I am talking about Riverfest, the Grand Daddy of all festivals in the State of New Jersey. It was rated in 1998 by Life Magazine as one of the top 100 outdoor events in the United States. This festival had grown stronger and better every year from 1980 to 2001 as a great family event.  People traveled from all over the states back to their roots for this festival.

The brainchild of Rick Bott, a fledgling caterer then, who came to me with the idea of having a food festival in Marine Park with Red Bank Restaurants to promote those restaurants and Red Bank. With the permission of then Mayor Mike Arnone and the help of Deiter Bornamen of the Little Kraut and Lou Viati of Sal's we put the first Red Bank Food Festival. It was held under one big tent in Marine Park, 14 local restaurants and about 5.000 people showed up. The event grew each year in popularity and in the early 90's we hired the  Jazz and Blues organization who brought in "big music" From that point on it was a runaway event, which drew 120 to 140 thousand people over the three-day weekend.

What made the festival famous was the combination of great food and great music located on the beautiful Navesink River.  Twenty-seven area restaurants serve everything form old favorites to new gourmet creations. Junk food was at a minimum, thank God, and you could graze all day on some of our areas best restaurants. The music was non-stop and juried as to who performed.  In 2001 the event was given to Jazz and Blues to run and Riverfest ended that year and for the next ten years was run as a Blues concert with fast food venders from outside the area.

Last year the event was given back by the Red Bank Town Council to the original organizers.  RIVERFEST WAS BACK.  Tim Mcloone took the reins for organizing the music and we hand picked the Red Bank Restaurants participating.  Back was the great food served by each of your favorite restaurants.  The music was varied and with great local musicians performing there was magic on stage with diversified music for everyone.  Working with the Eastern Area Chamber of Commerce and This is it Productions the event was back and run to perfection. 

I highly recommend you put this event on your calendar for this coming June.  Red Bank will be on the charts all year with great events for family friends and loved ones.  The dates are Friday June 1^th,  starting at 5 PM come to Marine Park in Red Bank and plan to stay for Saturday June 2th and Sunday June 3rd. Brings the kids, the family, and your loved ones and create or relive the memories that only this event could create.