A motorcade transporting President Joe Biden briefly passed through Red Bank Thursday afternoon, serenaded by employees of a nearby restaurant.

Hayley Allen, second from left, and co-workers watched the motorcade pass.   (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

Enroute to a Democratic fundraiser at Governor Phil Murphy’s mansion on the Navesink River in Middletown, Biden spent less than a minute on Red Bank’s solidly Democratic asphalt without stopping.

His motorcade had traveled the Parkway from Wall Township, where Marine One had landed, and north on Rector Place from the Senator Joe Kyrillos Bridge on West Front Street, according to police Chief Darren McConnell.

With the busy intersection of Route 35, Rector Place, Bridge Avenue and Riverside Avenue shut down to traffic at 4 p.m., Red Bank and nearby towns were gridlocked for miles in multiple directions for about half an hour.

But for a handful of apron-wearing employees at Birravino restaurant, it was an occasion for joy. Waiting in a grubby parking lot for Biden to pass by, they broke into a rendition of “God Bless America.”

“We giggled through a little bit of it, but it was genuine,” said Hayley Allen.

“This is something I’ve wanted all my life, to see a president while he’s in office,” said Allen, of Sayreville. “It’s been one of my goals. And to be at work on a Thursday, and the President drives by… I saw him throw a thumbs-up, and it meant a lot to me.”

A co-worker who declined to give her name said she had been moved by the moment to start off the song, which her colleagues joined in.

The motorcade of several dozen emergency vehicles, watched over by a police helicopter, crossed the Navesink via Cooper’s Bridge, which had been closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic, and turned east on Navesink River Road toward Murphy’s mansion, on Blossom Cove Road.

With his visit, which was expected to last two hours, Biden joined a parade of prominent Democrats who’ve been hosted by Murphy and his wife, First Lady Tammy Murphy.

In 2006, they hosted former Vice President Al Gore for dinner following a reception at the nearby home of pop star Jon Bon Jovi. And two years later, Murphy, as the DNC’s finance chairman, teamed up with Bon Jovi again, hosting a two-stop fundraiser for then-Senator Barack Obama during his first presidential campaign.

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