It was billed as the Fall Arts & Music Festival, but the grand celebration on Washington Street this past Sunday felt more like the last hurrah of summer. Under brilliant blue skies, brigades of strollers marched with panting pooches, mischievous teens, and jive-stepping geriatics, fueled by fresh-squeezed lemonade and the strum of guitars.
Festival organizer Geri Fallo said she didn’t know exactly how many people attended this past Sunday, though she suspected the perfect 80-degree weather helped numbers along. In past years, she said, police estimates for Arts & Music Festival attendance have hovered between 30,000 and 50,000.
With a general election only five weeks away, this year’s festival had its share of politicking. The Republicans of Hoboken were out promoting an upcoming meet and greet with Jeff Bell, the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate, in Hoboken on Oct. 15. Diana Davis, the organization’s founder, said Republicans have seen growing success in Hoboken elections, turning two Ward 2 districts for Mitt Romney in 2012 and helping to carry the city for Gov. Chris Christie’s re-election in 2013.
Still, the primacy of the Democratic Party in Hudson County could not be denied. When Bell’s opponent, former Newark Mayor and current U.S. Senator Cory Booker, showed up around 3 p.m., he was quickly surrounded by onlookers hoping for a word or a photo-op, which Booker was more than happy to give. By the time Booker reached the corner of Newark and Washington Streets, there was a line of people waiting to meet him, according to Hoboken City Councilman Ravi Bhalla, who joined the walkaround at Booker’s request. In forty minutes, said Bhalla, the two made it little more than a block.
Even Cory Booker, though, couldn’t draw a crowd like Darlene Love, the headliner of the festival’s musical offerings. When the well-known songstress finally appeared on the Observer Highway stage around 4:30 p.m. Sunday, spectators filled Washington Street as far back as First Street. Love was backed up by North Jersey resident Ula Hedwig, who joked that Love should perform in Hoboken more often so she could take the PATH train to work.
Fallo said she had been trying to get Darlene Love for years and was thankful to secure an appearance when she did. With the success of an Oscar-winning documentary that prominently features Love and an upcoming album produced by Steven Van Zandt, Fallo fears that Hoboken might not even be able to afford the singer in the future.
“She really is rock and roll royalty,” said Fallo.
Carlo Davis may be reached at cdavis@hudsonreporter.com.