Gloucester Day celebration becomes ground zero in NJ teen violence surge

🎡 Gloucester Day in 2024 was canceled after it was overrun by teens

🎡 Social media comments encouraged violence at this year's event, police said

🎡 A bill to increase penalties for rowdy behavior is on Gov. Phil Murphy's desk

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP — Officials confirmed Tuesday that the annual Gloucester Day celebration will be postponed indefinitely due to a "real and serious concern about violence" during the event.

During a media briefing Tuesday, Gloucester Township Mayor David Mayer said "disturbing comments" began appearing after the township posted its first announcement about this year's event on its Instagram account.

"That one post was then circulated around the internet over 20,000 times by what appears to be juveniles expressing their excitement about showing up and once again causing disruption and chaos," Mayer said. "In consultation with the Gloucester Township Police Department and the Gloucester Township Day Scholarship Committee, the decision was made to postpone this year's Gloucester Township Day activities."

Mayer said that no one is happy about the decision. But with memories of 500 juveniles converging on the event in 2024 and concern over it happening again, Mayer said they knew it was the right call.

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Coming to 'create problems'

Police Chief David Harkins said the post had been copied onto a private TikTok account with comments indicating that people from across the region would be coming to Gloucester Day "to create problems."

A suspicion that some in the crowd last year were armed but didn't get a chance to use their firearm were coming to light in comments.

"The social media comments have openly encouraged violence and the use of firearms which has escalated concerns regarding public safety and that is my No. 1 concern. That is all of our concern here. These threats are not something that we can take lightly and they further justify this decision to postpone the event," Harkins said. "In light of the experience of last year's Gloucester Township Day and our research and analysis, we cannot provide a venue to allow this type of behavior to repeat itself this year even if we increase police presence and security measures."

The private TikTok post received 220,000 views, 39,000 likes, 8,000 shares and over 800 comments, according to Harkins.

Mayer also addressed what he calls a "juvenile crisis" in the country and cited Friday's incident in Westampton in which dozens of teens loudly walked through a neighborhood and jumped on cars after an event at a recreation center. He suggested that parents need to be held responsible for the child's actions and said Gloucester Township, like other towns, has increased the financial penalty for violating curfew.

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Future of Gloucester Day

State Sen. Paul Moriarty, D-Gloucester, said a bill awaits Gov. Phil Murphy's signature that would allow individuals to be jailed for starting public fights with penalties for hiding their identity and disrupting public gatherings. It is one of a package of bills that addresses pop-up gatherings at the shore and other venues.

"We think that this gives police some new tools to send a clear message that if you do this type of activity, you're not going to get just a slap on the wrist or a ticket or a disorderly conduct. You could actually have to go to court and may go to jail," Moriarty said.

Mayer said that the event will not happen "in its current form," but the scholarship committee's fundraising will continue. He did not disclose when the event will take place.

The 2024 event was canceled after several fights broke out and families were "terrorized" by the crowd. Twelve people were arrested. In March, a fight involving 40 people broke out at an unauthorized flag football tournament in Gloucester Township Community Park.

Another event marred by a surge in teen attendance in 2024, the Middlesex Carnival, has already been permanently canceled.

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