Despite the Rain, 4th Street Festival Impresses
By Wayward Winos • Oct 7th, 2009 • Category: Arts, Featured
With the pitter patter of rain on the windows and doors all morning, the 4th Street Art & Music Festival was looking to be a soggy jaunt in the puddles that spotted the streets of Jersey City on Saturday.
But however gray, the festival went on with vigor. Walking through the streets, we explored the participating galleries, coffee shops and artisans, which glistened with pride as they showcased their work. Spaces that most days look like your generic garage showed their true colors during this weekend of artistic celebration. Not to say that this town hasn’t already proven itself to be real haven for talent of all sorts, but to us, this weekend seemed to be the harvest of it, like the autumn harvest of pumpkins, apples and gourds underneath the brilliant colors beginning to form from the stagnant green.
The hub of the festival, near the intersection of 4th Street and Newark Avenue, was tucked back in a corner — or rather, radiating outwards — and bounced with activity. Music from the main stage boomed over the local bakeries selling cookies and scones as well as the street meat vendors with questionable-yet-tasty skewered beef nibblets.
People moved in streams between the local artisan markets that boasted everything from jewelry to paintings up for silent auction in support of Mission Remission, a charity to raise awareness about cancer. Performances from local comedy troupes entrained the masses between musical sets, with the backdrop of a wet city air-drying under muffled sunlight. The entire time onlookers, visitors and artists all smiled wide and laughed, seemingly glowing with their craft.
Despite the rain, the 4th Street Art & Music Festival was a great way to welcome us as two new citizens of Jersey City. With obvious consensual support of local talent in every artistic arena, this event portrayed a certain type of community effort to make the arts of Chilltown open to everyone to experience, enjoy and contribute to.
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Wayward Winos is the nom de plume of Paul Cox III and Melanie McLean, a dynamic duo who have now been traveling (and working) together for about eight months. They recently landed in Jersey City after an extended South American jaunt.
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