Drive-Through Passover Carnival In Lakewood Postponed

LAKEWOOD, NJ — Plans to hold a drive-through carnival in the parking lot at the Lakewood BlueClaws stadium during Passover have been canceled, a day after the event was announced by the carnival's founder.

Dr. Rich Roberts, who has hosted the carnival for several years, on Thursday announced plans in a video on The Lakewood Scoop website to hold the drive-through event on April 13, a compromise for his annual event because of the outbreak of the new coronavirus, which has sickened nearly 30,000 residents across New Jersey.

On Friday, however, Roberts announced the event was being postponed.

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"We're in a time of national crisis," Roberts said in a follow-up video on the Lakewood Scoop site. "This is going to draw on the police resources."

The carnival annually draws thousands of people from the Lakewood community. But with Gov. Phil Murphy's March 21 executive order banning gatherings, it could not be held in its usual form. Roberts had planned the drive-through event to give children the toys and chocolate they usually receive but without people milling around.

Word of the plans sparked a backlash from residents in neighboring communities, where anger has been a constant after a string of events in Lakewood that have been broken up because they violated Murphy's executive orders. Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

Initially Murphy limited gatherings to 50 people with an order on March 16. Two weddings were shut down the following day, and on March 19, another wedding and a separate gathering were broken up. A yeshiva that still had students occupying the building also added to the frustrations.

A fourth wedding and another gathering were broken up on March 24, and another wedding was disrupted two days later when police responding to a motor vehicle crash discovered tents in a back yard. A bar mitzvah on March 29 led to child endangerment charges, as did an engagement party on March 31. Sandwiched between the two was a lesson at a Madison Avenue building.

In his message postponing the carnival, Roberts said the community needs to "set an example of highly moral behavior in everything we do."

He also said he the set-up of having people toss items for the children into the cars "makes me kind of nervous because everything has to be done correctly" to ensure there was nothing happening to spread the virus.

"I just think it's more prudent to postpone this," Roberts said in the video.

Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer, who has been working with Lakewood police and New Jersey State Police to bring a halt to any further issues in the township, confirmed the April 13 plan was scrapped.

"I'm glad the organizers canceled it on their own," Billhimer said Friday. "It was the right decision."

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