Franny Stroop
By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Hopewell couldn’t have asked for a more perfect Saturday afternoon to spend in the park.
Cupcakes made it even more special.
The sun shone brightly and a gentle breeze kept temperatures moderate. Kids clamored on the playground equipment. In front of the gazebo, Mayor Paul Anzano showed off a historic-replica plaque of “general rules” of the borough. Planting of a tree took the informal route, as kids wielded shovels to cover the root ball of an anniversary tree.
On Saturday, the borough 125th Anniversary Committee held a “cupcake birthday party” in the park at South Greenwood and Columbia avenues. It was another in an arm’s-length list of activities for the year.
More than 220 cupcakes — vanilla and chocolate — made by Jennifer Pryor (“Jen’s Cakes”) were given away. She has a dream some day to open a bakery employing special needs workers, she says.
The Advisory Shade Tree Committee planted a tree in Borough Park that day. Instead of a formal ceremony in which officials simultaneously tossed shovels of soil in the hole, children and community members seemed happy to pitch in.
“I’m down with the cause,” said one man, picking up a shovel.
Two boys had a different take.
“We did it because someone said we could get extra cupcakes,” said Max Pollara, 8. It didn’t happen.
“But it was still fun to do it,” added his brother Ben, 10.
The tree committee also plans to give away 125 tree saplings acquired through a state grant.
Coming up on the anniversary celebration calendar are a lecture by Joseph R. Klett, executive director of the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton and resident of Hopewell Borough, on “New Jersey’s Colonial Landscape” at the Hopewell Museum, 28 E. Broad St., Hopewell, at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 15.
Mr. Klett will discuss both the geography and ancient boundary lines of old New Jersey, as well as archival sources for the colonial period.
On Saturday, May 7, the inaugural Handmade Hopewell Makers Street Fair for local artists, crafters and makers will be held on Seminary Avenue from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
“The event was conceived as a way to share both their love of their town and handmade things with a broader audience,” said a spokesman.
