Belmar's Annual Three-Day Seafood Festival Coming Up Saturday

Belmar's annual three-day Seafood Festival is coming up later this month, but not without some controversy.

The popular festival will be held on May 19, 20, and 21. The festival will run from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday May 19, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 20 and 11 a.m. to 6 pm. on Sunday, according to the borough's website.

The festival will feature live music, seafood and special vendors, along with a bar tent and a wine garden.

But Mayor Matt Doherty has banned Shore Point Distributors Co. Inc. from the event after the company locked out 120 union workers in a contract dispute.

"Belmar is a working-class town, and we cannot in conscience have a company selling beer at a public venue that's been locking out its working-class employees," Doherty told nj.com.

The AFL-CIO thanked Doherty and other area businesses for opposing Shore Point until the company ends the lockout.

"We applaud the many local businesses who have decided to suspend business with Shore Point until the company ends the lockout," according to a post on the union's Facebook page. "We also thank Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty, who will not permit Shore Point products to be sold at the NJ Seafood Festival.

Doherty has asked local bars and liquor stores to boycott the company. He hopes that area microbreweries can step up to fill the void.

The decades-old festival is expected to attract between 200,000 and 225,000 visitors to the borough from May 19 to 21.

Image: Courtesy of Borough of Belmar