DARE Carnival to Return to Garden State Plaza

DARE New Jersey has an agreement with to return to the mall for an eighth year, CEO Nick DeMauro said Tuesday.

DARE submitted an application to the Mayor and Council to hold the carnival from May 31 to June 10 and withdrew its application to at .

DARE was looking for another place to hold its carnival after Westfield initially planned to hire a private carnival operator. But DeMauro said the mall management changed their minds after meeting with him, and agreed to host DARE for another year.

As part of the agreement with Westfield, 60% of the proceeds from the carnival, after expenses, will go back to Paramus, DeMauro said. The funds could go toward the Paramus DARE program if and when it is reinstated, he added.

Mayor Richard LaBarbiera asked DARE to submit its agreement with Westfield in writing as a condition of approving the carnival. He also asked  DeMauro to transfer the proceeds from last year's carnival to Paramus, to be used for a drug education program, though not necessarily through DARE.

The mayor said it was "disappointing" to learn that out of the $180,000 earned by the rides at last year's carnival, less than $10,000 went back to Paramus. DeMauro explained that the ride companies take about a third of the earnings, and that DARE spent close to $60,000 to pay Paramus police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians to keep watch at the carnival.

"It's disconcerting that more than five times more money went towards security for the seven-day event to pay for police, firemen, etc., than came back to Paramus for drug awareness," LaBarbiera said.

LaBarbiera also asked DeMauro to address the future of the DARE Carnival and Westfield. The mayor opposed DARE's application to hold a competing carnival at Paramus Park for fear that it might jeopardize Westfield's support for the Fourth of July fireworks.

But LaBarbiera said the mall indicated that it would continue supporting the fireworks and other community programs. 

DARE's agreement with the Westfield is only for this year, DeMauro said.

"There's no guarantees for the future," he said.

The hope is that this year's carnival will impress Westfield enough to continue the arrangement, DeMauro said. In any case, DARE will have more time to make contingencies if the partnership with Westfield is only a summer fling.

Above all, DeMauro said he wanted to ensure money goes back toward the defunct Paramus DARE program.

"We want the DARE program back in Paramus," DeMauro said. "That's the bottom line."