By Elizabeth Wulfhorst
KEYPORT – On a warm and breezy last day of summer, the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners gathered with Keyport Mayor Collette Kennedy and local business owners in the borough to review the area’s summer tourism report and look forward to fall.
“It is so special to be able to announce all positive things that have occurred,” said commissioner Director Thomas A. Arnone about the season and 2021 in general, despite the challenges of a continuing pandemic.
“Obviously when people talk about tourism, they think of one thing: water, sand and beaches,” Arnone said. And this summer the beaches continued to provide local municipalities with a lot of revenue. Beach badge revenue, the yearly benchmark – while down from 2020 – increased from 2019 numbers.
“Ironically, our numbers are slightly down from last year, but much higher than they were in the previous year,” Arnone said.
In 2020 “the beach was almost the only thing you could do” because of pandemic restrictions, noted Amanda Stone, the county’s director of tourism.
Stone said that last summer, “for a million reasons,” including restaurants only having outdoor seating or takeout until Labor Day, quarantines and changing mandates, people swarmed to the beaches. In the beginning of the summer, towns weren’t offering daily badges because of quarantine restrictions, so they sold more seasonal badges, which are more expensive, driving revenue much higher.
So 2020 was an “anomaly,” Stone said.
But, as Arnone noted, Monmouth County tourism isn’t just about the beaches and as the weather turns cooler, other areas of the county are starting to thrive.
“The fall season has changed in Monmouth County some, where it’s not just that Memorial Day to Labor Day component,” he said, mentioning the popularity of local eateries last weekend. “You could not get into a restaurant in Monmouth County under, like, a two-hour wait,” Arnone said.
The commissioners and tourism board have been working to “stretch out” the tourism season to include upcoming fall festivals and events in October. Arnone said the fall is western Monmouth County and the Bayshore’s time to shine, when the weather precludes beachgoing.
Bayshore is the “day trip destination for the state,” Kennedy, the Keyport mayor, said, adding that, while the beach towns get the love in July and August, Bayshore towns really thrive in spring and fall.
“We are a year-round destination,” she said. “September, October, November is really our prime season. So we are excited. We’re sad to see summer go but we’re excited to bring in the autumn season here.”
As Kennedy explained, there is an abundance of outdoor activities available in the borough and the greater Bayshore area. “You don’t just fish and boat here, you could paddleboard, kayak,” she said. “Picnicking in our parks became even more popular through the pandemic,” Kennedy said, noting the borough offers two waterfront parks, plus access to the Henry Hudson Trail, maintained by the county park system.
“We are definitely an outdoor establishment municipality and we welcome everyone to come and embrace that throughout the autumn season,” she said.
Arnone also mentioned how the county is continuing to support small businesses that suffered during the worst of the COVID-19 shutdowns but managed to survive, many because of money they received from the CARES Act. Since that federal money became available to the county, Arnone said it has disbursed $46 million in $10,000 grants. He commended the 53 municipalities for working together with the county to keep as many businesses as possible thriving during the past 18 months.
Arnone said regular weekly conference calls and not dividing among “party lines” made Monmouth County “much more successful than other counties.”
“We all work together for what the ultimate goal is: a successful county,” he said.
Kennedy said the county grants positively affected her borough. “I know there’s some business owners… that aren’t here today because they’re busy working in their stores that are still open because of those CARES Act grants.”
Janet Gallo, the owner of Pearl Yoga & Fitness in the borough, spoke about receiving money during the shutdown. The county “really understood that small businesses don’t check the boxes that a lot of the bigger companies do and, honestly, without their assistance, I’m not really sure… I’d be able to stand here and say I’m the owner of Pearl anymore.”
The article originally appeared in the September 23 – 29, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
