By Sunayana Prabhu
TINTON FALLS – The mayor and council members are urging the community to mark noon, Sept. 6, on their calendars and join in a parade to celebrate Tinton Falls’ 75th anniversary. The parade route will run from borough hall to Sycamore Park. The event will be the culmination of three days of festivities commemorating the borough’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration at the park from Sept. 4 through 6.
Inside Tinton Falls’ municipal building, officials are busy planning the parade, community events and commemorative projects that showcase the borough’s heritage, from its 17th-century origins to its modern suburban development.
Mayor Risa Clay unveiled ambitious plans for events that will present the town’s rich history alongside its promising future. “We’re looking forward to celebrating both – where we have been and where we’re going, collectively as a town,” Clay said.
“We offer all the benefits of a beautiful, suburban location that is still affordable,” the mayor added, speaking of the municipality’s strengths. “We have fantastic infrastructure, gorgeous parks, an excellent recreation program and a top-tier school system.”
The weekend-long celebration will feature the parade, from borough hall through Monmouth Regional High School to Sycamore Park, with local marching bands, Scouts and sports teams. “We really wanted to emulate something similar to the old town gatherings, where everyone would come out and participate,” Clay explained.
Attractions include an antique car show, rides, inflatables, live music, food trucks, boardwalk games, a magician, face painting and more. “We’re going to include everyone that we possibly can in the parade, all with the idea of fostering a greater sense of town community,” Clay said.
The events are planned to be in keeping with the borough’s history, tracing its origins to Lewis Morris in the 1600s and the enslaved laborers he employed in his ironworks who were critical to the area’s early industrial development. Later, during the Revolutionary War, the mill was used as a magazine for powder, arms and military stores for the American army. As a result, the borough became a target for British reprisals, according to the Tinton Falls website.
The borough’s schools will contribute to the celebration, too, through collaborative art projects, including a mural depicting 75 years of Tinton Falls history and video interviews capturing community memories.
Fireworks are planned for the celebration to symbolize the borough’s bright future and ongoing transformation, including recent economic investments from companies such as Netflix and Bell Works Fort Monmouth.
“It’s an exciting time to be mayor,” Clay said. “We have the resources to do good things, and we have people that want to make the town better.”
Visit tintonfalls.com/spotlight-corner to learn more about sponsorship and vendor opportunities, and for information about volunteering.
The article originally appeared in the July 10 – 16, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
