Labor Day Weekend Marks End of Summer Season at the Shore

A week after Hurricane Irene ripped through the Jersey Shore, local municipalities put themselves back together in time to see large crowds come out for one more taste of summer on the Jersey Shore this Labor Day Weekend.

Politicians including and , put out the call urging beachgoers to come back for one more weekend before the Jersey Shore tourist season concluded.

Many heeded the call.

John Walsh of Succcasunna has been enjoying spending the summer at his second residence on 17th Avenue in Belmar with his family. As the summer ends, he is sad but is ready to get back into the upcoming fall sports season. Like many, he has spent the summer playing ball at the beach and swimming in the ocean with family.

“My 13-year-old swims all day long,” said Walsh.

For friends Frank Napolitano, 23, James Gatto, 24, both from Staten Island and their housemates who had been renting a beach house on 17th Avenue in Belmar— it has been one big party.

“We wake up at 9:30 a.m., hit the beach for multiple hours then go to happy hour at D'Jais, go home, play some games, shower then go back to D'Jais at night,” Gatto said.

“I’m glad summer is over — I want to go back to having money in my pocket,” said Napolitano who works as a student adviser.

Local business owners have noticed more and more people bringing their own food and drinks, but despite it, business has been steady at TR’s Food Court in Belmar.

“We are down four percent which is good considering. We are having an average season and our average is good,” said TR manager and owner Tom Rogers.

Belmar lifegaurd Steve Alex, 23, said the summer has been pretty quiet on the water.

“This year was pretty strange because of the hurricane. We were shut down a few days for reconstruction,” said the lifeguard, who was concluding his third summer in his position. “The water has been calm and it has not been rough until today and this past week."

Taking a break from the beach and hanging out on the Spring Lake boardwalk on Sunday was Tanya Leeser, 42, with daughters Liz, 8 and Eva, 7. The daytrippers who reside in Princeton are originally from Germany where Leeser said the weather is much colder.

“We are enjoying the warm weather here, the sun and swimming in the water,” said Leeser.

Sean Kaiser, manager at the Spring Lake north end pavilion noted that this summer he’s seen more people bringing coolers. Additionally, Matt Riccelli, manager of Gee Gee’s in Manasquan has noticed beach goers bringing their own lunch.

“Because of the economy a lot more people are coming here packing their lunch. We are totally fine with that and understand times are rough,” said Riccelli.

Riccelli has also noticed that more people are taking day trips instead of spending a night or the week renting a place this summer.

“We closed two days due to the hurricane and lost a lot of inventory, but it’s been a good Labor Day weekend so far,” added Riccelli about business this summer and Sunday morning Labor Day Weekend foot traffic.

While the saying goes that Labor Day marks the end of summer, for husband and wife Joe and Barbara McAleer of Aberdeen, it never really ends in Manasquan.

“Manasquan lives after the summer. The bars and restaurants will still be open,” said Joe McAleer.

While the hurricane shut down Manasquan for a few days, with parts of the borough not having electricity restored until as late as Friday, the couple still enjoyed their summer by going with the flow.

“You roll with whatever comes here— earthquakes, hurricanes, good, bad, whatever. The Jersey Shore is still the Jersey Shore,” Joe McAleer said.