North Brunswick Youth Sports Festival — timeless classic or overcrowded mess?

Growing up in North Brunswick one of my favorite things about the summer was going to the Youth Sports Festival when it came. It was rarely crowded, affordable and only a few minutes away. It was an easy access way to enjoy boardwalk food, rides and games without having to drive all the way down the shore. As a kid it always seemed like this big event with lots of different things to do. However, the last time i was able to go in 2015, it seemed small for the first time.

2020 comes and brings with it the Covid-19 Pandemic which cancels everything for a few years. The Festival did not come around again until 2022.

I was very excited to go to the festival and thought it was strange it was only open specific days which were Thursday through Sunday. I remember it being open everyday when i was a kid.

I attempted to go on a Thursday evening thinking it is during the week and it would be not so crowded.

I had never seen such traffic or line of cars to just get into the parking lot before. It took almost forty five minutes just to maneuver around incoming traffic and go through the line to park.

Next came the shock of the line of people waiting to get in. It was not moving and i had never seen a line to get in before. This was so far down the side of the festival that you could not see the front where you needed to buy tickets.

This was 2022 and I thought maybe it was because it was the first year back.

Then, now being 2023, I drive past the festival on a Thursday night, which is still only open Thursday until Sunday, and had to maneuver to avoid the traffic lined up to get into the parking lot.

I was completely shocked! Driving past I could even see the line of people standing outside to get into the festival.

I have never seen a line like this before and at this point it kind of ruins the magic and excitement of it.

I do not know that i will ever want to go to the festival again.

I am hopeful in the future that these lines will change and my family and I can again enjoy this once wonderful and large staple of living in North Brunswick.

The pandemic ruined many things and so far for some, the idea of waiting in an hour long line for what once was a magical place to be, has become tiresome.

Maybe in the future the festival will be open on a daily basis.

One can only hope that these wonderful and magical parts of growing up on a certain city become again what they once were and the pandemic has not made them an overcrowded mess forever.