18th Annual Pine Barrens Jamboree

    Thanks, once again,  to my friends for taking me to a place in the pines that I had wanted to visit for years. This festival is up in Waretown, NJ.  For much of my married life, my husband and I used to take vacations together and we would go to the mountains for skiing but we did not take "day trips" on the weekends.  I worked all week and then on weekends my husband would hunt or fish and I would go shopping.  In more recent years, we used to go to the casinos but I am ready now to make up for what I missed here in New Jersey.  I  am feeling very sentimental about my attachment to the Pine Barrens.  This attachment comes from knowing that my grandfather on my father's side chose to locate in Atsion, NJ.  There he worked on the railroads and eventually became a blueberry and cranberry farmer in the Pine Barrens.

   I enjoyed listening to the Jamboree blue grass bands as we ambled through the festival grounds.  These bands which perform at the Albert Music Hall are quite special. They are like a pocket of musical heritage that is missing in other parts of our state. I feel pride in that New Jersey has so much diversity in the physical features of the land and the cultural features as well.  I really don't ever think I spent time in Ocean County so it was all new to me.  I witnessed a stark contrast in the population at the festival than what I had experienced at the Englishtown Flea Market a few weeks back.  There I felt like I was stepping into a world with very few white people but here it was the reverse.  I am used to having a mix of different people of various socio-economic levels in Atlantic County but I felt that the people at this festival have not experienced that level of integration that I have become accustomed to here close to Atlantic City.  For me this festival was a bit of an upgrade in exploring culture, history, and music.  There also were recreational activities and the appreciation of the flora and fauna of the Pine Barrens.  There were 4-H animal exhibits, a Civil War re-enactment camp, a gatherer demonstration and old gas-powered engines sputtering away.  There was nothing missing that could have made it better.  The highlight for us was sitting for a presentation on the The Blue Comet Train by Al Stokley.  Although there were crafters selling their wares, it was not overly commercialized.   Many of the booths had products that related well to the Pine Barrens like honey, bees wax candles, home-made soap and chocolate covered cranberries on a stick.  The featured historical event was the Hindenburg Diaster with many artifacts to view. Sorry, I will have to say, in my mind, no festival in Atlantic County or any surrounding areas can measure up to this festival.

http://www.alberthall.org/history.html 

All through the event bands from the Albert Music Hall entertained everyone:

 

 

Al Stokley presented a delightful history of the train----The Blue Comet:

 Bee's wax candles, honey and other bee treats were available:

 Chocolate covered cranberries:

 

Do I need to tell you what this is?

As we left we looked up to see this arborist doing his work.  I had recently seen this type of work in action.  Trees needed to be cut away from around homes after the Derecho that hit our town of Egg Harbor City: