeeman Robert Fracsella said he thought Ms. Pontell had a fair point and suggested that the Freedom Fest State Fair committee be asked to look into the logistics of providing parking passes for residents of Galloping Brook Road and other streets in that development.
Township Attorney Granville M. Magee said putting up temporary no-parking signs would be simple enough, but enforcement would be difficult.
”Enforcement-wise, I don’t know how quickly you’re going to get a state policeman out there to issue a ticket,” Mr. Magee said.
Bill Markowski, of South Main Street in Allentown, asked the Township Committee what Freedom Fest organizers would do for parking if the county freeholders do not agree to the concept plan that calls for closing the bypass.
Mr. Moslowski said the organizers are making contingency arrangements with two property owners, whose names he would not disclose, to use their land for parking in the unlikely event that the bypass can’t be closed.
The ninth annual Freedom Fest State Fair needed a new venue this summer because scheduling problems prevented it from returning to the Horse Park of New Jersey where it has been held since 2007. The event started out a decade ago as more of a community carnival at Allentown High School and has grown into a major state- and county-approved agricultural fair with large animal shows, demonstrations, rides, games, live concerts, exotic animals and contests.

