JACKSON – For about a quarter of a century, Jackson residents have come out to support an event coordinated by the township’s Policeman’s Benevolent Association 168 and this year’s event was picture perfect.
The event was once again held in Pine Park in Lakewood and sunny skies and mild temperatures greeted hundreds of attendees.
The event filled the park with various booths, inflatable children’s games and other attractions while members of the township Kiwanis cooked up some familiar favorites like sweet Italian sausage.
PBA 168 President Jeff Henba said, “We have 104 (police officers) and we have a committee that puts this on.” That committee includes officers Joseph Ponte and Mike Bollard who were the main coordinators plus Kevin Scheverman, Lauren Hornfeck, Randal Trasky and Robert Gravina.
Ponte said, “we’ll probably get over a thousand people today, maybe 1,500. We have the band Moon Doggie performing this year.”
“Moon Doggie are good,” Henba added. “We had them last year.”
“We change it up every couple of years,” Ponte said.
Ponte said proceeds from ticket sales of the event don’t go toward any one particular cause. Some of it goes to scholarships, for example. “Every month we have a meeting and there are different families (or) organizations reaching out to us for help – for either a loved one who is ill or someone who lost their house in a fire or something like that.”
“We are always trying to give back to the community. It all goes into a fund and we distribute the money,” he said.
Police Officer Michael Bollard of the Support Services Division is a past vice president of the PBA 168. He said this would have been the 24th pig roast but they missed one after the attacks on September 11, 2001 and one during the COVID-19 shutdowns.
“This started in Jackson and we brought it here (to Lakewood) probably about 15 years ago and it has been a great event for everyone. It really brings out a lot of people in town and they miss it when it doesn’t happen,” Bollard said.
As to the large amount of food required for an event of this scope, he said “ShopRite used to donate it but this year we got a donation and so we were on our own after that and we paid for the food. This really goes back to the community. This is what we do.”
“We do it for good times. The kids can enjoy the rides and the adults can enjoy the bands. There is a little bit for everybody,” Bollard said. He added that the PBA regularly presents thousands of dollars each month to local causes. For example, they provide a full Thanksgiving dinner to families, and they supply local food banks. They also helped with a backpack drive at the start of the school year.
Among the many Jackson Kiwanis members serving up the food were former president Lois Kapp and John Wall. Wall noted that this year the club was grilling up “at least 192 pounds of hot dogs.”
Adding to the festive atmosphere around the large inflatable slides, games of chance, a mini-train and rides were several costumed characters including Spider-Man and his amazing friends Mirabel and Isabela from the animated Disney movie “Encanto” who posed for photos with children. Spider-man was played by Anthony Drugo, who said he enjoys his time making children happy when they see them at the event.
He was joined by Samantha Moss who played the character of Mirabel and Lily Incantalupo who played Isabela. They were among three of the characters hired to entertain children from Princess Party Productions of Point Pleasant.
Among the organizations present were Alpha CISM Team which was fundraising for Tunnel of Towers. “We do crisis management for first responders. The team is state wide and if there is a critical incident we go in and help in diffusing things after the debriefing,” Jackson resident Daniel Schafer said.
Mayor Michael Reina and Council President Martin Flemming were among the elected officials that were present at the Pig Roast and who were enjoying the festivities.
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