Celebrating 98 years of street food, games, music
I’ve always had a soar spot for the inaccuracies of TV weathermen, but it’s nice when it works in reverse, such as this evening. My original plans for the night were canceled due to bad weather. That is until the bad weather turned good and my friends Lisa and Nelson said they wanted to stop by the St Ann’s Italian Festival.
So off I strolled to the mecca of sausage and peppers, zepolli, games of chance, sweaty crowds and music. I rarely go to these things. The crowds, the heat. In fact, I haven’t been to such a festival since I was a kid in Fairview, NJ. As time goes on, there are less and less of these mass-community celebrations that were once commonplace in New Jersey. I guess my going tonight was a small way of recapturing a vanishing tradition.
As I got closer to the festival–held each of the last 98 years in the area of St. Ann’s Church (704 Jefferson St, Hoboken)–I could here music growing louder. Not just any music, The Beatles. I thought to myself how odd it was that they would be playing a CD or whatever so loud. Of course it was a band. There’s a new band every night at the festival. Before I saw them, I expected a typical Jersey cover band adorned in jeans, tees and long hair.
Imagine my surprise when I turned the corner to see four guys dressed like the Beatles circa 1964. Mop tops, black suits, ties, the works. I’m never one to give much consideration for cover bands, but Strawberry Fields is a different sort of experience than the usual party-on, top 40 troupe. This became clear when the band announced, “We’re taking a break and we’ll be back at Sergeant Pepper.”
Sure enough, moments later–psychedelic marching band uniforms and all–they were back. As impressed as I was by the sheer showmanship of that moment, I couldn’t help but wonder about the polyester infernos these guys were marinating in. Oh and the musical performance was pretty decent as well. But I digress…
So, why do we really come to these types of festivals? Is it the music, the plush Spongebob Squarepants, blowup toys, oversized ‘Kiss Me I’m Italian’ tees? Nope. More than anything else, it’s the food. Italian fare like sausage and peppers is just the beginning. Cheese steaks, burgers, kabobs of many variations and (of course) the deep-fried, doughy sweetness of zepolli.
In the end, the crowds and the heat will very likely still keep me away from this again next year, as it has for many years. However, if many of the newbie residents looking to clean up whatever cities they invade have their way, these street fairs are likely to be nothing more than history soon. And that would be a sin.
I personally may not enjoy it. I consider the best part of the night being a quiet walk and an encounter with a great dane holding a stuffed toy. We were intimidated until we saw him get freaked out by to frou-frou little rat dogs on leashes. But again … digress …
Despite my dislike, these large street festivals are part of the fabric of this area. They are a celebration of tradition, heritage and community. Points that are often lost to the deaf ears of those who want to whitewash American cities into many identical theme park versions of reality. When will they learn that, when history is forgotten, there can be no future.
Americans catch enough shit for having no real culture of our own (an argument I in no way endorse, by the way). But true or not, our cultureless image is not helped as we destroy the traditions of those who built this country.
My photos from St Ann’s:
