Pop-Up Party Could Come To Asbury Park This Weekend, Police Warn

ASBURY PARK, NJ — Asbury Park is now the latest Jersey Shore town that may play host to a large pop-up party this weekend.

Asbury Park Police announced Wednesday night they are "aware of and actively monitoring several social media posts that are promoting a 'pop-up party' on the Asbury Park beachfront on Saturday, June 18 or Sunday, June 19," said the police.

This is in addition to two other rumored pop-up parties that were planned for June 18 in Point Pleasant Beach, and June 19 in Long Branch. One man posted on social media about how he would be bringing a gun to the gatherings, and wrote "play, you gonna lay."

However, one of the alleged organizers of the pop-up parties posted last Friday that both events have now been canceled. "There will be no Beach Party June 18th or 19th. Anybody in attendance may be prosecuted," wrote Wavell Thompson (@percc30dick), an East Orange resident who police say is one of the main organizers of the mass gatherings.

Asbury Park Police said Thursday morning that, as far as they know, plans are still circulating for a party on their beachfront.

While anyone is welcome to go to the Asbury Park beachfront, police say they will have extra patrols out this weekend looking for street fights, and those drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana.

"There will be no tolerance for public drinking, drug use, fights and vandalism," said Asbury Park Police in a statement Wednesday night. "We welcome all visitors, but will not tolerate any activities that are illegal. To ensure the safety and quality of life of our residents and the visitors to our beautiful city, we will be coordinating efforts with local, county and state agencies this weekend as well as for the remainder of the summer season."

Just this week, Toms River, for example, re-instated its nightly curfew for unaccompanied minors from 11 p.m. - 5 a.m.

This comes after a May 21 pop-up party in Long Branch that attracted more than 5,000 people and brought with it public consumption of alcohol and marijuana on the boardwalk, multiple violent and extremely bloody fights, a police car being danced and stomped on — with its windows smashed in — twerking dance contests for cash and 16 arrests.

Asbury Park Police said at the moment, they are working with county and state law enforcement agencies to identify the sources of the social media posts.

The towns of Long Branch and Point Pleasant Beach both filed lawsuits against the people who are promoting the parties on their social media accounts on TikTok and Instagram, and now Asbury Park said it intends to join them.

"Long Branch and Point Pleasant Beach are seeking court orders blocking such parties without a permit and calling for organizers to pay for services and damages," said Asbury Park Police Sgt. Michael Casey. "The city of Asbury Park is following suit and intends to hold those financially and legally responsible for promoting, organizing and or hosting these unauthorized and dangerous 'pop-up parties.'"

Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra previously said that during a June 4 conference call with New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin — a call organized to discuss how towns should deal with the parties — Platkin never took questions from the dozens of Shore mayors on the call, and his office did not commit any resources to proactively stop the parties from occurring.

"The AG opened up the call with something to the effect of, 'Be very careful about the rhetoric you're using when talking about these parties.' Or something very similar to that wording," Kanitra told Patch earlier this week. "And then he logged off without even listening to anything we had to say and didn't respond directly to any of the mayors. The call was a complete waste of time."