When I opened Paranormal Books & Curiosities in 2008 I did so at a crossroads in my life. I was looking not only to try something new but also to find a community. Asbury Park was never on my radar, but somehow, like so many others, I landed here and took root. Paranormal was a big risk, it was a new challenge for me. It was a hard road in Asbury Park for a small retail shop. There were many many struggles and more than a few roadblocks. But in the end, we survived.
The shop became more than a shop to me. It became a focal point for a new life. I met friends who have become family and have found myself stitched into the fabric of a vibrant, complex, and fragile community.
I remember my concerns about Asbury Park. As an historian, I saw so many generational issues…so many opportunities for failure. Yet, as an optimist and a paranormalist, I saw SO MUCH potential. There were many Asbury Parks, many fissures, many divides, but there were so many people who saw Asbury Park as it could be without losing what it was and so, I bought in. “High tide rises all b
oats” has always been my guiding bumper sticker. If something is good for the greater good, it is good for you too, because you are part of that community.
Amy, Yvonne, and Eileen personify that belief to me. They work tirelessly for all parts of our city because they do not see us as “parts” but as the sum total, the complete Asbury Park. Asbury Park is not the land. It is not the beach. Not the sand. There are plenty of places with beach, sand and sun. Asbury Park is the people. ALL of them. It is the history and the roots of the people who live here, work here, who find inspiration here, and who then inspire others. People can get a hand-crafted drink anywhere. But there is nowhere else that comes close to the creativity, uniqueness, fight, history, struggle, and compassion – in other words, the community that is Asbury Park. Remove any aspect of that community and we are altered and lesser.
So many candidates want to represent the business community, the west side, the homeowner, the boardwalk, the developer, and the individuals as if by rapid growth in one
area AP will be “successful”. Asbury Together works for all, for the betterment of Asbury Park.
I can tell you what I learned as co-founder of APDT, working with people I have never met every day, from every part of Asbury Park. I learned that we are FAR along the path of success. We are a strong community. We are not a series of communities. We are ONE. We are TOGETHER. Now is not the time to splinter off, prioritizing one or two groups over the community. Now is the time to continue to push forward with honest, fair, and sustainable growth. I trust the creative, concerned, and dedicated leadership of the Asbury Together team to keep our forward and upward momentum- and to keep AP Together. Don’t stop now.
Join us for a a 60 minute walk through Asbury Park’s haunted history lead by Kathy Kelly! Afterwards stop and chat with your neighbors and candidates at a small reception at Paranormal Tower!