Cruisin’ running on fumes
Annual classic car event forced to pull back due to lack
of sponsors
By gloria stravelli
Staff Writer

There won’t be any scheduled Elvis sightings in Marine Park during the 10th annual Cruisin’ with the Oldies this year. Organizers of the annual nostalgia fest say they’ve had to scale down the event due to a shortage of sponsorship dollars and lack of local support.

"It’s become increasingly difficult for us to get sponsorships and put this thing together," said Dr. James Dubel who, along with his wife, Barbara, originated Cruisin’ in 1992.

The weekend-long celebration of iconic classic cars, whose traditional finale is an Elvis impersonators’ contest, will be held for only one night Friday, May 17, this year.

Features like the Elvis contest, food vendors, live entertainment and children’s activities held in Marine Park will be gone, he said, and Cruisin’ will be reduced to a classic car expo along Red Bank’s main streets.

Dubel, a local chiropractor and classic car enthusiast, told The Hub that raising sponsor dollars has gotten more difficult as a result of Red Bank’s success and the events of Sept. 11.

"The whole atmosphere of Red Bank has changed," added Dubel. "They used to call it ‘Dead Bank’ and we had just July Fourth, Riverfest and Cruisin.’ Now everybody’s jumping in. It’s become a fun town, but it’s almost not conducive.

"People are complaining," he noted, adding that the feeling is growing that the town is becoming maxed out by the proliferation of events and the size of the crowds they draw.

The increased competition for sponsorship dollars has been exacerbated by the events of Sept. 11, he added, and major sponsors like St. Barnabas Healthcare System, Morgan Stanley and Allstate have backed out this year.

Dubel said the cost of running the event runs to more than $100,000, which includes fees paid to the borough for use of Marine Park ($1,500), cleanup by the Public Works Department, and traffic and crowd control by police, plus outlays for on-site sanitary facilities, insurance, entertainment and technical equipment.

"We watch every penny," said Dubel, who noted he routinely contributed his own funds toward expenses. "We get a sponsor to pay for this, somebody to sponsor the stage, somebody for a band. That’s how we make it happen. We hope to get a little extra to give to charity.

"I’m very disappointed, but we have to pull the reins in," Dubel continued. "Sponsorship is down, and costs increase every year. Am I disappointed? Absolutely. To lose this in Red Bank is a travesty.

"Just having it on Friday won’t do the event justice. But at least people who love the cars, people who are 16 and dreaming about getting their first car, and people who are 65 and remember the days when they had that classic car, will have a chance to see the cars."

"Other towns do this," Dubel continued, "and we’ve helped them. But towns like Freehold, Keyport and Long Branch donate the park and police services."

"If they do something for my event they would have to help everyone," he said of the situation in the borough. "It’s unfortunate that other towns have a different perspective. Long Branch welcomes us. Red Bank started it and now all these other towns have picked it up and seen the value of it, but unfortunately it may not be feasible in Red Bank any longer."

"We’re happy to be the host community, but we don’t subsidize any special event," said Red Bank Mayor Edward J. McKenna Jr. "We don’t provide assistance to people who hold events."

The event, which brings up to 100,000 people to town, Dubel said, benefits Red Bank year round. because they come back to patronize local businesses.

"People come to Cruisin’ and discover Red Bank," he said. "They find a restaurant around the corner, or see something in a window and come back and shop and stay for the weekend."

Dubel said he’s disappointed that local businesses haven’t stepped up and offered support so the event could continue unchanged.

"I feel hurt by the fact that some large, local businesses who could have come forward to sponsor the event didn’t," he said. "It’s gotten no support."

According to Dubel, Cruisin’ could go the way of other events like the regatta held on the Navesink, which was discontinued.

The National Sweepstakes Regatta, an annual summertime event held for many years on the Navesink each summer was discontinued in 1996, according to its former organizer.

"It’s what put Red Bank on the map," said Commodore Marie Moore, noting that celebrities like bandleader Guy Lombardo and powerboat owners from as far away as Florida participated in the mile-and-a-quarter regatta, which began and ended at the fishing pier at Marine Park.

Like Cruisin,’ the regatta featured activities for children, live entertainment, local food vendors, had a charitable component, and attracted people who shopped and stayed at area businesses.

Moore said the two-day event, sponsored by the National Sweepstakes Regatta Association, brought more than 5,000 people to Marine Park, and more watched the event from vantage points along the banks of the Navesink.

The event was discontinued, she said, because it became difficult to attract sponsors.

"It was very hard to raise money here so many events were going on, and the borough doesn’t give any help," she said. "Sponsors like AT&T and New Jersey Natural Gas got tapped."

While event producers pay a fee for the use of Marine Park, they are not allowed to charge admission to the park to help offset costs, both Dubel and Moore noted.

"It was very expensive to put on," Moore said, adding that of the $36,000 it took to run the event, $6,000 went to the borough in fees.

"I’ve asked Mayor McKenna; he’s been very supportive in the past, and Stanley Sickels [borough administrator] about the possibility of getting the park for free or donating the services of the police," Dubel said.

"They say if they did it for me they’d have to do it for others, but the others are money-making and we’re not," he noted.

"When we have the event, if we have any money left over, we keep some for start-up the next year and give the rest away."

"I’m thrilled we’ve been able to do it for 10 years. Red Bank gave us the chance; we had it and I’m thankful, Dubel said.

"It’s an incredible amount of work, but the rewards are great and we enjoyed doing it. When I get in my ’55 Chevy and people are waving to me — that’s all the reward I need."