“Asbury Park is in a place right now where people are loving Asbury Park,” said Danny Clinch, a well-known photographer and musician who grew up in the area with his friend Tim Donnelly, a founder of the festival.

In the 2000s, the two held makeshift art and music exhibits on the boardwalk and long dreamed of expanding to a major festival, but no promoter would take a bet on Asbury.

“We used to have to really, really sell people on even coming to visit Asbury,” Mr. Donnelly said.

That has changed.

“We finally got the timing right,” Mr. Clinch said.

Asbury Park’s renaissance is still a work in progress. Parts of the city away from the sleek waterfront struggle with poverty. Crime remains a problem and the summer saw multiple shootings, including one on the boardwalk during the Fourth of July weekend.