'Sandy'versary celebration in Surf City marks one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy

The Tuckerton Lumber Company will host an upcoming “Sandy”versary party to mark the one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy. The event will be held at the company’s Surf City location at North Second Street and the Boulevard from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 29 – one year exactly from the day of the storm. Proceeds will benefit the Surf City Volunteer Fire Co.

“We wanted to mark this day somehow, but we wanted to give it sort of a celebratory feel of what we’ve come through and achieved through that,” said Elizabeth Harrigle, owner of TLC. “We know that it’s still such a sore topic for a lot of people because they’re still displaced, or they’re having trouble with getting grants and loans and money from FEMA. So we wanted to not just have fun, but we wanted to give that frustration an outlet.

Photo via Panoramio
The Tuckerton Lumber Co. is hosting a celebration
at their Surf City location on Tuesdsay, Oct. 29 to
mark the one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy.

“We wanted to be tongue-in-cheek about it. And at the same time, we thought we could help raise money for the fire company and do something good for our community – because they were such a huge blessing and a wonderful resource at that point in time. We want to make it just a fun day to help celebrate that,” she added.

The lighthearted, hurricane-themed party will give participants a chance to knock down “FEMA reps” in the dunk tank, which will be entertained by TLC staff members wearing mock FEMA and NFIP T-shirts.

“We’re going to heckle, but it’ll be more along the lines of, ‘Oh, you didn’t file your grant paperwork in time; I said, no, you’re not getting that loan.’ We’re trying to make it just a fun day,” Harrigle said with a laugh.

Other Sandy-themed games will include cornhole toss and ladder ball. FEMA bucks, which are “worth nothing,” Harrigle explained, will be given out during games to be incorporated in a raffle. Prizes include a Weber grill; two driftwood seahorse sculptures handcrafted and donated by local artist Jill Belloff; a Shop-Vac; a Downeaster wind instrument; and TLC apparel among other items.

Vendors offering information on hardware and lumber supplies will also be in attendance for anyone interested in learning more about the available home renovation options.

TLC will also offer a bag sale with 20 percent off your entire purchase. Anything that fits inside a provided bag (one per customer), from light bulbs to gardening and barbecue tools, will be included. Paint will also be discounted. Restrictions apply for pneumatic and power tools.

Food and beverages such as hot dogs and “low tide” water will also be available throughout the event. Shore Good Donuts will provide its special Sandy doughnuts topped with butternut crunch “debris.” TLC will also provide a special Sandytini, a “mocktail” made with cranberry juice, which represents New Jersey, and pineapple juice, which symbolizes Sandy during its tropical storm phase.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 609-494-2111.

–Kelley Anne Essinger

This article was published in The SandPaper.