By JOSEPH SAPIA
The Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce is still calculating figures, but it appears 11,000 or 12,000 people visited its eighth annual Oyster Festival over the Sept. 11 to 13 weekend.
This year, the festival, held near the Carousel building at the oceanfront, had weather ranging from clear on Friday to rainy and windy on Saturday to clear and rainy on Sunday, said Jacqueline L. Pappas, the chamber’s executive director.
“Except for the weather on Saturday and Sunday, it was a great festival,” Pappas said. “The weather definitely put a damper on things.”
But, overall, people enjoyed the fest, Pappas said.
“It gets better every year, that’s what we hear from the patrons,” Pappas said. “The festival, this year, welcomed a lot of new faces to Asbury Park.”
A major recipient of this year’s proceeds is the Asbury Park Toy Drive, benefiting the city’s youth. Pappas said it is yet to be determined how much money will go to the drive.
