Food Truck Festival, Concert & Fireworks!!
Change leads to a new beginning for annual Jefferson Township celebration
The annual Jefferson Township Day event celebrated its 30th anniversary this past July. However, over the past several years, dwindling daytime attendance has been obvious and an increasing lack of volunteers to execute a morning to night event has been evident. It was time for a difficult decision to be made so the Chairman of Jefferson Township Day John Focacci and the Jefferson Arts Committee (JAC) President Carol Punturieri had a long conversation with Mayor Russ Felter.
Everyone agreed that the final decision would be that the celebration would definitely continue but in a modified and new exciting format this coming summer. It is the hope of the Jefferson Arts Committee (JAC) that the community will welcome and support the new plan as it is implemented on Saturday, July 8.
The JAC is very happy to announce that with the cooperation of the Township of Jefferson’s Administration and Council, the event will be renamed The Jefferson Township Food Truck Festival, Concert, and Fireworks, the entire event will be free with no admission or parking fees, and it will take place on the Jefferson Township High School fields located at 1010 Weldon Road in Milton/Oak Ridge as it has for three decades.
The day will start off in the afternoon as F.S. Burroughs/North Jersey Trout Unlimited returns to conduct the always popular Children’s Fishing Contest at the Weldon Road Fishing Education Pond on Weldon Road, across the street from the high school. It will be a free event – details TBA.
The JAC will host the 12th annual Irish Road Bowling Contest on Catholic Charities Way off Weldon Road in Oak Ridge at the Weigand Farms – Department of Persons with Disabilities site – details TBA.
The main celebration will begin at 5:30 p.m., and attendees should bring their own lawn chairs and/or blankets as six specialty food trucks and two dessert trucks open up for your business. They will be offering a delectable array of culinary items to satisfy everyone’s taste buds and will remain open for business throughout the evening - details TBA as contracts are finalized.
To entertain you while you get settled for the evening’s events and enjoy your food truck dinner, DJ Earl Heller of Sound Solutions will be playing some great music.
The JAC will conduct an off-premise 50/50 raffle selling tickets in advance beginning in May and continue to sell raffle tickets to approximately 9 pm on the night of the event, July 8. The winning ticket will be drawn that evening.
There will be a dynamic evening concert starting at 7:15 pm featuring The British Invasion Years performing a three-part performance: classic songs by iconic 60’s British groups, the American musical response with memorable hits by celebrated artists, and concluding with the 60’s era retrospective note for note finale from the four lads who started it all – The Beatles. More information TBA.
As the food and dessert trucks will still be open, grab the dinner that you didn't have earlier, a snack, dessert, or some refreshments and sit back as the JAC will bring back the fantastic and renowned aerial fireworks display produced by Interstate Fireworks that Jefferson has enjoyed and loved over the past 30 years. Look to the skies as the show begins at 9:30 pm.
Keep informed of all the details as they unfold for the 2017 Food Truck Festival, Concert, and Fireworks event on www.jeffersonarts.org and the following web based news vehicles -- www.thejeffersonchronicle.net, www.mylakenews.com, www.jefftwp.org (Virtual Backpack link), www.jeffersontownship.net (Events), and other area publications and be sure to check the Jefferson Arts Committee’s Facebook page as well. For information call 973-697-2032 or 973-697-3828 or email artscommittee@jeffersonarts.org
Mark Saturday, July 8 on your calendar now!
While transitions such as this are never easy, the JAC is confident that it is the right decision, one that will breathe new life into this annual celebration, and that change will lead to a new beginning.