Local officials and generations of Shore families who have attended Seashore Day Camp in Long Branch for the past eight and a half decades will come together July 23 to celebrate the camp’s 85th anniversary.
The reunion will take place at Seashore’s 345 Second Ave. headquarters from 1-5 p.m. The event will include a presentation by state and local leaders followed by refreshments, music, swimming, extreme sport attractions and a performance by Seashore’s Theater Camp, “On Broadway.”
Alumni are asked to bring camp photos from the year(s) they attended.
“We wish original founder John Cittadino and our parents, the late Augustus ‘Coach Gus’ and Dorothy Villapiano, could be here to share the milestone,” said Director John Villapiano, who runs Seashore with sister Carolee and brother Gus. “The three are our guiding forces and will be there in spirit as they are each day of each summer.”
Cittadino, a teacher and swim coach in Asbury Park, opened Seashore in 1926 to provide children with a recreational program where they could spend their summers. Opening as the first day camp in New Jersey and one of the first in the United States with just seven children, Seashore has grown over the last eight decades, accommodating more than 500 boys and girls each summer and providing jobs for approximately 100 staff members per season.
According to Villapiano, more than 40,000 young people have spent summers at Seashore and more than 60 percent of the staff were once campers themselves.
Villapiano’s family became involved in the business when Cittadino retired in 1974 and sold Seashore to the Gus Villapiano, a 25-year employee, who moved the camp to its present headquarters located a block from the beach on Second Avenue.
With Cittadino’s original principles as a guide, the Villapiano family has overseen the camp’s evolution with the addition of sports camps, surf camps, theater camp and day trips, while daily instructional swim and standard recreational activities remain part of the schedule.
With Seashore’s proximity to the beach, rivers and bays, the water sports program includes a surf camp taught by an expert; age-appropriate lessons in how to water ski, sail, kayak, snorkel, skim board and wind surf. Five years ago, Seashore also launched a new theater camp, “On Broadway,” for children interested in performing arts. In addition to taking part in stage productions campers attend Tony Award-winning Broadway musicals and take workshops with stars in the shows they see.
For more information about Seashore or the 85th anniversary party, call 732- 222-6464, visit www.seashorecampandschool.com or check facebook.com.