Spring arrived on Thursday, March 20th, 2025, and with Spring comes cherry Blossom season, which will also arrive in a few weeks.

Typically, in New Jersey, the peak bloom happens between the second and third week of April. But with warmer winters and earlier springs, cherries have been blooming earlier in recent years in New Jersey.

There is nothing prettier than watching Cherry Blossoms pop up. with clusters of these trees in parks, and gardens and lining some streets.

In Hudson County, you can find Cherry Blossom Trees in Bayonne’s Stepehn Gregg Park on Kennedy Boulevard also in Jersey City’s; Liberty State Park off Audrey Zapp Drive, in Historic downtown Jersey City, Hamilton Park, and in Riverview-Fisk Park Palisade Avenue, Jersey City

Cherry Blossoms Bloom around the State of New Jersey

There are also plenty of parks where you can see the Cherry Blossoms bloom:

• Branch Brook Park, Essex County.
• New Jersey Botanical Gardens, Passaic County.
• Chapel Avenue, Cherry Hill.
• Deep Cut Gardens, Monmouth County.
• David C. Shaw Arboretum, Monmouth County.
• Verona Park, Essex County.
• Frelinghuysen Arboretum, Morristown
• Reeves-Reed Arboretum, Summit
• Warinanco Park. Roselle
• Holmdel Park & David C. Shaw Arboretum, Holmdel
• Sayen House & Gardens, Hamilton

The post Are You Ready for the Cherry Blossoms? first appeared on River View Observer.

Ahriâ€s Kitchen, Delaney Barbecue of Brooklyn, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, GPâ€s Restaurant, Hamilton Pork, Pennsylvaniaâ€s Jimmyâ€s BBQ, and Spankyâ€s BBQ, will be serving up BBQ and BBQ related sides. Pet Shop will also be in attendance this year with vegetarian inspired BBQ. Hamilton Pork and GPâ€s Restaurant will be tending-bar serving specialty cocktails and beer from New Jersey Beer Co. Baonanas, Lizzmonade, and Milk Sugar Love will feed your sweet tooth, quench your thirst, and dazzle your taste buds.

Activities include a mechanical bull, bouncy castle and face-painting. Kids are welcome! There will be fantastic craft and art vendors in Hamilton Park. Famous Dancing Tony is coordinating live music all day. Slated to perform is Next Step Broadway Dancers, Little Rose Lonesome Prairie Dogs, Sensational Country Blues Wonders, Peter Lancet and the Stray Dogs, Jeremy Wallace Trio, Hudson City Rats, Dan Oâ€Dea and Eagle Ridge and The Jersey Rollers.

Like, Share, and Check us out on Facebook and Yelp. #HPBBQ2016 For more information, contact: Ellen Hockley – ellen@greater-goodevents.com, 201-253-8698

The post 7th Annual Hamilton Park BBQ Festival Saturday, September 24th, 2016 Noon to 8pm first appeared on River View Observer.

   Next Up:  Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2

By Sally Deering

 Never mind getting upstaged by fancy swordplay or an actor taking too long for his death scene. Hudson Shakespeare Companyâ€s adaptable actors must endure teens on skateboards, barking dogs, ambulance sirens, even low-flying helicopters while they project the dense and rhyming lines of The Bard.

Such is the actorâ€s life when performing with the Hudson Shakespeare Company, now in its 25^th year. This summer, the ensemble puts on three Shakespeare plays and will bring Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 to Hamilton Park on Thurs, Aug. 18 at 7 pm.  Admission is free thanks to support from the Hudson County Office of Cultural Affairs and other supporters of the arts.

On a recent Thursday evening, local park-goers gathered in Hamilton Park for Edward III.

In a quasi-amphitheater setting that turned the steps leading down from the gazebo into audience seating and the circular walkway surrounding the gazebo into the stage for the play, the actors adorned in capes, boots, breastplates and leather accoutrements acted Edward III against a moving backdrop of kids playing ball, people walking their dogs, and commuters heading home from a long day at the office.

Ben Forer who played King Edward paid the passers-by no mind as he began the play with Rhianna Latimer as Prince Ned and Conrad Arelius as Lord Audley discussing the Kingâ€s affairs. The only mishaps were when a sword wouldnâ€t budge from its holster, and a toddler on the loose entered – and stole – his scene. But Forer and the rest of the cast held tough even when a low-flying helicopter flew overhead and without further distraction, Edward wooed the Countess of Salisbury played by Rachel Matusewicz.

In 1992, L. Robert Johnson founded Hudson Shakespeare in Jersey City and brought Shakespeare to the parks and schools. He later partnered with Jon Ciccarelli, who took over the reigns as Artistic Director after Johnson passed in 2010.  Ciccarelli directed Edward III.

Since then, Ciccarelli and his wife Noelle Fair direct the companyâ€s season of Shakespeare and other plays. The team also works with Sarah Schlesinger who did the fight choreography for Edward III.

“Weâ€ll decide a year ahead for our next summer titles,” Ciccarelli says. “A couple things we look for are what hasnâ€t the company done yet, and something the public doesnâ€t usually see. If itâ€s a title we have done before, we try to do a different spin on it. Three years ago, Noelle did a steampunk version of Macbeth with techno music.”

Hudson Shakespeare started out as a summer performances troupe and now does shows throughout the year in local schools, performing abridged versions of Shakespeareâ€s most popular plays like Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Nightâ€s Dream.

“Hudson Shakespeare has expanded quite a bit,” Ciccarelli says, right after a rehearsal for Henry IV. “When we first started out, it was a lot of costume odds-and-ends, and sword rentals. I mentioned to Luther we should have our own stuff, so we started accumulating our costumes and weaponry.”

King Edward and Countess of Salisbury do a

mating dance in EDWARD III 

The program for Edward III states it was written by William Shakespeare and Thomas Kyd. When asked who Thomas Kyd was, and why he was getting billing with The Bard, Ciccarelli says the discovery was that The Bard collaborated with Kyd and wrote 40 percent of the play, while Kyd wrote 60%. This discovery came about through computer software designed by Sir Brian Vickers, a University of London professor to weed out plagiarizing college students.

Thomas was a guy who had a hit in London a few years earlier than Shakespeare,” Ciccarelli explains. “He was on par with Christopher Marlowe. And when Edward III was first published, there was no author assigned to it. Thereâ€s no external reference that both Shakespeare and Kid had written it, only through analysis of the text. It has been compared to Kydâ€s and Shakespeareâ€s body-of-work. Researchers look for an authorâ€s writing fingerprint; writers ten to use words a certain way that gives them their ‘voiceâ€. Of the writers who could have written Edward III, Thomas Kyd was the best match.”

Things heat up in Edward III when King Edward,

 (Ben Forer) kisses the Countess of Salisbury (Rachel Matusewicz)

Ciccarelli likes to find obscure and rarely performed Shakespeare for Hudson Shakespeareâ€s repertoire. And he prefers casting actors who can be adaptable when performing outdoors.

“Our actors are either musical theater-based or from improv troupes,” Ciccarelli says. “People who are good at improv and make bold choices; that adds a lot to the liveliness of the productions. We prefer actors who are flexible and can roll with things.”

If you go

Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2

Celebrating 25 years of Free Shakespeare in the Park, Aug 9027

Thurs, Aug. 18, 7 pm

Hamilton Park Gazebo, JC

Admission:  Free

 Coming up

Halloween Library Tour, Oct 15-30

Tales of Edgar Allan Poe

 Winner of New Works Competition, Nov 10-13

WRONG NUMBER by Nedra Pezold Roberts

 

For more info: www.hudsonshakespeare.com

The post URBAN SHAKESPEARE  Hudson Shakespeare Company plays The Bard in Hamilton Park, Jersey City first appeared on River View Observer.

“River View Observer Best Pick Developers for Jersey City.” 

Brothers Eric Silverman and Paul Silverman have been developing real estate in Jersey City since 1981, but they are not ordinary developers. While others are making a splash building modern skyscrapers and luxury condos on the waterfront, the Silverman brothers have spent the last three decades quietly transforming former warehouses into mixed-use buildings, schools into residences and abandoned storefronts into fashionable shops throughout Jersey City.

The brothers founded SILVERMAN, now the foremost developer of mixed-use residential buildings, historic landmarks and creative retail destinations in Jersey City, and today serve as a major engine behind the city’s revitalization. The company provides affordable and market-rate housing options to the greater community of Jersey City while building family oriented neighborhoods and supporting local retailers.

 “We are very proud to have witnessed the growth of Jersey City through our residential, commercial and retail developments,” said Paul Silverman, a principal at SILVERMAN. “We are committed to further restoring and advancing Jersey City while preserving its history and unique charm.”

A prime example of SILVERMAN’s development style is Hamilton Square (www.livingonthepark.com), a 124-unit premier adaptive reuse and new construction loft and condo development in the historic Hamilton Park neighborhood.  Hamilton Square is designed to combine a modern and industrial aesthetic, while offering luxurious loft living spaces with exquisite views of the Manhattan skyline and greenery of Hamilton Park. 

 To accommodate the needs of Hamilton Square residents, SILVERMAN sought out a strong balance of retailers to occupy the commercial spaces. SILVERMAN takes pride in addressing the wants and needs of buyers today and builds amenity-oriented neighborhoods to fit their residents’ lifestyles.

RETAIL AT HAMILTON SQUARE INCLUDES:

• Antheia Floral Design (www.antheia.net) provides beautiful floral design for weddings, events and parties of all budgets and tastes.

 Art House Productions (www.arthouseproductions.org) inspires, nurtures, and promotes the arts in Jersey City’s community through events and programming.

 Downtown Coop (www.downtowncoop.com) is a supermarket that will feature affordable, high-quality, sustainable, locally sourced food products. It is slated to open in 2011.

 Hamilton Health and Fitness (www.hamiltonhealthandfitness.com) features an indoor lap pool, the newest in cardio and weight training equipment, diverse group classes ranging from yoga to spinning, sauna and steam rooms, a children’s center, and a fully equipped Pilates studio. The fitness club has also been designed and constructed to be as environmentally responsible as possible by using bamboo flooring, high efficiency heating and cooling, low water usage plumbing design, LED and CFL efficient lighting, and recycled materials and furnishings.

 

• Hamilton Park Montessori (www.hamiltonparkmontessorischool.com) is a school that was founded by a team of educators interested in creating a positive learning community where the best practices in Montessori and early childhood education are implemented.

 Hound About Town is a boutique focusing on a wholesome life for pets.  It will include organic foods and treats as well as sustainable toys and accessories and is slated to open in 2011.

 

• Madame Claude Wine (www.madameclaudewine.com) is a European styled wine shop owned by a local Jersey City husband and wife couple of French origin. The focus is on French wines and spirits, with a selection of French food products including pate, cheese, dried sausages, pickles, Dijon mustard and baguettes.

 

• Newport Pharmacy (www.newportpharmacy.com) is an independently owned local pharmacy that has been serving the neighborhood since 1986 and has found a new home at Hamilton Square.

 Next Step Broadway (www.nextstepbroadway.com) is a dance studio owned and operated by Amy Burnette, a former Radio City Rockette, which provides kids and adults with the skills they need to get to Broadway including dance, singing, acting, music and more.

 Provident Bank (www.providentnj.com) has a convenient ATM branch location at the development.

 Smith & Chang General Goods (www.smithchang.com) is a general store with an eco- twist and vintage vibe featuring quality goods that are essential to everyday life.

 Sophie Sophia (www.sophiesophia.com/) a cake studio and bakery that produces the highest quality wedding cakes, specialty cakes and baked goods in New Jersey. 

 Tribeca Pediatrics (www.tribecapediatrics.com) has been helping New York families raise happy, healthy babies and kids since 1994, and is opening their first New Jersey office next year at Hamilton Square.  

 “It’s not just about building top-quality housing in Jersey City,” said Eric Silverman, principal at SILVERMAN. “We’ve enhanced the community by creating retail components, allowing for affordable, convenient and dynamic living in Jersey City.”

 Other prominent developments in Jersey City by SILVERMAN include: Schroeder Lofts (http://www.schroederlofts.com/), Majestic Theatre Condominiums (http://www.majesticjerseycity.com/), and Park Foundry (http://www.parkfoundry.com/).

SILVERMAN also focuses on creating a sustainable community by supporting a number of local charities and organizing neighborhood events.

 SILVERMAN supports Hudson County Child Abuse Prevention Center, Hudson County Community College Foundation, Hudson County Chamber of Commerce, Hamilton Park Conservancy, City Kids Church, City Sail, as well as Art House Productions, Jersey City Museum, Garden Preschool Cooperative, Women Rising, Jersey City Boys and Girls Club and Hudson Perinatal Consortium.

 The company organized the Hamilton Park BBQ Festival, which drew more than 3,000 attendees and benefited the Hamilton Park Conservancy; the Fifth Annual Cinco de Mayo Parade and Fiesta, the Fifth Annual Oktoberfest Parade and Festival; and a Pumpkin Patch for area schoolchildren.

For more information regarding the on-site sales office at Hamilton Square or to schedule an appointment please contact Sawyer Smith at sawyer@livingonthepark.com or 201-434-1000.

For more information on SILVERMAN, please visit: www.silvermanbuilding.com.

 

Follow us on Twitter: @LivingOnThePark

Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/hamiltonsquare -or- Search for us on Facebook: Hamilton Square Jersey City

The post Eric Silverman and Paul Silverman, Founders and Principals of SILVERMAN first appeared on River View Observer.