Author: Spark Market Solutions

Thanks to popular demand, Monmouth Park is hosting the first annual Home Cookin’ Amateur Crab Cake Contest. The contest will be held on Sunday, August 17th at the Shore Chef Crab Cake Cook‐Off at Monmouth Park, 175 Oceanport Ave., Oceanport. The contest is open to all amateur and home chefs. Professional chefs are not eligible. Recipes will be evaluated by our team of professional chefs. Ten contestants will be chosen from the recipes submitted to cook their crab cakes for our team of judges at Monmouth Park starting at noon on Sunday, August 17th. All information must be included to be qualified to participate. By submitting this recipe, you permit use of its contents or any photos in related promotions for the event.

[button link=”http://www.sparkmybiz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/MonmouthParkTopCrabCakeEntryFORMfields.pdf” type=”type-1-3″ size=”small” ] download pdf [/button] Monmouth Park Top Crab Cake Entry Form

Amateur Chefs & Seafood Lovers Wanted!
Amateur Crab Cake Contest Joins Shore Chef Crab Cake Cook-Off at Monmouth Park

Each year, the popular Shore Chef Crab Cake Cook-Off at Monmouth Park spawns countless requests from home cooks, aspiring chefs and wannabes who claim to make New Jersey’s best crab cake, wanting to know how they can get the recognition their masterpiece deserves. This year they’ll have the chance to strut their stuff, as the first annual Home Cookin’ Amateur Crab Cake Contest will be held on Sunday, August 17th as part of the Shore Chef Crab Cake Cook-Off at Monmouth Park Racetrack.

Based on the merit of their recipe submissions, ten contestants will be chosen by a team of chefs to participate in a cook-off at the event that will be judged by a team of chefs and professionals led by Pete Genovese, the Star-Ledger’s food writer and captain of the famed Munchmobile. Entries will be judged on taste, texture and visual appeal.

“There are a lot of very talented chefs and passionate seafood lovers in New Jersey,” said Patti Baxter of Spark Market Solutions, organizers of the event. “We’re expecting a hot and heavy competition.”

The contest is open to amateur cooks and chefs. Contestants must be able to come to Monmouth Park on Sunday, August 17th for the live competition, with a grand prize of $500 to be awarded.

The Shore Chef Crab Cake Cook-Off, presented by Monmouth Park and The Star-Ledger, will feature over a dozen seafood restaurants and eateries from the Jersey Shore on Saturday and Sunday, August 16 and 17. Visitors will have a chance to win prizes including tickets to an upcoming New Jersey Devils game, Broadway tickets, VIP packages to Monmouth Park and more when they vote for their favorite specialties for “People’s Choice” award. Come meet the personalities from 107.1FM as they judge “107.1 Delicious” on Saturday and meet Pete Genovese and the Munchmobile on Sunday. Monmouth Park’s heart-pounding thoroughbred racing guarantees a day of fun for the whole family.

Monmouth Park Racetrack is located in Oceanport, New Jersey, off Garden State Parkway exit 105. Gates open at 11:30 both days, and Sunday is Family Fun Day. Admission is only $3 and children 12 and under are free. Food prices vary by vendor. The Shore Chef Crab Cake Cook-Off is sponsored by the NJ Lottery, World Subaru, the New Jersey Devils, Wild Bill’s Olde Fashioned Soda, Monmouth Health & Life magazine and is supported in part by a grant from the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Travel and Tourism.

For more information on the Home Cookin’ Amateur Crab Cake Contest or the Shore Chef Crab Cake Cook-Off, contact Spark Market Solutions at 732-747-4449 or info@sparkmybiz.com.

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Is there a hidden sculptor inside you just waiting to break free? Do you need an official excuse to spend the day at the beach digging in the sand? Bring your pail and shovel to the 28th annual New Jersey Sandcastle Contest at the 18th Avenue Beach in Belmar on Wednesday, July 30th.

Presented annually by the Belmar Tourism Commission and D’Jais, the competition is free and open to competitors of all ages and abilities. Prizes will be awarded in six different categories: ages 7 & under, ages 8-11, ages 12-15, and 16 and over, along with Best Group and Best Family. Judges will also award a “Best on the Beach” for the top sand creation.

Bring the family for tons of fun along with free giveaways, drinks, games and music. Visitors will have a chance to win great prizes, including tickets to a 2014/15 New Jersey Devils game.

Registration begins at 8 am at the 18th Avenue Beach, where admission to beach is free that day. Judging begins at noon. Rain date is July 30th. The New Jersey Sandcastle Contest is sponsored by World Jeep, GEICO, 95.9 The Rat, Press Communications Radio, NJ 101.5 and Spark Market Solutions.

Festival Dates: June 11, 12 &13, 2010
Hours: Friday, 4-7 pm, Saturday & Sunday, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Location: Silver Lake Park, Belmar (Ocean Avenue between 5th and 6th avenues)
Produced by: The Belmar Tourism Commission, 601 W. Main St., Belmar, NJ 07719
Pricing: Admission to the festival is free. Food, beverages, crafts and other items are for sale
Entertainment Schedule at end of Release
Additional Public Information: www.belmar.com 732 681-3700, ext. 214

Belmar, NJ – May 25, 2010: Where can you see lobsters fly and clams roll? The New Jersey Seafood Festival in Belmar, June 11 – 13, 2010 is the place to go. “The amount and variety of seafood that will be dished out at the food extravaganza, now in its 24th year, is truly astonishing,” according to Mary Brabazon, festival coordinator and Belmar Tourism Director. This year the festival expands to Friday evening to attract local area residents, and for 19 memorable hours, chefs from 45 of the area’s finest restaurants and food vendors will serve all manner of seafood from traditional steamed lobster, crab cakes, shrimp and calamari to the more exotic alligator sausage, sushi, conch fritters and fish tacos.

Renowned Jersey Shore caterer Branches Catering, West Long Branch, will host an international wine tent and garden that offers visitors age 21 and over a spot where they can listen to live music, enjoy a glass of wine with the Festival’s tasty offerings, including Branches’ raw bar and delicious lobster rolls, and talk with wine experts about food and wine pairings, vintages and more. New this year, connoisseurs will be able to enjoy specially chosen New Jersey Seafood Festival Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

The festival, organized by the Belmar Tourism Commission, also features live entertainment by R&B Express on Friday evening, Red Wagon, HOLME and the Shore Blues Band on Saturday and The Pat Roddy Band, Living Proof and The Blackberry Blues Band on Sunday. Dozens of crafters and commercial vendors, community organizations and a children’s tent with a variety of activities for young visitors provide lots of enjoyment for the whole family. It has twice been named one of the top 100 events in the United States by the American Bus Association and received a New Jersey Governor’s Tourism Award for Excellence.

The festival is held in Silver Lake Park, on the west side of Ocean Avenue between 5th and 6th avenues. Admission is free and food prices vary. For the first time the festival expands to Friday evening. Festival hours are Friday 4-7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., rain or shine. On Saturday and Sunday, a free festival trolley will loop through Belmar with stops at the festival, Belmar’s Train Station and the Belmar Marina parking lot, located west of Route 35. No pets please.

Hosting the giant festival is a huge undertaking, according to Ms. Brabazon, but one that is well worth the effort as it showcases Belmar as a fabulous vacation destination and enables the Belmar Tourism Commission to assist a variety of local non-profit organizations. A pre-festival VIP cocktail party will be held at Brandl, 703 Belmar Plaza, Belmar, from 6 to 9 p.m., on Tuesday, June 8, with proceeds supporting the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Cocktail party tickets are $50 and are available through the Food Bank at 732.918.2600 or the Belmar Tourism Commission at 732.681.3700, ext. 214. For additional festival and cocktail party information please visitwww.belmar.com.

Entertainment Schedule Friday, June 11th 4-7 pm R&B Express
Saturday June 12th 11:30 am-1:30 pm Red Wagon 2-4:30 pm HOLME 5-7 pm The Shore Blues Band
Sunday June 13th 11:30 am-1:30 pm The Pat Roddy Band 2-5 pm Living Proof 5:30-7 pm Blackberry Blues Band