MANSFIELD Anyone who won’t be going to the Jersey Shore this summer can at least get a taste of it at the 63rd annual Columbus Field Day Celebration.
This year’s theme will be "A Day at the Jersey Shore."
By:David Koch
The event will be held Saturday, June 9, and will start at 1 p.m. with a parade. Floats and homes along the parade route will be decorated with a Jersey Shore theme.
Organizations participating in this year’s Field Day parade include the Bordentown Elks, who have kept their float a secret.
"They said it fits in with our theme," said Barbara Crammer, land use coordinator for Mansfield Township and a member of the Celebration of Public Events Committee, which organizes the event.
Other floats include that of the Wesleyan United Methodist Church on Main Street, which has created a whale for this year’s parade, said Ms. Crammer.
Also taking part in this year’s parade will be the Northern Burlington County Regional Marching Band and the During String Band of Philadelphia, which marches each year in the Mummer’s Parade.
Visitors to this year’s Field Day also will see former New York Giants football player Roosevelt Brown, a resident of Mansfield, throwing keychains out to spectators and signing autographs, and Little Miss Columbus.
Little Miss Columbus will be randomly selected before the parade from a group of local girls under 12 years old.
"She rides and waves out to everyone in the crowd," said Ms. Crammer.
A panel of three judges at the parade will determine the best float.
Other attractions at this year’s parade will be a motorcycle drill team performance and about a dozen DARE (Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education) vehicles from local towns riding with Mansfield’s new DARE vehicle.
After the parade, there will be games and activities for all ages at the Community Park on East Main Street, including egg tossing, tug of war and a pie-eating contest.
For $20, anyone can get a helicopter ride for five to 10 minutes around the local area from Hoban and Hoban Helicopters.
There will be face painting and a 22-foot slide for the children.
The first Columbus Field Day was held 63 years ago in a local farmer’s meadow without a parade. The Celebration of Public Events Committee has been looking for Mansfield residents who were at the first Field Day. They already have had several people come forward, said Ms. Crammer.
Ms. Crammer is one of 14 township residents on the Celebration of Public Events Committee, whose members are selected by the Township Committee every year.
This year’s chairperson is Marion Reeves, a member of the committee for 16 years.
"I wonder if we’d ever have it if it weren’t for Marion," said Ms. Crammer.
The parade will start at 1 p.m. at the entrance to Community Park on East Main Street. It then will proceed down Main Street toward Interstate 295 until it gets to the edge of Columbus.
The parade then will turn around, cross over Route 206 and head up Atlantic Avenue. It will cross over Main Street, turn right down Locust Avenue and disassemble at the John Hydock Elementary School.
