May
2002
Heritage
Days offers history, culture and fun
By
Joe Emanski
In
its 23rd year, Trenton's Heritage Days festival delights the city's
ethnically diverse population.
Heritage Days is a Trenton tradition. It might surprise some people
to learn that it's only been held in the city since 1979. But
in that year, with the city reeling from a decade of post-riot
changes that weren't all for the better, a few residents decided
to celebrate the tercentennial of Trenton's first European settlements.
And, to a degree, Trenton has never been the same.
Today, Heritage Days is popularly recognized as the largest outdoor
ethnic festival in the State of New Jersey. It has spawned its
share of spin-offs and copycats-some occurring right in the city's
own backyard-but it remains as the legacy of the Trenton Commons
Commission, which is a predecessor of what today is the Trenton
Downtown Association (TDA).
Three hundred years ago, when Quakers from Yorkshire, England,
settled "Ye Falls of Ye Delaware" along the banks of
the Assunpink Creek-before there ever was a Mercer County-they
chose as the site for their grain mill a spot in Mill Hill Park.
They had little chance of knowing that the same plot of land would
host more than twenty years of festivals celebrating Trenton's
diverse heritage.
This year, like last year, Heritage Days will be held on West
State Street and in the State Capitol Plaza area. The first weekend
in June will feature the music, the food, the culture and the
interaction of the various ethnic groups who call the Trenton-area
region home. While the celebration calls attention to the recent
efforts of the city's citizens to expand their horizons and embrace
their neighbors, it also pays homage to the many immigrants who
established themselves on these shores ever since 1679.
*
* *
In 1979, Jim Ort, director of the Trenton Commons Commission,
along with Elaine Wilson, came up with a concept. Because of the
way that the city has grown, its heritage has long been subject
to change and susceptible to shifts. As the city became an industrial
powerhouse in the nineteenth century it attracted European immigrants
from all over the map. Pockets of Italians, Poles, Ukrainians,
Hungarians, and others established themselves throughout the capital.
As a result, says Sally Lane, director of the Trenton Convention
and Visitors Bureau, "We automatically know how to spell
ethnic names. We've just gotten used to" the many surnames
that don't sound quite like Smith or Jones. It's that sort of
comfort, says Lane, that makes a cozy postindustrial city like
Trenton a good choice for an ethnic festival.
When
it came time for the original Heritage Days, it was a wild success.
Ethnic groups from both large and small areas pitched tents and
watched the curious passersby-often their own neighbors-walk on
by. A nice idea for a flagging city became a regional cultural
event with a festival atmosphere.
Interestingly, Heritage Days stood the chance of becoming a victim
of its own success. It quickly became apparent that if a citywide
ethnic festival could work well for the city, then perhaps individual
church and civic association outings could also attract crowds.
Heritage Days might have succumbed to the pull of commercial appeal.
Soon, numerous ethnic group held their own events. An ill-fated
attempt to distribute the festivities across multiple sites in
the city also threatened to alter the event's history.
But when TDA, which had long orchestrated the event and acted
as steward through its formative years, decided to step down from
its role as Heritage Days administration and booster, the City
of Trenton stepped up. Today, under the leadership of Francis
E. Blanco, director of the Department of Recreation, Natural Resources
and Culture, Heritage Days has new life. The West State Street
location is a hike for some, but if offers the sort of venue that
suits the event, where visitors are encouraged to walk from tent
to tent and display to display.
"I
think (last year's Heritage Days) was very successful," says
Ms. Lane. "I think the general thought was that it had been
revived."
Whether Heritage Days means funnel cakes and ice cream or a tour
of the New Jersey Statehouse and some authentic Jamaican ginger
beer, it remains a weekend that tens of thousands of people look
forward to every year. It also serves as a reminder of Trenton's
past, as well as perhaps a roadmap to its future.
*
* *
Heritage Days has also seen some of its longtime sons and daughters
move out of town-which has had a significant effect on the event.
"Today, people are so busy," says Ms. Lane. "To
have a stand to sell things, you have to have made preparations."
Today's on-the-go families might have all the time in the world
to attend the festival-but without someone to sit at the desks
and make and serve the food, Heritage Days would be simply "Days,"
like any other days.
The current revival of the city that has begun with Waterfront
Park and Sovereign Bank Arena and has now entered full-swing mode
with the grand opening of the Lafayette Yard Marriott is expected
to begin bringing people back into the city. Whether it will ever
be the same dynamic ethnic mix again isn't really known. But with
the variety of culture already here, and an event like Heritage
Days to pump up the civic and cultural pride, there's no reason
to believe that Trenton can't add even more people to its growing
list of regular visitors.
