Photo Gallery: Strawberry Festival a Sweet Time in Oceanport

Where else on a Friday night in could you climb a rock wall, go for a ride on a fire truck, eat a plate piled high with strawberry shortcake and dunk your school's principal?

The annual Strawberry Festival, sponsored by the Oceanport Lions Club, took over Friday night and gave the community an evening of family friendly activities and the chance to catch up with neighbors over strawberries and whipped cream.

There was face painting and helium balloons; a DJ in the gym playing all the latest hits (that thrilled a cluster of middle school girls) and members from Oceanport's Hook & Ladder gave rides atop one of its trucks.

Oceanport Lion . told Patch he thought over 700 members of the community took part in the festivities, which ran from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Probably the biggest crowd gathered to watch Oceanport school administrators get dunked, over and over, into the tank of what was apparently freezing cold water. Superintendent Andrew Orefice, and principals Cory Radisch and Melanie Lipinski graciously climbed back onto the dunk tank seat from the water below numerous times and never stopped smiling.