Photo Gallery: Tinton Falls Comes Together for Community Day

For a few hours on Saturday afternoon, if you were so inclined, you could have caught up with friends and neighbors, watched a helicopter land or tried your hand at dunking a cop into a dunk tank if you had been at the .

For those of you who were there, you know that there was a petting zoo, pony rides and a big, crocodile bouncy ride on the western part of the large where the event was held from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Oct. 1.

The parking area was filled with construction and emergency vehicles in touch-a-truck mode for little ones fascinated by front end loaders and giant, tractor wheels. The had set up a tent filled with smoke to demonstrate thermal imaging cameras. We were alarmed initially as kids kept disappearing into the smoke-filled tent through a zipped flap with no breathing equipment until member Paul Nelson confided it was theatrical smoke.

There were demonstrations by the , a exercise by firefighters and live music to keep folks entertained throughout the afternoon. Our personal highlight was the landing of a Monoc helicopter in a field at the back of the complex to the delight of hundereds of onlookers. It was a surprise to feel the blow of wind from the chopper's blades about 50 yards away and gave us a brief sensation of what if would be like to stand with George Clooney in his ER days on the roof of the hospital waiting for a Medevac patient (alas, with no George Clooney).

Patch had its big green tent pitched among lots of community groups and businesses and we loved being a stone's throw from the highly-popular dunk-a-cop tank that boasted a long line throughout the day.

The event was organized this year by and but we still saw zipping around the complex in a cart and pulling up stakes towards the end of the day.

We also got to catch up with Mayor Michael Skudera, Council President Gary Baldwin and some of our friends from the like Cherie Ronan. was holding down the fort at the table along with and Business Administrator Gerry Turning had hisfor the weekend and was having fun watching them spin around on a kiddie ride.

As the sun began to fade, we quickly started to hand out all our leftover candy and Patch balloons to the willing kids still milling around the tent. We made so many new friends and met up folks who were already followers and we look forward to keeping the conversation going on Patch.