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2020 Visit Monmouth Photo Winners!

Visit Monmouth Cover by Wally Bilotta

Visit Monmouth – 2nd Place Winner – Andrew Wolff

Visit Monmouth – 3rd Place Winner – Michael S. Miller

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2020 Explore Ocean Photo Winners!

Explore Ocean Cover by Bob Cuthbert

Explore Ocean – 2nd Place Winner – Jenifer Rutherford

Explore Ocean – 3rd Place winner – Linda Shannon

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NJ Photo Contest – Free Entry – Monmouth & Ocean County

Calling all professional, amateur and enthusiastic shutterbugs. Two major Jersey Shore tourism organizations, the Ocean County Department of Business Development and Tourism and Monmouth County Tourism have partnered with Spark Market Solutions, LLC of Red Bank, NJ to produce “Explore Ocean” and the “Visit Monmouth” guides.

Spark is looking for diverse, artistic photos of your favorite areas of Ocean and Monmouth County. Think beach, surf, historic locations, and family fun or what makes people come to the NJ.

Images chosen for these publications will be featured with full photo credit, and the grand prize winner will appear on the cover and receive a $250 cash prize, plus an “about” photography blurb.

There will also be cash prizes for 2nd and 3rd place.

Photos submitted may be used in Visit Monmouth and Explore Ocean.

Photographers will get credit for any photos used along with their name and contact info/website listed in the masthead of the magazine.

Contest Rules:

  • Submit all high resolution jpg (at least 300 dpi) photos along with your Full Name, Address, email address and Phone Number
  • Please name all files individually with your name part of the file name
  • You can submit as many photos as you like. Even if you don’t win the cover there is still a chance for 2nd or 3rd place and your photo will be inside the magazine with your photo credit.
  • Three ways to submit:
    • Share to our Google drive infosparkmybiz@gmail.com – follow up with an email with your info to colleen@sparkmybiz.com
    • Send your photos via email to: colleen@sparkmybiz.com
    • Mail a flash drive or a CD to Spark Market Solutions, 65 Monmouth Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701

Please note that model photo releases will be needed for any children under 18 years old, recognizable appearing in the photos. Please use this Model release form: Click here

Deadline to submit photos is November 1, 2019

First, second and third place winners will be chosen for each publication and will be announced by November 30th 2019
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2019 Explore Ocean Photo Winners!

 

Explore Ocean Cover by Bob Cuthbert

 

Explore Ocean – 2nd Place Winner – Michele Kiely

 

Explore Ocean – 3rd Place winner – Jenifer Rutherford

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Latest News

NJ Photo Contest – Free Entry – Monmouth, Ocean & Middlesex County

Calling all professional, amateur and enthusiastic shutterbugs. Two major Jersey Shore tourism organizations, the Ocean County Department of Business Development and Tourism and Monmouth County Tourism have partnered with Spark Market Solutions, LLC of Red Bank, NJ to produce Explore Ocean ’19, and the 2019 issue of the Visit Monmouth Guide. And NEW this year we are introducing “Discover Middlesex” our tourism magazine for Middlesex County.

Spark Market Solutions is looking for diverse, artistic photos of your favorite areas of Ocean, Monmouth and Middlesex County. Think beach, surf, historic locations, and family fun or what makes people come to the NJ.

 

Images chosen for these publications will be featured with full photo credit, and the grand prize winner will appear on the cover and receive a $250 cash prize, plus an “about” photography blurb.

There will also be cash prizes for 2nd and 3rd place.

Photos submitted may be used in Visit Monmouth, Explore Ocean and Discover Middlesex.

Photographers will get credit for any photos used along with their name and contact info/website listed in the front of the magazine.

 

Contest Rules:

FREE to enter

Please note that model photo releases will be needed for any children under 18 recognizable appearing in the photos. Please use this form: Photo_model_release18

Submit all high resolution jpg (at least 300 dpi) photos along with you Full Name, Address and Phone Number.

Please name all files individually with your name part of the file name

Three ways to submit:

Share to our Google drive infosparkmybiz@gmail.com (also follow up with an email with your info to colleen@sparkmybiz.com)

 

Send your photos via email to: colleen@sparkmybiz.com

 

Mail a flash drive or a CD to Spark Market Solutions 

Spark Market Solutions

65 Monmouth Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

Attn: Colleen Leslie

 

Deadline to submit photos is NOW October 31st 2018

First, second and third place winners will be chosen for each publication and will be announced by November 30th
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Latest

Jersey Shore Food Truck Festival – Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When and where is the Jersey Shore Food Truck Festival?
A: Monmouth Park Racetrack, Oceanport, NJ
May 26, 27, 28 Saturday, Sunday & Monday

Gates will open early at 11 am on Saturday and Sunday

Gates will open at the normal 11:30 am on Monday
Races will run until approximately 6pm all three days

Q: How much is it?
A: Admission to Monmouth Park Racetrack is $5 pp at the gate (no tickets in advance)

Children 12 and under are admitted free

Trucks will selling a variety of food priced per item.
For example: An Empanada $4, Crab Cake sandwich $10, Sausage Sandwich $9, Cupcake $3

Q: Where can I park?
A: There will parking lots at Monmouth Park.
General Parking is $5. Valet Parking is $10.

Q: What activities are there for children?
A: Saturday and Sunday noon to 4 p.m., is Family Fun Day at Monmouth Park. Starting “On the Green” and spreading all the way to the picnic area, you’ll find clowns, face painters, pony rides, a bounce house and more. In addition, there is a playground in the Picnic Area. ALL Family Fun Day activities are FREE!
Children 12 and under are ALWAYS admitted FREE

Q: Are dogs permitted?
A: No sorry. No pets are allowed, as they will scare the horses.

Q: What happens if it rains?
A: The event is rain or shine. There’s plenty of cover on a rainy day, so don’t be stuck in the house, come on out and enjoy the day.

Q: Can I take the train to Monmouth Park?
A: YES! The NJ Transit – North Jersey Coast Line trains stop at Monmouth Park Station on weekends and holidays, including Memorial Day
SAVE $5.50 WITH A MONMOUTH PARK PACKAGE
Package includes round-trip transportation and Grandstand admission plus an official racing program. The package is available from all NJ TRANSIT train stations, excluding Atlantic City Rail Line stations.
The cost is the round-trip fare plus $3.50. Purchase the package from a Ticket Vending Machine (TVM) at any NJ TRANSIT train station by choosing “Beach/Monmouth Park Packages” and then selecting “Monmouth Park Racetrack”, or purchase at any ticket office.
Please note: Packages cannot be purchased aboard trains or with the NJ TRANSIT Mobile App.
The Monmouth Park train station is not handicap accessible as there is no platform.

Q: Is the park handicap accessible?
A: Monmouth Park is Handicap Accessible with handicap parking spaces in all lots. Elevators are located in both the Grandstand and Clubhouse side for patrons.
Wheelchairs are available for “check-out” on a first come, first serve basis from the Monmouth Park First Aid (basement level, Grandstand side near tunnel). Simply leave your driver’s license, and it will be returned to you once the wheelchair is brought back at the end of the day. There is a limited supply, to check with First Aid, call 732-571-5453.
The Monmouth Park train station is not handicap accessible as there is no platform. There is a platform at the Long Branch station and a cab can be taken from there to the track.

Q: Can I bring a cooler?
A: No cooler larger than 30″ long by 15″ wide will be permitted at Monmouth Park.
BYO (Bring Your Own) alcohol must be kept and consumed in the designated BYO area. BYO alcohol permitted only in the picnic area north of the Premio food stand. No BYO alcohol will be allowed at any other location throughout the facility. No hard-liquor or glass bottles are permitted within Monmouth Park.
Please note the cooler policy does not apply to reserved picnic areas.

Q: Will there be live music?
A: Yes.
Saturday, May 26th – Lauren Davidson Music
Sunday, May 27th Pez Head Band and Jessica Rose
Monday, May 28th – The Mike Dalton Band

Q: What’s the address?
A: Monmouth Park, 175 Oceanport Avenue, Oceanport, NJ 07757
Take the Garden State Parkway to Exit 105, to Route 36 East. Follow signs to Monmouth Park

Q: 45 Food Trucks! That’s a lot! How can I eat that much food?
A: The best game plan is come with a group. Order lots of different food items and share the feast with your friends. See ya there 🙂

The full list of trucks can be found here…

https://www.facebook.com/events/199329540620319/

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Food Truck Stories with Cheezen

Tell us all about your food truck, what makes you special?
When Cheezen started back in 2014, we were the first gourmet grilled cheese food truck In New Jersey. Our concept started out with the question: What makes people happy? What do people enjoy to eat? With those questions in mind, Cheezen was created with fresh quality grilled cheese sandwiches on handmade artisan bread. Anybody can make a grilled cheese, but it’s our team’s loyal dedication and attention to detail that makes our food extra special.

Why did you decide to open a food truck?
I decided I wanted to start a food truck because I thought it would have been the coolest thing on the block, but my real motivation to start a food truck business was my children. I was making dinner one night and I was making grilled cheese and soup. I already had the dream to start a truck but my other passion is baking – and 3 months later Cheezen was ready to take on the market. From there we knew we wanted to serve our delicious food to everyone in the state. I also wanted to create something where hopefully in years to come, I will be able to pass something off to my kids, or at least a concept, so they have the tools and knowledge to help them grow to successful business owners.

What’s your most popular menu item?
Currently our most popular item is our Bourbon Bacon Jam Grilled Cheese. This is made by first cooking off a lot of chopped hickory bacon. Then we dice up onions and sauté them down with spices and most importantly the bourbon. Afterward we toast our handmade artisan style sourdough bread, add the aged gruyere and sharp cheddar. Then at the end we add our Bourbon Bacon Jam and top it with our homemade chipotle aioli. The result is the award-winning Bourbon Bacon Jam Grilled Cheese!

Tell us about a favorite or memorable event you’ve participated in?
We have probably participated in over 300 events in the last four years. I must say that our most memorable event was Monmouth Park Food Truck Festival where we won Best Guiltiest Pleasure – by a panel of judges, including Pete Genovese from NJ.com. Winning this was huge for us. The excitement of winning this award was earth lifting! To see our hard work and dedication and our mission all come true to us in one afternoon – during the busiest we have ever been – at one single event! We won!!! We could not believe it. We all cried, service stopped and we all took a moment to hug each other!

What’s the best part about having a food truck?
Serving our fans our food is the reason we continue to do what we do day in and day out. I am so grateful and so humble for what we do. Seeing our fans do a happy dance while their eating one of our grilled cheese sandwiches is my feel good moment.

Do you do weddings and/or catering?
Yes and yes! We currently have weddings booked at many reception halls throughout the state. Weddings have become more and more popular to have Food Trucks as another feature or station at the reception. We also provide at home catering service with our trucks. For celebrations such as graduation parties, birthday parties, Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvahs, etc. Customers love the fact that we can come and go with no cleanup for the client afterwards.

Where can we find you on the street or do you have restaurant?
We service all over New Jersey during lunch hours.-Check our calendar for location of upcoming lunch service and events. But if we aren’t out trucking along you can always find us at our restaurant located at 108 Easton Ave., New Brunswick, NJ in the heart of Rutgers Campus attached to Olde Queens Tavern.

Cheezen Store Location
108 Easton Ave
New Brunswick NJ 08901
Phone: (732) 488-9370
WWW.CHEEZEN.NET
https://www.facebook.com/Cheezenlife/
“Best Guilty Pleasure” Bourbon Bacon Jam Grilled Cheese – 2017 Monmouth Park Food Truck Festival
“Best Entree” Food Truck 2017-Middletown High School South
“People’s Choice” Food Truck -2016 Ocean Gate EMS/First Aid
“Fan Favorite” Food Truck 2015-Middletown High School South

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Food Truck Stories with Tacoholics

Photo by Tacoholics

Tell us all about your food truck, what makes you special?
Our food truck is a very simple huge matte black truck that pops with the big Tacoholics logo written in orange. What differentiates us from the rest of the taco trucks around is our homemade specialty sauces, like Crack BBQ sauce and variations of tacos made with fresh ingredients. We are always creating new fun, flavors that go a little outside of the box of the traditional taco everyone is used too. To us presentation is everything and we pride ourselves on always serving the most eye opening tacos. If it looks great, it tastes even better!

 

Why did you decide to open a food truck?

When the three of us (Nick DeAngelo, Rob Bruno and Lou Raccuglia) took a trip to Florida after we graduated college, we realized that the only food we were eating were tacos. Literally every meal we had for the five day trip seemed to be tacos. With that inspiration and the popularity of the food truck scene we figured that if we serve the food that we enjoy eating, then everyone else would love it too. Turns out that was the right decision. Everyone loves tacos!

 

What’s your most popular menu item?
Hands down the Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos, it is a creamy sweet Thai chili sauce on top of fried shrimp with pico de gallo, lettuce, and cheese. In our own words the sauce is “Out of this World”

 

Tell us about a favorite or memorable event you’ve participated in?
It’s very hard to pick just one event that was our favorite and most memorable. One of our very first events was the Atlantic City Food Truck Festival. We prepped for two days and sold out of everything in one day. Our line seemed to be endless, and that was when we realized how many people loved our food. It was that moment that we realized that our decision to start a food truck was the right one. Taking part in the Monmouth Racetrack Jersey Shore Food Truck Festival was another huge goal of ours. We were lucky enough to have the chance to participate in May of 2017. Our line seemed never ending, and we had the pleasure of meeting many other food trucks that we had never met before.

 

What’s the best part about having a food truck?
This is another hard question to answer. First of all, the best food we have ever eaten has come from food trucks. I don’t know what some of these other trucks are doing with their ingredients, but my mouth waters over their dishes. At every event we all trade food, and it’s priceless when another vendor grabs some tacos for their staff. Another thing we really love is the positivity towards each other that all the food trucks bring. You can’t beat the feeling of the family atmosphere among the food truck owners. Every single event we attend, we are all rooting for each other to do well. We all want to help each other, not necessarily compete with each other.

 

Do you do weddings and/or catering?
We’re always up for weddings and catering. With just one truck, it sometimes difficult to do, but with our new restaurant were always looking forward to doing more.

 

Where can we find you on the street or do you have restaurant?
On November 25th we opened our doors to our first restaurant in our own hometown!
The Tacoholics Grill
1820 Lanes Mill Rd.
Brick, NJ 08724

Come stop by, show us some love, and crush some tacos!

Gift certificates make great stocking stuffers.

Follow us on…
Facebook: facebook.com/tacoholicsnj
Twitter: @tacoholicsnj
Instagram: @tacoholicsnj
tacoholicsnj.com
#tacoholicsnj

 

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Latest News

Explore Ocean 2018 Photo Winners

 

1st Place – Castles in the Sand by Scott Kern
2nd Place – Lighthouse by Bob Cuthbert
3rd Place – LBI Girl by Claire McCarthy
There were so many wonderful photos and we would like to thank all who entered. A lot of the contestants photos will be featured in the magazine, due out January 2018

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Latest News

Food Truck Stories with House of Cupcakes

Founders, Ruthie and Ron Bzdewka tell us all about House of Cupcakes

Tell us all about your food truck, what makes you special? 

We were on the Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars” and won. In addition to award winning cupcakes we also serve cookies, and doughnuts, all baked fresh daily.

 

Why did you decide to open a food truck? 

We have three brick and mortar stores and customers would always ask us about opening in other locations.

 

What’s your most popular menu item?

All of our cupcakes are popular – But Red Velvet is #1.

Our autumn favorites are Pumpkin Spice, Carmel Apple and Maple walnut

Other favorites include…

Vanilla Riot – Named after our son Riot, this vanilla cupcake is topped with vanilla buttercream and sprinkled with white chocolate vermicelli.

Chocolate Rage – named after our son, Rage, this chocolate cupcake is topped with milk chocolate buttercream, sprinkled with dark chocolate truffle vermicelli

Tell us about a favorite or memorable event you’ve participated in?

“Cupcake Wars” on the Food Network.

 

What’s the best part about having a food truck?

Meeting all the fun people at the events we participate in.

 

Do you do weddings and/or catering?

Yes. And new this year, you can order on our website and we will deliver overnight right to your house.

 

Where can we find you on the street or do you have store location?

You can follow us on our social media sites for what events we will be participating in.

And we have three store locations

PRINCETON, NJ, 34 Witherspoon Street, (609) 924-0085

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ, 593 Route 18 South, (732) 955-6026

CLIFTON, NJ, 700 Route 3 West, Unit #8, (862) 225-9536

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheHouseCupcakes/

Twitter: @house_cupcakes
Instagram:  @houseofcupcakes.official
Website: www.houseofcupcakes.com
#houseofcupcakes