BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON, NJ—The Township’s Fall Festival Oct. 7 was many things to many people—a petting zoo, a playground, an daylong concert, a place to schmooze with friends and neighbors, and a sumptuous smorgasbord—but to the casual observer it was a showcase of the town’s best.
Sponsored by Oritani Bank for an eighth straight year, the festival on Memorial Field—the township’s downtown emerald—drew an estimated 3,000 people to enjoy cotton candy, Italian ices, hamburgers, sausage, and lamb chops. That’s about 300 more attendees than last year, organizers told the Pascack Press.
Yes, there were carnival games. Sure, there were pony rides (with the petting zoo, a big hit carried over from last year). Absolutely, there were bungee jumps, bounce houses, face paint and balloon artists, inflatable slides, and circus entertainers.
This is the Township of Washington, after all.
Add to this demonstrations of police K9 dogs and local martial arts; the Ambulance Corps out in force to recruit life savers; the Washington School PSO, selling shirts and more to raise money for events; Boy Scouts organizing rocket launches; the Golden Seniors Club arranging the gold-fish Ping-Pong toss; and the police department sponsoring the popcorn concession.
Music was by DJ Ron Gaither and the irrepressible Tommy Walker, crooning out the oldies and working the crowd. VFW Post 6192 represented with snappy salutes.
Troop 321 Life Scout Mason Law of Emerson collected 400 donated books for his Eagle Scout project—he’s building five “little free libraries” around the township to help promote reading, a project in partnership with the Public Library. (As a fundraiser for his project, Mason is hosting a car wash on Sunday, Nov. 12, from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus, 79 Pascack Road. Cars are $8 and trucks and SUVs are $12.)
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Nicholas Markets Foodtown, Charlie Brown’s, and Lili’s Bistro served ample crowd-pleasing fare. Humming along was a photo booth, where kids and parents mugged with novelty hats and other props. And this is not an exhaustive list.
This was Town Day, said Mayor Janet Sobkowicz, and a beautiful, bittersweet day for her honor. It’s her last such event as mayor.
“It’s one of the things I’ll miss most doing for the community,” she told the Pascack Press. She added, “We’ve always been lucky with the weather. It’s been very weird: Even when it was raining right up to the day, no matter what—the hurricane—you’d see a big rainbow and it would just be a perfect day.”
She credited Oritani Bank—whose president, Kevin Lynch was happy to shake hands and talk up the town—all the other sponsors and local organizations, and the town committee for pulling the event together as such a strong success at Memorial Field.
“We try something new every year,” said Sobkowicz, who serves on the event committee.
New this year was a re-siting of tents to afford a more panoramic view of the crowds and grounds, as was the carnival theme.
Also on the committee are Chairperson Dina Burke, councilmembers Peter Calamari and Thomas Sears, Police Lt. Richard Skinner, town Administrative Assistant Bernadette Pomykala, Nick Casbar, Gina DeVirgilio, James Dugan, Eugene Greco, JoAnn Greco, Rick Hanley, James Joyce, Marie Joyce, Laura Rifkin, Mary Ellen Stickel, Gloria Switlyk, and Daisy Velez.