One of the most perfect summer days I can remember, in photos

I did a broadcast from our Asbury Park Boardwalk Studio on Saturday, August 15, 2026, and Asbury Park was hopping. Low humidity, sunny and cloudless, a surf temp of 78 degrees and a light, breezy air temp of 80. It was one of those Shore days that makes you understand why people fight so hard to protect a town like this one.

I felt the need to take a walk and document it, so before and after the show I made a loop. Maruca's had a line up to the window for tomato pies, same as it always does. The Stone Pony's Summer Stage was set up and waiting for the Yacht Rock Review. Kids were soaked and shrieking at the Asbury Splash Park, right in the shadow of that same stage. Convention Hall stood the way it always stands, patient and enormous, letting the whole boardwalk pour through its windows.

SEE ALSO: How Tillie ended up on The Wonder Bar isn't the story you'd guess 

photo by EJ

I stopped at the Wonder Bar too

If you look closely at the photo, there's a construction crane rising up right behind Tillie's grin. That's not a coincidence. I wrote a few months ago about the luxury condo project going up at 115 Fourth Avenue, right next door to the Wonder Bar, and there it is, mid-build, sharing a frame with a mural that's been watching over this corner since 2004. Old Asbury and new Asbury, one photo.

The beach itself was packed wall to wall with umbrellas by early afternoon, and the boardwalk stayed busy well into the evening. I got to meet some of you in person too (many going to the Pony's Yacht Rock show later that evening), which is always the best part of doing one of these live.

😎👇Enjoy the photos below.👇😎