By ED SALVAS
Main Street in Bradley Beach is starting to take on a Holiday look. Borough employees have started putting up new “snowflake” holiday lights along the borough’s Main Street after receiving a donation of $1,500 from the Chamber of Commerce.
Officers of the chamber were at the Borough Council meeting last week and presented the check to Mayor Gary Engelstad. President Brenda Connolly, Vice President John Esposito, chairman of the Beautification Committee, and Secretary-Treasurer and Executive Director Shirley Ayres were thanked by the mayor who praised the business group’s effort and said he believes the relationship between the borough and the Chamber of Commerce has never been stronger.
Esposito says the chamber paid for some new snowflake lights last year but didn’t have enough money to complete the job. This year he says, “Main Street will have snowflake lights from one end to the other.”
It’s been a good year for the Bradley Beach Chamber according to Esposito, who said they had a very successful Lobsterfest in July as well as a BarBQ weekend and a restaurant tour in October that helped the Chamber’s cash flow for the year. Chamber members said it was time to give something back.
The chamber also donated $750 dollars for hanging flower baskets in the summer as part of the Main Street Beautification Project.
Chamber President Connolly said the organization had set three major goals for the year with No. 1 being an increase in fund-raising. She said they have increased fundraising by 78 percent so far in 2013. Goal No. 2 was the beautification of Main Street which included hanging baskets and placing flowers in tree wells which was a success thanks to the efforts of resident Jane DeNoble and the Garden Club.
The third goal was to establish a storefront chamber office on Main Stree but Connolly said that goal has been set aside in favor of new signage outside their present office above the Central Jersey Bank branch at 501 Main St.
