Abby Montero, 8, got the most out of North Bergen’s annual Green Fair on June 4. She and her mother Marta Montero, who’ve lived in North Bergen for two years, took part in many of the activities including the “jumpy house,” Abby said. At the end of the day, they both gobbled cobs of corn.
The fair takes place each year so that residents can play games and learn about health-inspired companies around Hudson County, from a honey company to cupcake makers. This year, it took place at the 64th Street Field.
For instance, North Bergen resident and baker Jasmine Bruno presented her home catering business Occasions Catering and Cupcakery. She lived in North Bergen for 19 years, and started her business two years ago.
She was an accountant, and has catered small events from home for 20 years. “I’ve had a passion for baking ever since I was a kid,” she said.
Occasions offers a wide range of food and drink options to suit different styles, tastes, and budgets, she said. She started her business with her sister Janette Moyett. “My sister was homeless in New York with my niece, so we started a business to get her out of a bad situation,” Bruno said. They’ve done other fairs in Brooklyn, New York, “but this is our second one in New Jersey.”
Bruno added, “My family has a lot of food allergies, so I’m used to working with those.” They had samples of cinnamon oatmeal crumbles on their table.
Another health-influenced tent at the Green Fair was Law Enforcement Against Drugs, a drug awareness program that replaced DARE for fifth grade classes throughout the nation. Retired Police Officer Joe Sitty was there to raise awareness of the program.
“This is a great event for health.” — Joe Sitty
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Soon, he said, he’ll be going around America to train more LEAD officials.
“I’ve been doing drug awareness for 24 years,” Sitty said, “This is a great event for health, and we fall under health. DARE still exists, but it’s now a revised curriculum about marijuana and character changes.” He said the program involves more hands-on activities like role play or games. “It’s really awesome,” Sitty said, “The kids get excited for the games, and ask ‘What are we doing today?’”
Under his tent were applications for students to join the Junior Police Academy, a junior police program for seventh or eighth graders, and a car with the LEAD logo on it for kids to sit in and take pictures.
High Tech High School’s apiary program Hive Tech Honey made an appearance to raise money for the apiary. They made peppermint lip gloss, mango honey butter, honey cakes, and more for their tent. (See related story in last weekend’s edition).
Sophomore and communications major Anne Gao, 16, said her class was responsible for the logos and the website. “We preserved what was left from the last fair, but they remade the honeycakes,” she said. “We sold out of the honey cakes last time, so we had to make even more.”
Science majors played a big part in creating the honey, wax, and essential oils. Science major Tanushri Shah, 15, said, “This time the class looked into the products more. We went to the apiary to see the bees more to see how much honey they produced. The products are ready for next year’s class.”
Shah added, “We hope to do it again next year, and we’re going to be bigger and better.”
Another science major, Jeel Shah, 15, said, “The Secaucus Green Fair was a big success, but we live in North Bergen, so we know a lot more people who came [to this event]…They wanted to support the project and our school.”
Jeel Shah added, “Today was a big success. We built on our mistakes from our first fair, and made a great set-up.”
Aesha Shah, 15, sophomore of North Bergen High School, came to support her friends. She said, “I don’t go to the school, but I’m friends with a lot of them and live in North Bergen.”
Science and biology major Rohan Gajera, 16, said, “We were selling before we even opened. We put samples on plates and walked around. People like our honey cakes this time even more than last time.”
Hudson River Honey creator Antonio Quinlan had his company’s tent set up right next to Hive Tech’s. Quinlan was the person who pushed for and helped set up the apiary in High Tech High School. His tent had samples of honey from all over the world and from different years. One of his honeycombs ran $30 per pound.
An employee, James Laws, said “We don’t cook or pasteurize our honey, so that’s why it’s raw.”
Quinlan said Hoboken and Jersey City High Schools are interested in starting an apiary for their students as well.
For the adults, Hudson River Honey also offered samples of an alcoholic beverage made from honey.
Live performers Tatiana Betancourt, 18, of Hudson County Community College, and Kenny Noriega, 18, sang songs on stage for the fair. Noriega is a NBHS senior and said he played guitar for three songs and sang two songs. This is their third year performing at the fair. “We will definitely come next time,” Noriega said.
Betancourt said, “We just planned to go up before we went up there. There was no practice involved.”
Residents played small games offered by some companies. Lyla, 4, played fishing with colorful, plastic fish and a magnet fishing pole. She got to pick a prize afterwards. Her mother Vivian had lived in North Bergen for two and a half years before moving to New York. She heard about the fair from friends and came back.
“It’s great to see the community and neighbors,” she said.