Music, activism are at heart of Clearwater

KATHY HALL
Correspondent

Folk music and social activism have enjoyed a long and harmonious relationship, and the Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater definitely sings along.

The group's 31st annual Clearwater Festival will take place rain or shine in Asbury Park's Sunset Park from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. this weekend, Aug. 19 and 20.

The festival will feature 28 national and local acts including the Smithereens and Magpie, as well as environmental displays, children's activities and food vendors.

Environmental activists and vendors of "green" products will also participate.

"The goal of the festival is to educate children and adults alike that we are stewards of our environment," explained Ed Dlugosz, Clearwater's president. "We've got to stop pollution, stop using our limited resources."

Founded in 1974 by Bob Killian, the nonprofit all-volunteer group sponsors festivals and other music events as well as clean-ups, environmental watches, political action and education programs.

Killian, a popular Monmouth County folk singer who lived in Atlantic Highlands at the time, was inspired to bring environmental activism to Monmouth County after volunteering on Pete Seeger's Hudson River sloop. He recruited many of his musician friends to spread the word.

Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater works to control pollution, educate children and adults, and stop sprawl. The focus of their activities includes the estuaries of Raritan Bay, the New Jersey coastline and inland waterways, and the land mass that comprises Monmouth County.

"We are the recipient of everything that flows down the Hudson," observed Dlugosz. "There are PCBs right here in Raritan and Sandy Hook bays and 25 times the minimum allowable levels of dioxin."

The group is one of nine Clearwater "sloop clubs" located in New Jersey. The groups are called sloop clubs in commemoration of the Clearwater, a 106-foot wooden sailing sloop that folk singer Pete Seeger began sailing on the Hudson in 1969. According to the Clearwater Web site, Seeger's strategy was to encourage the public to care for all of our threatened waterways by teaching them to care for one boat and one river.

Work on the Clearwater Festival is a year-round activity.

"We start the day we close down the last festival," Dlugosz said.

The club's members can serve on 10 different festival committees, including the entertainment committee that selects the acts and the hospitality committee that hosts the entertainers and feeds the approximately 200 volunteers who are on-site during the two-day event.

Originally held on Sandy Hook, the festival moved to Asbury Park in 2001.

"We would have loved to stay there," Dlugosz explained. "Three things drove us off Sandy Hook. The National Park Service continued to raise rates for permits and ranger support. They wouldn't allow us to bring in crafters or sell T-shirts. They allowed us to sell food, but we were limited; we couldn't sell anything that the Seagull's Nest sold.

"The third reason made us join Save Sandy Hook," he continued. "We had a house out there. When [the National Park Service] awarded the bids [for redevelopment of Fort Hancock buildings], they evicted us."

Clearwater joined Save Sandy Hook in a lawsuit to prevent commercial development of the national park. On July 27, U.S. District Court Judge Mary L. Cooper filed a 34-page decision in which she dismissed the suit, ruling that the two groups had not sufficiently proved they had standing to bring the suit. Last week, the Clearwater board voted to refocus and resubmit its brief after the judge gave the plaintiffs 60 days to come back with a better case.

The group chose from among three locations as the new festival site. Keansburg, Keyport and Asbury Park all submitted bids to host the festival.

"Asbury Park gave us the best deal," Dlugosz explained.

Dlugosz credits the longevity of Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater to the commitment of its members and the energy provided by the folk music associated with the group.

"We tend to get people who are dedicated," he said, "and the way we spread the word by thought, word and music, that's a strong link to the impetus that was generated by Pete Seeger.

"We have a lot of issues," he continued. "We don't have one big focus. Our major themes for this year are saving Sandy Hook, eminent domain, and alternative energy sources. We allow our volunteers to pursue the issues that they have a passion for."

A schedule of festival activities and information on Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater can be found at www.clearwatermc.org.