Mayor and Council together with the Business Partnership will host a ribbon cutting ceremony at Waterwitch Neighborhood Grocer and Gourmet on Friday, October 25 at 6:00 pm.

The new Grocery and gourmet shop which opened last month is owned by Nancy Burton and Eileen Ricco, popular and successful owners of Garden Flowers & Plants, located next to the Grocer.

The business professional expanded their business to include a larger shopping experience for Bayshore residents and beyond. Both shops are located on Waterwitch Ave. at Shore Drive, across from Huddy Park.

After purchasing the adjacent commercial space three years ago, the women transformed it into a unique shopping experience to complement the garden shop they opened in 2013.

The Grocery and Gourmet shop offers curated conventional and organic produce, dairy, cheeses, gluten-free, and plant-based items as well as fresh bread and pastries, specialty coffees and cold brews from local roasters. There is a Pachamama Juice Bar offering cold-pressed juices, bowls, smoothies, and salads.

Customized gourmet gift baskets with local delivery are also offered.

Supporting local businesses and the economy, Waterwitch Neighborhood Grocer & Gourmet sources products from nearby farms and artisans. The store is open Monday through– Saturday, from 7 am to 9 pm; and Sundays, from 7 am to 5 pm

The public is invited to join the celebration and experience the ultimate neighborhood grocery store!

 Waterwitch

The funeral mass for William J. Ptak (Billy) will be held Saturday at 9 a.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Route 36, Highlands.

Ptak, of Jacksonville, Fla, is a native of Highlands, son of Ben and Geraldine Ptak. He died August. 30 after a brief illness.

A veteran of ten years in the US Navy, Bill was also life guard at Gateway National Recreation Area at Sandy Hook for many years.

Bill was a member of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Jacksonville and a communicant of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church while living here.

Funeral

The fifth annual Fall Taste of Highlands sponsored by the Highlands Business Partnership (HBP) will be held this Saturday, Oct. 12 from Noon to 5:00 PM.

The event will take place rain or shine. Tickets can be purchased online for $45.00 per person.

The ticket price includes a Fall Taste of Highlands map of participating businesses, free parking, and access to the Seastreak Courtesy Shuttle, which will take you to and from each stop on the map. Tickets can also be purchased at Huddy Park on the day of the event from 11AM to 1 PM.

Fall Taste of Highlands will feature an autumn theme, where food lovers will enjoy five hours of samples of diverse cuisine and cocktails from seventeen establishments throughout the town.

Participating businesses include Bahrs Landing Restaurant, Bridge Marina, Chilangos Authentic Mexican, Chubby Pickle, Farmacie by the French Market, Feed & Seed, Franny’s Pizzeria & Restaurant, Fresh, Hinlickity’s Ice Cream Parlor, Moby’s, Off the Hook, Proving Ground, Saltwater Social, Sandbox at Seastreak Beach, Seafarer Bar, Spiritual Beauty & Waterwitch Neighborhood Grocer and Gourmet.

Ticket holders should check in at Huddy Park on Bay & Waterwitch Avenues and pick up their map. A host at each establishment will stamp your map. Those who visit ALL stops will be eligible to win a prize by returning their fully stamped map to your last stop on the map.

The Highlands Business Partnership is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Programs and events are made possible by sponsors including, Monmouth County Tourism, Montecalvo/Bayshore Family of Companies, Bahrs Landing, Farmacie by the French Market, Feed & Seed, Dovetail Vintage Rentals, Hufnagel Tree Service, In the Garden, Off the Hook, Proving Ground, Seafarer, Sandbox at Seastreak, Valley Bank and WRAT, 95.9.

For more information on Fall Taste of Highlands, email the Highlands Business Partnership at hbpadmin@highlandsnj.com or call 732-291-4713.

 Taste Taste

Highlands, knowing from personal experience the immediate needs and utter devastation of families in the wake of horrific hurricanes, is pooling efforts and calling on volunteers and donors to bring disaster relief to Lake Lure, North Carolina, and the family of ten the borough is adopting to ensure immediate assistance.

First to step up to the plate with huge enthusiasm and financial assistance is the Montecalvo Family Foundation. That generous family is matching all monetary donations for this first wave of relief up to $50,000 through their Foundation so every dollar collected during this first wave of assistance will go to those who are homeless and seeking refuge from the upcoming colder temperatures.

Highlands Police Chief Rob Burton has two trailers ready to haul to Lake Lure, once they’re filled and here is where everyone can do something as well. Tammy Tappan, a volunteer in Lake Lure has provided a list of what is needed most.

The Lake Lure police have been in contact with Chief Burton and are allowing them to drive the trailers with donations and supplies to help their residents even when town access is still only permitted for residents. Gift Cards can be dropped off at the Highlands Police Department. Financial contributions designated to the Lake Lure Community to help provide emergency supplies, rebuild homes and critical support to families can be made directly to: https://givebutter.com/westernnc or text NCSTRONG to 53555.

The borough has adopted the Kitchen family from Tryon, North Carolina, parents and eight children ranging in age from 1 to 15 who have been displaced. The borough has direct contact with a local non-profit, Força Foundation in helping this family find a temporary home. –

All these coordinated efforts are being led by the Highlands Volunteer First Aid, Fire Departments, Highlands Police Department and OEM and Rosemary Ryan of the First Aid and Hope for Highlands President who is putting her experience and organization skills to work getting donations and aid. Rosemary said, “I’ve been in contact with Tammy Tappan, the boots-on-the-ground volunteer in Lake Lure, who is assisting with the relief efforts. Many families are currently in shelters or makeshift accommodations, they need our help.” Some of the most critical needs, she said, are for blankets, sweatshirts, toiletries, personal hygiene products, diapers, cleaning supplies, bottled water, non-perishable food, diapers, baby formula, flashlights, batteries and battery packs.

In inviting everyone in the borough to help neighbors in North Carolina facing so much loss, Mayor Carolyn Broullon said “as survivors ourselves, remember how Highlands was devastated by Super Storm Sandy–12 years ago, we know what these communities are enduring. Remember our gratitude when others stepped up to help? Please join us wrapping our arms around Lake Lure, North Carolina. “We’ve been in their shoes; we know what it’s like to lose everything so let’s pull together and help those hurting.”

Valerie Montecalvo of her Family Foundation, in inviting everyone to participate in the borough’s aid, said, “These are very resilient folks; but their loss is tremendous—we are all in this together and we can provide life-saving assistance to those who need it most.”

Donations of supplies can be dropped off at Highlands Borough Police Department now until October 15. For questions or a need to pick up donation, contact Rosemary Ryan at the Highlands First Aid (732) 778-9267 or Cynthia Fair at the Montecalvo Family of Companies (732) 738-6000 ext. 214. For further information on the Montecalvo Family Foundation contact Cynthia Fair at cynthiaf@bayshorerecycling.com

Highlands

She inherited not only a love for her community but also that strong feeling she has that she needs to give back in every way she can. These are the reasons Rebecca Wells says are drawing her to seek another term on the school board, this time the Henry Hudson Regional Board of Education.

A native of Highlands, Rebecca Kane Wells, like her father and brother, was a chief of the Highlands Fire Department and continues to actively serve as captain of the department. She has served the volunteer department for a quarter of a century and was its first female fire chief when she held that office in 2009. Her husband, Charles, who is the borough’s fire marshal, is also a former chief of the department.

The active ever busy professional also served 15 years on the borough council, including as council president and has been a member of the Highlands Housing Authority since 2010. That the town appreciates everything the former councilwoman has done for the borough was evidenced in 2013 when she was selected as Grand Marshall of the Highlands St. Patricks’ Day Parade.

In education, Becky served on three boards of education; she was a member of the Henry Hudson board for one term, the Highlands Board of Education until it was closed last year and now on the current board.

That is the transitional board that was appointed and will be active until January, when the five persons from Highlands and four from Atlantic Highlands who are elected in November will take office as the first elected board of the new Prek-12 Henry Hudson Regional School Board of Education. She is also a member of the Tri-District Education Foundation.

The board member feels these elected and appointed positions, her own personal experience history and continuing to stay active and allow her to see through initiatives happening in the school district will make her an effective board member. The fact the three local schools regionalized into one district this year “was a great accomplishment, decades in the making,” and she was happy to be a part of the transition.

However, she said, she feels all the work and time involved in making the progress “took many hours of administration from our true task at hand, the children and their educational goals.”

A graduate of Henry Hudson, Rebecca also graduated four years later from the Middletown Township Fire Academy, and in 2008 received a degree in business administration from New Jersey City University. She is a contract manager with York Telecom Corporation in Wall where she has been employed for 18 years.

Addressing the question of regionalization with Sea Bright in the school district, Rebecca said as a taxpayer in Highlands she would love the addition for the benefits it would bring. However, she added, “they need to be able to get out of their current arrangement with Oceanport to join us. To that end once they are allowed to be able to join another district, we have to make sure that it is financially prudent for both communities.”

The candidate said while she is aware that under current financial formula proposed should Sea Bright become part of the district “there is no way financially that Highlands can lose.” But she added “we have to be mindful that for this to successfully pass it must pass in both communities” of Highlands and Atlantic Highlands. For that reason, she said, the formula “has to be fruitful for both neighboring towns.

Wells pointed out history of the educational system in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands, citing the many shared services, including a superintendent, the elementary schools and high school have shared even before regionalization of the three schools, and cost saving measures she said have already taken place with the PreK-12 regionalization of the two towns. That includes the convenience and good sense of one single board replacing three separate boards.

“This makes it easier to streamline policies and procedures and align our three schools. In the years ahead there will be more positive changes; at this point our staff now has the ability to move throughout the district giving them more room for advancement, and career development,” The board member pointed out.

She blames the problems with the recently accomplished regionalization taking so long on the lack of direction from the Department of Education, identifying it as a governmental agency that wants and strives for regionalization yet has been a bit like a deer in the headlights when it came to merging these three small schools. “The administration, staff, students and community were all ready and on board, per the election. Our residents are ready to see any tax relief and this regionalization is just the beginning.,” she said.

As a board member, Wells feels she can administer policy by working with the Administration and strong leadership, saying “we are moving daily towards making strides to better the district. We are working hard to increase test scores while adding more programs to our overall portfolio. “

In response to the question of how she can improve that situation, Well pointed out that Covid has been a factor in education and “schools have their work cut out for them.” As a parent of youngsters in the 5th and 7^th grades, as well as an adult daughter who went through the local school system several years ago, she said she is acutely aware of learning setbacks that happened. In addition to educational setbacks, there have also been social and emotional issues spawned during the Covid experience, and “we need time, and we are implementing new ways to teach our children for their overall success. “

Wells is seeking one of the two two-year terms to be decided in November by Highlands voters, along with Diane Knox, both running with the slogan, Hudson’s Bright future. Barring a surprise win by any write-in candidate, both Wells and Knox will be elected to the board in November.

There are contests for the one full three-year term, with newcomer Suzanne Thomas who is running under the slogan Leadership, Integrity, Community, being opposed by board member Irene Campell.

Four people are running for the two one-year terms representing Highlands, Donald Krueger, Regina Melnyk, Allison Burel and Kevin Ege.

Campbell, Wells, Krueger, Knox and Ege are all running under the slogan of Hudson’s Bright Future.

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