An ice cream social was held Sunday for new residents of Metuchen as more people ditch the city for the suburbs.

Mayor Jonathan Busch says the town of 15,000 residents is slowly getting bigger, and they were invited via postcard to attend the mixer.

He says that during the pandemic, many big cities saw a mass exodus of residents leaving and heading to smaller communities like Metuchen.

Busch says towns like this are desirable because they have walkable downtowns and a train station that heads to New York City.