FREEHOLD — Grab your sunscreen, your appetite, your children and your desire for a good time and take them to Lake Topanemus, Pond Road, on Aug. 2 to celebrate Olde Freehold Day.
The festivities will kick off at 10 a.m. with a mini-triathlon. Activities, music and food sales will start at 11 a.m. and continue until 5 p.m.
Parking will be available at the Mon-mouth County Courthouse on Monument Street and a shuttle bus, provided by the Laidlaw bus company, will provide transportation to the lake.
On-site parking will be available at the Robertsville Road entrance to the lake. Parking will be $1 and will benefit the YMCA Community Center’s teenage steering committee. These young people mentor the younger members of the YMCA.
Guests can walk along the trails or take a hay ride on a wagon provided by Brock Farms, Freehold Township, up to the area where all the action will be going on.
Beginning at 10 a.m., free shuttle buses will be available to transport senior citizens from all three senior apartment complexes in the borough — the Rug Mill Towers, Hudson Manor and the Mon-mouth Court apartments — to the lake.
According to Borough Councilman Kevin Kane, a member of the event organizing committee, the food stations will be manned by representatives of local organizations who will prepare and serve the food at a reasonable cost to visitors.
"We wanted to get the community involved so people could learn about community organizations and the organizations could make some money for their own charities," Kane said.
Paddleboats, row boats and canoes, donated by the Monmouth County Park System, will be manned by the Freehold First Aid and Emergency Squad. The Olde Freehold Day beer truck will be manned by the Freehold Fire Department.
Volleyball and horseshoe tournaments, as well as the "Anything Goes" competition are also set and ready to go.
The event is dubbed "old-fashioned" on purpose. Kane said he wants people to have a good time without spending a lot of money. "It’s not a money-making event," he said.
Kane said there will be a small fee for the boating and a one-time fee for unlimited use of four large inflatable children’s rides.
A sponsorship program supported by residents and business raised more than $10,000, Kane said. He thanked the Freehold Borough Recreation Committee, CentraState Healthcare System, Kastle Mortgage, Freehold, Norkus Foodtown, Nestle, Freehold, and Niko’s Lawn and Landscaping, Freehold, as the event’s gold sponsors.
Musical entertainment will be provided by Mission Dance; StreetHeart, an all-female a capella group; Jerry Fallon’s Dixieland Band; the Ocean County String Band; and DJ Dee Best Entertainment. A country band is also scheduled.
— Clare Marie Celano