HOBOKEN – Sunny skies and cool temperatures brought out thousands of festival-goers today for the 2013 Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival.
Wall-to-wall crowds packed seven blocks of Washington Street to check out more than 300 stalls that displayed art and crafts, and offered international foods on Washington Street, from Observer Highway to Seventh Street.
Music lovers gathered at two stages to enjoy roughly 20 bands, including headliners singer-songwriters John Eddie, Mike Doughty and Danny, Cuban American seven-piece rockers Del Exilio and Matos y Son Candela Salsa Band
As the smell of open-air cooking filled the air, hungry attendees lined up at numerous vendors to sample an array of international cuisine, including kebobs, gyros, calzones and zeppoles, as well as chicken tenders and fries.
“It's a beautiful day,” said Brooklyn artist and former Hoboken resident, Jason Gluskin, whose "NYC Nights" painting has been printed on the festival's posters for the past three years. “The weather is gorgeous. Everyone is happy to be here and friendly," he said.
Hoboken residents Justin Strauss, 26, and friend Mark Jacob, 26, were admiring Guskin's work, saying that his colorful paintings of cityscapes and musicians -– including one of Bruce Springsteen -- stand out as originals among the crowded field.
“They seem really cool,” Strauss said. “I am a big Bruce fan. I like the fusing music into art.”
Throughout the fair, vendors also sold handmade crafts such as pottery, jewelry, metalwork, wooden African carvings, blown and fused glass, and clothing.
While many were browsing the arts and crafts, families with strollers packed the parking lot of North Fork Bank at Washington and Third streets as toddlers and preschoolers zipped down inflatable slides and jumped up and down bouncy castles.
Acts such as Ron Albanese and his Polka Dot friends, the Preschool Rock band and Garden Street School Band the performers who entertained the kids at the third stage adjacent to the bank.
This year, more than a dozen tenants with the Monroe Center for the Arts showed their works
Among the Monroe Center artists, was Claudia Rose Emerson of West New York. Her diverse styles include a detailed watercolor painting of the World Trade Center tower under construction, which she sees from her south facing Fifth floor studio at the Monroe Center, and simple stencil prints that include one work entitled “Take a Drink” with a tree next to a stream.
“A lot of people like the vivid colors,” said Emerson, who also creates collages and sculptures. “I try everything. I think you have to try different things. It is more interesting that way.”
Another Monroe Center tenant Jacob Eskinazi, whose business, Art e Vino, is located at Studio C307, offers classes where art students paint different subjects while partaking in a glass of wine.
“People love our concept and what we do,” Eskinazi said.“People come to paint in a casual environment while having sip of wine.”
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