USA Central New Jersey ABJD Meetup, POSTPONED TO: Sunday, 5/18/2025

POSTPONED TO SUNDAY 5/18

Here is the information for the upcoming outdoor Central NJ meet!

Date
Sunday, May 18th, 2025
(Rain dates: Saturday 5/31, Sunday 6/1)

Time
12:00PM to 2:00PM, maybe past that time if people want to stay. This time has worked out great for us in the past two meets, and we usually stay close to an hour after the official end time. I recommend arriving earlier, though!

Location
Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park in Sayreville, NJ

Here's a link to the town's website for the park, but there's not a lot to see there. Sayreville Recreation Department: Facility Details

Address
River Rd
Sayreville, NJ 08872

That's the official address. You may wish to point your GPS to 89 River Road. That's a random house at the beginning of the road at the south, so after you turn onto the road from Main Street you'd just go straight north to the park.

Location in park
There's a covered seating area directly next to the boat ramp at the park. It's kind of an open gazebo sort of thing with a long table and bench setup all along the center. This covered seating area will offer some protection from the sun.

Central NJ ABJD Meet Outdoor Location - Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park Spring 2023 - The Location

Concerns with regards to the area
The location is right next to the water. If the wind blows something, it might blow it into the river, and you'll probably never get it back. Hats and other small accessories should be secured or left home. You may also wish to forego small pieces like little magnet parts.

You may wish to bring a towel to lay down on your spot of the table for additional cleanliness for your dolls. I'll bring some spare towels, but please be prepared if you can. You may also wish to bring something flat to lay under the towel since the table is like a metal grate sort of thing. If your dolls are going to be supported by stands with flat bottoms then the grate shouldn't be a factor, but heads up in case you were going to try freestanding dolls with high heels or something. Smart Doll antenna stand parts will fall through the grate. A piece of cardboard cut from an Amazon box or something would help a lot.

With regards to standing dolls up, as we learned in a previous year, the wind may blow them over. (No dolls were hurt.) You may wish to prepare your dolls for sitting down at the meet this year.

The seats at the table are the same sort of metal grate material as the table. If you wish to have a cushion then bring your own pillow or something. Also, if you wish to bring your own chair for setting up as a semicircle around the table seats to have a talking circle going then that would be great. Or someone could sit at the head of the table with their chair.

I can't guarantee restroom access on the day of the meet, but there is usually a port-a-potty at the park, especially in the nice weather. There is a Wawa in short driving distance as well as a Quick-Chek.

I wasn't planning on this being a scenic photography outing, but there may be some nice photo-ops in the area if you wish to trek away from the covered seating area.

After the meet
We've got the traditional Nunzio's. Angelo's is also in the area. They have good pizza, too. Sunny Side Up is close to the meet, too. There's Rai Rai Ramen a little further away in East Brunswick between the Best Buy and Shoprite on Route 18.

Pics from older meets
Here are some pics showing the progression of the meet in a previous year. The wind was a concern. You'll probably want to sit your dolls down. These pics are here to give you an idea of what to expect and how to prepare for it. We had a much better couple meets last year when we had the dolls sat down properly.
Central NJ ABJD Meet Outdoor Location - Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park Spring 2023 - Vinyl Dolls Standing
Central NJ ABJD Meet Outdoor Location - Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park Spring 2023 - Resin Dolls Standing Before The Wind Picked Up
Central NJ ABJD Meet Outdoor Location - Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park Spring 2023 - Resin Dolls Sitting After The Wind Picked Up

Feedback and suggestions
I'm always looking for feedback on meets and suggestions on what can be done to improve them. Please don't be shy! Post about it here or send me a private message. Even if you haven't been to a Central Jersey meet before, I want to hear from you if you've got something to say. Even if scheduling is one of your concerns, please let me know.

By the way, this is technically an ABJD meet, but we're not going to turn away any dolls. I'm going to bring a Momoko doll myself, so don't be shy about bringing your favorite off topic dolls, too.

See you there!

 

The Central NJ meet is next weekend! On Saturday, 5/17! See you there!

 

I'll keep an eye on the weather forecast. Things aren't looking great for Saturday. I might end up postponing the Central NJ doll meet to Sunday.

 

I'll get up early tomorrow and make the call. It could go either way with the weather. We would have some degree of protection if there's only a light spritzing, but I wouldn't have the meet if there's a monsoon.

 

Who's coming today? (Saturday the 17th) I'm thinking about postponing to tomorrow. I think we'll get away with having the meet today, but tomorrow is looking like it might be a better option.

One way or the other, I'm going to call it around 8.

 

The Central NJ doll meet is postponed to tomorrow, Sunday the 18th.

 

All right, party people! We've got a beautiful afternoon ahead of us. See you at noon!

 

Okay, I'm here. We've got some wind coming off the water but it's nothing we haven't dealt with before. Look for the guy on his phone or reading a book if dolls aren't out yet.