A long weekend in Seaside Heights

Seaside Heights is back in the news and it’s not the type of publicity the borough is welcoming.

A two-day music festival over the weekend resulted in 42 arrests while another 34 were treated for drug overdoses, none of which appeared to be serious. It was all part of Electric Adventure which despite less-than-ideal weather drew about 6,000 young people to the Seaside Heights beach on Saturday and Sunday.

The number of arrests and drug incidents is actually not shocking when you consider the type of event, the age of the attendees and the location. The first two Electric Adventures were held at Six Flags Great Adventure, reportedly without incident.

The real question that deserves to be asked is why would a town with a history of bad public relations open its beaches to a music festival aimed at teenagers and very young adults. The answer is quite simple: money. While I and many others question the decision-making of officials I do understand the motivation. Seaside Heights is struggling in the post-Sandy, post-boardwalk fire era. Drive through the town on most weekdays and you might not even know its summer and even on the weekends it’s a far cry from what it was many years ago.

Let’s be clear in that this is not all due to recent events as the resort town has had many peaks and valleys over the years. Having grown up in Seaside Heights I have watched the make-up of visitors change drastically as day-trippers have replaced those who would stay for long weekends or even a full week.

Certainly the family-focus has changed, partly due to the “Jersey Shore” image that was displayed on national TV for several years. That did bring visitors and produce a short-term boost but at the same time led others to seek different destinations for their summer vacation.

So with that said I can understand the thought process in opening your town and beach, even if it was to a somewhat less-than-desirable group. At the very least they would book hotel rooms, eat pizza and those over 21 drink. Some under 21 obviously drank and clearly took drugs. That kind of activity could have happened anywhere but what is the head-scratcher is August is supposed to be when Seaside Heights becomes more family-friendly. The concert at this time of year was a bad decision and I said that even before the weekend.

Seaside Heights is at a crossroads and often is fighting a PR battle, many times by the way that is undeserved. There are many good people trying to right the ship but events like this past weekend fall into the category of “one step forward, two steps back.”