JAMBOREE’S PUMPKIN PAINTING ‘A KID MAGNET’

The Keyport Recreation Department and its volunteers will once again be setting up tables, providing loads of pumpkins and lots of colorful paints for the Borough’s 6th Annual Country Jamboree.

Children are invited to come to the pumpkin painting area on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m., where volunteers from the community will work side by side with the children as they paint faces or create designs on the pumpkins.

“The pony rides and petting zoo are always popular at the Jamboree,” says Kathaleen Shaw, an advocate for the Keyport Business Alliance, which is hosting this year’s event. “But the pumpkin painting is a real kid magnet,” Shaw says, “because it’s free, and the children get to keep the pumpkins they paint.”

Shaw says the area will be decorated with corn stalks and there will be plenty of pumpkins to go around, thanks to the Borough Recreation Committee, which is organizing the effort.

Also on Saturday, the Keyport Fire Department will be announcing the winners of its Fire Prevention Poster Contest. This fall, students at the Keyport Central School were invited to design posters to help promote the concept of fire prevention. Awards will be presented for the winning posters at noon Saturday at the Jamboree.

The Keyport Business Alliance will begin selling holiday “Memory” ornaments at the Jamboree to raise funds for the proposed Keyport Fire Museum, a campaign launched last year to establish a facility to preserve artifacts and firefighting equipment from the Borough Fire Department’s rich history. The Department is marking its 125th anniversary this month.

The red, white and blue “Memory” ornaments will be sold starting at this weekend’s Jamboree right through the Borough’s holiday tree lighting on Saturday, November 30.

Keyport’s holiday tree will be decorated with the “Memory” ornaments as a special tribute to departed loved ones.