Mays Landing Fireworks Fund, Family Beef and Beer

The Mays Landing Fireworks Fund has scheduled a Family Beef and Beer Fundraiser at the Watering Hole Café on Weymouth Road, on Saturday, May 22 from 4 to 8 PM.

Jamie Herman-Giagunto said “We decided to make it a family fundraiser and have it in the early evening because we feel that the fireworks are for the kids so they should be participating in the fundraising event.”

The Watering Hole Café reopened last September by Richie Bryan who did a lot of remodeling, including an outside paver patio area with two stage areas and lots of tables. The beef and beer fundraiser will be outside with plenty of play area for the kids. Richie is providing hot dogs, macaroni and cheese and soda for children under 12, who eat free. Local resident Peter Crook has volunteered to DJ the event. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for young adults (aged 12 to 20).

Purchase tickets by calling Jamie Giagunto at (609) 703-1104 or via PayPal by clicking the button below and making a donation for the total cost of your tickets. Tickets will then be sent via confirmation email.

Tickets

Adults (over 21) $20.00 Young Adults (12-20) $10.00 Children (Under 12) $0.00

Use Your Credit Card To Donate To Mays Landing Fireworks Fund

If you have a credit card you can now donate to the Mays Landing Fireworks.

Mays Landing Fireworks organizers have established a PayPal account and made links available from the Mays Landing Fireworks Fund facebook page, as well as this site.

To date over $5,252.00 has been collected or pledged, accounting for 70% of the $7,500.00 needed for the fireworks display. The original $20,000.00 goal has been drastically reduced with negotiations underway to use Sheriff’s Officers for traffic control at no cost.

Annual lowering of Lake Lenape

The Township of Hamilton will begin its annual lowering of Lake Lenape on or about November 20th 2009. The purpose for the lowering of the lake is so that residents can remove debris from their waterfronts and perform dockside clean-up. The 2009 lake lowering will be unique this year due to the construction taking place at the spillway. Atlantic County will be going out to bid to repair the 3 gates at the dam and will be constructing a concrete coffer dam with trash racks for future serviceability of both the gates and spillway. This will ultimately make the water levels much more manageable during storm events and help preserve water during the summer months. Our permit allows for us to maintain a lake level of 3 feet below the concrete spillway between now and March 1st. As construction progresses the levels will fluctuate accordingly so work can be performed. Thank you for your understanding to this matter. Any further questions can be directed to the Public Works Dept. (609) 625-6311 ext 454.

Mays Landing Fireworks Donations To Date

Mays Landing Fireworks Donation Forms

If you would like to donate please click on one of the links below. (Note: Forms are in Microsoft Word format.)

Donation Form

$500+ Donation Form

Once filled out please mail to:
Remax Community
3969 Black Horse Pike
Mays Landing, NJ 08330
Attn: Mays Landing Fireworks

Mays Landing Fireworks and The Fall Festival

As part of the Fall Festival, Saturday, September 25, volunteers manned a table accepting donations for the Mays Landing Fireworks. Donations for the day totaled $253.76, bringing the total amount collected to date to almost $2,000.

The newest fundraising technique was unveiled at the Fall Festival and is designed to attract some larger donations. The women hope that there are some residents out there who will be interested in attending a lakefront party to watch the Fireworks display and taking a pontoon boat ride on the lake.

Teresa Thomas said “We already have one $500 donation and we had several people show some interest today and take a flyer.” Ms Thomas added that “some folks also took the donation flyer to mail in with a check.”

Any donations submitted with a completed form will receive a thank you letter with the information to claim the donation on their taxes.

Pictured: Addision Rovolis and her mom Kirbie, of Mays Landing, donate to Save the Fireworks.

Save The Mays Landing Fireworks

Thanks to local residents, Jamie Herman-Giagunto and Teresa Thomas, the tradition of the Mays Landing Fireworks just may continue in 2010. These two woman have negotiated a partnership the township so that if they raise enough money to pay for the cost of the fireworks, police and public works that the township will execute the contract and provide the insurance for the event.

An account has been opened at Wachovia Bank under the name of Mays Landing Fireworks for which a non-profit status is being sought. All sending donations will receive a letter that they can use for tax purposes to write off the donation. If the effort falls short of goal, the women have promised to refund all donations.

The initial goal set is $15,000, $7,500 of which is needed by January 1, 2010 in order to execute a contract with a fireworks vendor. Donations are now being accepted. Make check payable to Mays Landing Fireworks and mail or hand deliver to Remax Community, 3969 Black Horse Pike, Mays Landing, NJ 08330.

For questions or more information please email Teresa Thomas or Jamie Giangunto.

Lake Lowering (Official release from HT Public Works)

November 26, 2008

To: All Lake Lenape Residents

On December 4th, we are going to start lowering the Lake, as per the permit with the DEP. This is to allow lakefront residents to perform maintenance and clean-up activities.

On January 20, 2009, we will start raising the level of the lake.

We are still in the process of creating a Database with e-mail addresses of the lake residents. If you are receiving this in paper form and have an e-mail address, please email me at Swellington@townshipofhamilton.com.

If you do not want to be on the mailing list for the lake please call me or return this to Town Hall, attn: Stacey, with your name and address and I will remove you from the list.

Also, please check the website for information regarding the lake at Townshipofhamilton.com.

If you have any questions please feel free to call me at 625-6311 Ext 495.

Thank You,

Stacey Wellington
Public Works Clerk
Township of Hamilton
609-625-6311 X495

Lake Lenape to be lowered

Brett Noll of HT Public Works indicated that the annual lowering of Lake Lenape will occur from 12/4/2008 - 1/20/2009. For more information please contact HT Public Works at (609)625-6311 x454

Aline Dix Presents Saucer

Aline Dix donated a vintage water ski saucer to the Water Ski Hall of Fame & Museum in Polk City Florida. Pictured above is Carole Lowe, the Director of the American Water Ski Educational Foundation and Aline Dix presenting the saucer.

A quote from Aline:
"I used the saucer from 1968 to 1988. Carole Dougherty Rogers rode with me when she was age 4. The saucer was one of many waterskiing tools like shoe skis, slalom skis, air rafts, even a canoe paddle that Dave Morris used in the 1960's.

The saucer is tilted in the water, the rider places knees on middle to bottom edge. A single handle rope was held at the top edge of saucer; the boat tightens the rope and away you go. From kneeling or standing, wake cuts at times but mostly doing 360's behind the boat. Speed of boat was about 18-20 mph.

The 1957 Water Ski Show from Cypress Gardens Florida featured a young polio victim named Gary Gruber who vacationed at Duberson's Lakeview Cottages. Gary sat on a peach basket then tossed it to stand on his head while skimming atop the lake! I have 8mm movies memorializing this Show & his performance.

The Museum was pleased to receive this saucer as they have very little artifacts of this category. :)"

Going back in time

I recently spent an evening searching the internet for old pictures of Lake Lenape and the surrounding area. Below are some of my findings. The pictures are from early to mid 1900's, a few where taken by a guy by the name of F.A. Austin. I put in as many details as I could for each picture, if anyone has further info about the pictures please post it in the comments.

Pictures of temp dam plate install

Brett Noll of HT Public Works provided pictures of the metal plate being installed in front of gate #1 on July 1, 2008. The blue material acts as a gasket between the metal plate and the dam gate.

HT Public works installs new rock bulkhead at The Cove

Public Works workers build a new bulkhead at the parking area of The Cove. The area was washed out by flood waters last year. The funding was provided by FEMA.

Lake Lenape Light Remains a Part of History

(From July 1999 Edition of Lighthouse Digest)

The Lake Lenape Lighthouse in Mays Landing, New Jersey was never a real lighthouse in the sense of the word, but it truly is a part of New Jersey's rich and interesting history as well as a popular landmark of the area.

It was back in 1939 when the Leiling family, who owned the Lenape Park, commissioned Herman Dehn Sr. to build a lighthouse on the lake. First Dehn had to create an island for the lighthouse to be built on. He did this by using bags of mixed concrete and 30-gallon size drums to form the island's foundation. In the winter time he piled dirt onto the ice which would sink to the bottom in the spring thaw.

Once the island was completed he built the 65-foot wooden tower with mostly simple hand tools and the help of some neighborhood children. The lighthouse with its five floors, connected with a semi-sprial staircase took four years to complete.

For many years the tower was known as the "singing tower" because of the hymns that were played from speakers that were installed atop the tower. When new owners, Ed & Winnie Young, took over the park in 1960's, local public officials said there were to many complaints from neighbors about the music and it had to stop. The children of the Youngs then took over the lighthouse, spending the nights there in the summer months.
Today, the lighthouse serves mainly as a storage building for beach and boating supplies, but is still a popular spot for those in love. Because of its romantic setting, many people have been married at the lighthouse.

The old lighthouse is an ongoing financial strain for the owners, who say they are constantly having to repair something at the lighthouse and have been for 15 years. But they haven't altered it and as Mr. Young once said, "We want to keep the nostalgia of the place and the lighthouse is a big part of that."

Lake Panorama

Ever wonder what it's like sitting in a kayak in the middle of the lake? Got board of taking pictures of the dam the other day and took this panorama. It was taken from the south side of Lake Lenape near the dam. You can move the picture by clicking on it.

Temporary Fix Applied To The Dam

Good news!! Yesterday 4/1/08 the Township placed a metal plate along with additional debris to slow the loss of water from the lake. This morning less then 24 hours later the lake level was up 2 inches. This proves, as mentioned in past posts, the low water level in the lake was caused from the water pouring out of the stuck gate, not from the lack of rain or Collings Lakes.

Click To Enlarge

Click to enlarge

New Dam Gate Picture

Apparently the water flowing from gate #1 is from it being stuck open about 8 inches or 17%. I'm not a civil engineer, however the volume of water flowing from gate #1 in the pictures below would lead me to believe that the gate is stuck open more than 17%

Comment on press article below

A study is not needed and would be a huge waste of tax payers dollars! The Township and County must begin operating the damn in a responsible pro-active fashion and notify residents when there are issues.

The flood last year was a byproduct of the dam gates not being operated properly. The lake level was very high, the gates where closed, it rained substantially and the flood occurred.

This year its the same problem in reverse. Dam gate #1 became stuck open on April 16th. It took almost 2-1/2 months and the lake level dropping almost 2 feet, for the Township and the County to make the first attempt to fix the problem, with sandbags. There where several call made to the County a month ago about the lake loosing 1 inch of water a day. This has nothing to do with the lack of rain or Collings Lakes.

Low water level prompts study of Lake Lenape tributaries

(From Press of Atlantic City)
Current low-water levels in Lake Lenape have officials from Hamilton and Buena Vista townships saying it's finally time to come up with a plan they hope would better manage water sources for the lake.

The plan would likely address how to monitor water flow on the Great Egg Harbor River and other tributaries, including water sources from Collings Lake, in times of flooding and little rainfall.

"It's time to work through that," Hamilton Township Mayor Charles Pritchard said. "We need to take a stronger look at this thing."

"As a good neighbor to any other town, I'd be happy to discuss that issue," Buena Vista Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello said.

But Chiarello issued one caution, and that has to do with having no control over the weather.

"If there's just not enough flowing from the main tap heading down, that could be a problem no matter how hard anyone tries," he said.

Too little rain, a stuck sluice gate at Lake Lenape Dam and a series of closed sluice gates on lakes at Collings Lakes in Buena Vista Township are being blamed for the recent drop in water level in Lake Lenape in Mays Landing.

The Great Egg Harbor River is Lake Lenape's primary water source. A significant portion of water also makes its way to Lake Lenape from Collings Lakes, where private dam operators recently closed sluice gates to keep water levels on their lakes from dropping.
The problem was just the opposite a year ago.

Heavy rain in April 2007 dumped as much as 8 inches of rain in southern New Jersey. Much of that rain eventually drained into the Great Egg Harbor River.

The result was extensive flooding in the Indian Branch and Weymouth Furnace sections of Hamilton Township. Floodwater forced evacuations and buried decks under three to five feet of water. Sections of Mays Landing also were flooded, and officials were busy pumping water out of Lake Lenape to prevent further flooding.

Many Hamilton Township residents blamed the flooding on poor operations at the Lake Lenape Dam. They claimed dam gates were not opened soon enough to ease flooding upriver.
However, Atlantic County and municipal officials said the solution involved more than dam operations. They contend a coordinated effort along the length of the river, from its headwaters in Camden County to Lake Lenape, is the solution.

The plan never came about.

Chiarello said Buena Vista and Hamilton townships can work together and with private civic organizations in and around Collings Lakes to reach some kind of plan.

Pritchard said officials who oversee the Great Egg Harbor River's watershed also should be involved.

Conversation with Brett Nolls of H.T. Public Works

I spoke with Brett Nolls of the Public Works department this morning. He indicated that dam gate #1 became stuck on April 16th 2008. He did have dialog with the County around that date, who is responsible for the dam infrastructure.

He indicated the first attempt to remedy the situation, through the use of sandbags, was this week. Unfortunately it was unsuccessful. The next plan, is to put a metal plate in front of the stuck gate, on the lake side. A crane will be required to do so. They plan on attempting to maneuver it into place this Monday 6/30 or Tuesday 7/1. The downside to this, will be if there is substantial rain, in the future and all of the gates must be opened, a crane will be required to remove the plate. He also indicate that there are additional gates in the power house that can be opened in emergency situations.