After an absence of well over three decades, the Hudson County Fair returned to James J. Braddock North Hudson Park over Columbus Day weekend.
“Years ago, they used to do this all the time,” said Donna Rosillo, attending with husband Christian and twin sons Lorenzo and C.J. “When I was a kid we looked forward to it every year. I’m glad they brought it back.”
After a shaky start on Friday with a flash rainstorm during the opening ceremonies, the event took off over the weekend, with thousands of residents and visitors filling the field at the southeast corner of the park each day from Saturday through Monday.
“It’s Columbus Day weekend so I figured I wanted a good Italian treat,” said Joseph Jacobson, who walked over from his home on 80th Street to enjoy an overloaded sandwich from Philip Joyce, purveyor of scrumptious artisan breads. The breads are baked over wood and coal in a 100-year-old brick oven. “My mom read about the fair in the North Bergen Reporter and told me about it. It’s great for the community.”
Ece Valioglu and her mom Pinar were visiting from Turkey and staying in Guttenberg. “The food is really good,” said Ece, chowing down on a shish-kebab from Dad’s Grill. “We like to eat.”
Thousands of residents attended the first annual Hudson County Fair each day, enjoying the rides and the local bands and DJs and selling out the food vendors.
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Put together in record time
The first annual Hudson County Fair is one of numerous events to rejuvenate the park this year, including the Arts Festival in June and the farmers market over the summer.
“Any new idea needs someone to initiate it,” said North Hudson Community Action Corporation (NHCAC) Board of Directors Chairman Joseph Muniz at the opening ceremony. “And the person who deserves the credit for initiating this is Freeholder Anthony Vainieri.”
Vainieri was sworn into office on Jan. 1 and made Braddock Park an immediate priority. “He’s brought back activities to this park that we haven’t seen in years,” said Guttenberg Mayor Gerald Drasheff. “He doesn’t take no for an answer.”
There were a lot of “no’s” to overcome to make the fair happen. A litany of state and local agencies had to sign off on the event. Partners had to be secured. An insurance bond of $7 million dollars had to be posted on the property. But it all came together – and in record time.
Pulling it off required a lot of people to work in coordination. “The first step was we had to get a nonprofit organization to be a sponsor and apply for the permit,” explained Vainieri. That role went to NHCAC, which will see some of the profits from the event. NHCAC then contracted with Jaloudi Enterprises.
“These types of fairs, they take at least eight months to put together,” said Operations Officer Zaid Jaloudi, who booked the entertainment for the weekend.
“Between the date it had to start and the day we got the permit was literally not even two weeks,” added his father, Walid Jaloudi, CEO of Jaloudi Enterprises. “That’s a lot to do.”
Jaloudi oversaw planning for the entire project and brought in the food vendors and ride operator McCafferty Enterprises.
Based in Wayne, N.J., Dan McCafferty supplies rides to fairs all over the state. But the short notice resulted in a problem. In a seasonal business like carnivals, everything moves south for the winter.
“I normally work from May to October in New Jersey and then the Caribbean afterwards,” said McCafferty. “I was scheduled to open up in Freeport, Bahamas this week. I pushed it back to make this event here.”
Still, many of the rides had already been packed up and shipped south, including the Ferris wheel. “We were able to grab what wasn’t in transit,” he said.
Claiming to lead the storybook life of an orphan who ran away to join the carnival at age 14, McCafferty grew up among the carnie. He laid out the grid for this year’s rides and already plans to expand the event next year.
“We didn’t have enough time to get state licenses,” he said. “Next year we want to do more gaming for prizes. We’re equipped for that and have all the trailers but as an operator I’m not allowed to run them. Only a nonprofit can run them so I rent the trailer out and all the merchandise, and they only pay for what they use.”
In addition to an expanded ride area, he is also pushing to include fireworks. “There’s plenty of room here,” he said. “It’s a perfect spot. This area right here could support a full-size carnival twice a year. This would be a beautiful thing for the spring and the fall.”
Special treat for special needs
Sunday morning saw some special visitors to the fair as Director Jackie Elwood brought about 20 individuals from the North Bergen special needs program. Attendees ranged from pre-teens up into middle age, all of whom Elwood refers to as her “kids.”
Vainieri had approached McCafferty about possibly offering a discount to the group. McCafferty did him one better and offered the rides for free. “It’s making their day,” said Elwood, as the “kids” happily took over the field early in the day. “They don’t have an opportunity to get out like this. They love it.”
The group also enjoyed free food and drinks courtesy of the Jaloudi family.
Walid Jaloudi got involved in food services in about 2008. “We actually started off as just a roast corn business,” said Zaid Jaloudi. “I still remember I was in sixth or seventh grade and my dad came home and said, ‘I bought a corn machine.’ And I thought it was the stupidest thing in the world. Who goes out and buys a corn machine? But look where it got us now. He had a vision.”
The family began attending street fairs and carnivals and a few years later expanded into organizing entire events. They made connections in the business and for the inaugural Hudson County Fair offered low prices to vendors, strategically picking different types of food to offer patrons a varied menu.
Lines for Italian zeppoles and Spanish pupusas were long all weekend. Other vendors did an equally brisk business. “Yesterday we ran out of everything,” said Austin Horn. “Every single thing.” Horn, who has been working for McCafferty for about 10 years, estimated he went through 350 candy apples on Saturday night alone, also selling out of cotton candy, caramel popcorn, and more.
Horn is one of about six employees who travel with the fair, staying in a camper provided by McCafferty. “They furnish a home for us,” he said. “It’s separated like a dorm. Everybody’s got a room. I live here, work here, sleep here.”
Jenny Porter worked the same food stand, but she is a local, living in Clifton, and doesn’t travel with the carnie. “If I have the time, I do it,” she said. “It depends on my schedule. This year I think I did three. I went to the Bahamas last year and helped out for a couple of days.”
Local benefit
“Most of the food vendors here are local from the county,” explained Walid Jaloudi. “So this benefits everybody: the residents, the business people, and the county.”
Thomas Camito came from Hoboken to sell his meatball heroes and sausage and peppers. “We ran out of meatballs yesterday,” he said on Sunday. “I don’t buy them in the store. I make them myself. By the time I got home it was after 12. I was too tired.”
Camito used to cook for an Italian social club in Hoboken and decided to give the fair a try. “I had no idea what to expect because I never did it before,” he said. “I don’t do this for a living. I’m just trying it out. Because I like to cook.”
Mario Chapé grew up in Union City and attended High Tech High School, where he “fell in love with food.” After working in numerous chain restaurants including Ruth’s Chris, he bought a custom made smoker secondhand and set out to sell “the best barbecue in New Jersey, hands down.”
Chapé’s Big Papa Smoke’m has been a regular attraction at this year’s events in the park, selling spectacularly tasty pulled pork, racks of ribs, fresh salads, and more. “The farmers market and the arts festival were cool,” he said. “I saw all these beautiful pieces of art and I was like, finally it feels the way that it should feel. This area’s going to be a whole ‘nother thing. You can feel the vibe.”
Other vendors from Hudson County included Cuomo & Sons, Johnny’s Brick Oven Pizza, Linda Food, and San Fillipo di Sicilia from North Bergen; Hoboken Cucina from Hoboken; Gina Foods from Secaucus; and Lizzmonade from Jersey City.
Entertaining the crowd all weekend were singers and DJs, all residents of Hudson County. The area in front of the stage – and frequently the stage itself – was usually packed with dancers, many of them youngsters grooving to the tunes.
“The adults were eating and the kids were dancing,” said Vainieri.
“I give all credit to Anthony,” said North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco about the event. “He worked so hard to make this happen. You know what’s nice is it’s bringing people back to North Bergen. I heard from a lot of former residents who came back for this fair.”
And to think it almost didn’t happen. “We came so close to canceling it a couple of times,” said Vainieri. But eventually it all came together, and planning is already underway for next year. “I want to get pony rides.”
“It’s definitely going to happen,” said Zaid Jaloudi. “Next year we plan to have rides at the State Fair level.”
His father agreed. “This is just the beginning,” promised Walid Jaloudi.
“This was a highlight of my childhood,” said Tiffani Shaw Paglione, recalling the long-ago local fairs. She was thrilled to be attending again with her family, including son Zachary. “And now it’ll be a highlight of his.”
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.