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Hoboken Historical Museum’s Agenda

Busy Weekend! LaRusso play, Poetry readings, Baby Parade and Anthony DePalma book event. 
Join the Baby Parade, Sunday, May 22, 1 pm  Hoping for better weather, the Museum has moved the Hoboken Baby Parade to this Sunday. Join us on the waterfront at 1 pm for the 10th Annual Hoboken Baby Parade and help us celebrate the spirit and creativity of the Mile Square City’s families. The Parade begins at Sinatra Park—located at Fifth Street and the Hudson River—and proceeds along the waterfront to Pier A. The Parade is free and registration begins at noon. Volunteers needed! Emailvolunteer@hobokenmuseum.org.
Parents now have an extra week to enhance their children’s costumes and festoon their carriages and wagons. Trophies are awarded for Best Dressed Child, Most Creative Carriage, and Best Dressed Family— the latter category has been awarded to twins and triplets, families with multiple children, cousins, and even playgroups. 

Hoboken babies flaunt their fanciest outfits
Anthony DePalma
Anthony DePalma
“Legacy and Lessons of Ground Zero” by Anthony DePalma
The Open River series continues on Sunday, May 22 at 4 pm with a talk by Hoboken-born journalist Anthony DePalma, whose new book, City of Dust: Illness, Arrogance and 9/11, examines the repercussions of so many critical decisions made in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers. “It was a nightmare scenario of one of the busiest and most crowded places on Earth being exposed to an unprecedented mix of known and suspected hazards.” He will bring slides and dust samples to illustrate his talk. Suggested donation: $5.; members free. 

“Sweets Talk & Tour” Saturdays at 10 am!
The Museum’s current exhibit, “Yum Yum, Tootsie Rolls, and Chocolate Bunnies on Motorcycles…A Sweet History of Hoboken,” traces a history of the city through its many commercial bakers, candy manufacturers and family-owned bakeries. Now, every Saturday morning, visitors can also see, taste and smell some of the sweet traditions on the Museum’s weekly “Sweets Talk & Tour.”
Visitors will meet at the Museum at 10 am for a guided tour of the exhibit, followed by a visit to Schnackenberg’s Luncheonette, Giorgio’s Pasticceria, and Biancamano’s Italian deli. Sample tastings are included in the $15 ticket price. The members’ price is $12. The tour will last about an hour and a half, led by volunteer Dennis English, who developed the program. Reservations are strongly encouraged. Call 201-656-2240 or emailtours@hobokenmuseum.org
Literary Weekend: Poetry & Play readings, May 20-21
New events added to our spring calendar: 
The first is a staged reading of the play, “40 C.P.S.,” written by local playwright Louis LaRusso IIon Friday and Saturday, May 20 – 21, 7 pm, at the Burchard Auditorium on Stevens’ campus (6th St., just east of Hudson on River St.). The play explores father-son relationships through characters based on LaRusso’s friend Michael Bennett, director/choreographer of A Chorus Line.
Directed by Hudson Theatre Works’ Frank Licato, the reading features many of the same actors who performed in previous LaRusso productions, Marlon Brando Sat Right Here, and Lampost Reunion, including Vincent Pastore, Maureen Van Zandt and Robert Funaro, plus Tony winner Karen Ziemba. Tickets are $25, and proceeds will benefit both the Museum and HTW. For reservations, call the Museum, 201-656-2240; for details, visit HTW’s website: www.hudsontheatreworks.com.
The second is an afternoon of poetry reading, on Saturday, May 21, at 4 pm at the Museum.Distinguished local poet Joel Lewis, who organized the event, will be joined by Eliot Katz and Ona Gritz in presenting some recent works. A $5 donation is suggested.

  • Joel Lewis is the author of Learning From New JerseyVertical’s CurrencyHouse Rent Boogieand Kishka King, due out in 2012 from Hanging Loose Press. 
  • Poet/activist Eliot Katz is the author of six poetry books, including Unlocking the Exits and Love, War, Fire, Wind: Looking Out from North America’s Skull
  • Ona Gritz is a poet, columnist, and author of two children’s books and a poetry chapbook, Left Standing. She placed second in the Charlotte Newberger Poetry Competition (2009). 
Visit the Fire Dept. Museum, Now Open Sat.-Sun. 12 – 5 pm
When was the last time you visited the Hoboken Fire Department Museum? The Hoboken Historical Museum is helping the fire department staff the historic site, at 213 Bloomfield St., keeping it open from noon to 5 pm on Saturdays and Sundays. The building served as a firehouse from 1881 to 1891 and later as a firemen’s meeting hall. It features a restored 1932 fire engine and display cases of full of helmets, tools, photos and other fire equipment. Kids are welcome free of charge; adults are asked for a $2 donation to help support the Museum’s upkeep and operations. 
Coming up in June:
Garden Tour, 6/5; “Sweet” Family Day, 6/12, 1800s Baseball, 6/18 

This year’s Secret Garden Tour, Sun., June 5, will feature a mix of fresh new landscape designs, carefully nurtured personal gardens and at least one popular favorite from a past tour that has been updated since its last appearance. Tickets will go on sale soon: $20 in advance, $25 day of tour ($20 for Museum and Hoboken Garden Club members). Tour groups depart every half hour from the Museum between 9 am and 4 pm, and last about two and a half hours. Volunteers needed! Email volunteer@hobokenmuseum.org.
The Museum’s Spring Family Fun Day, June 12, 12 – 4 pm, is a hands-on celebration of our “Sweets” exhibit. The free event is open to all and features chocolate-making by Maricel Presilla, Yum-Yum ices by Mario Lepore, and fruit-carving with Nestor Lagman.
At 5 pm on Sunday, June 12, artists Jodie Fink and Jennifer Place will return to the Museum for a talk about their popular and intriguing mixed-media sculptures currently on display in the Upper Gallery exhibit, “Friends & Relations.” This is the final day of the exhibit.
On June 18, the Museum will commemorate the famous 1846 baseball gameplayed on Hoboken’s Elysian Fields (June 19, 1846). The Hoboken Museum is bringing vintage baseball expert Brad Shaw and his Flemington Neshanock Club to Stevens Dobbelaar Baseball Field for a competitive game against a Hoboken team using 1870s rules. FreeTo join the Hoboken team, call the Museum at 201-656-2240.
On June 19, from 2 – 5 pm, the Museum celebrates the opening of a new Upper Gallery art exhibit, “Shared Stitches: Quilts by Mustard Seed Students.” At the Museum. Free. The second grade art teacher Lynn Hamill will display about a dozen of her students’ collaborative quilt projects, including the “Hoboken Pioneer Trail Map,” a peace quilt and others on the themes of immigration, prehistoric Hoboken and hopes for the new millennium.
Open River talk: “New York Harbor: Memories from the Age of Steam” – Steam engineer and historian Frank Vopasek IV returns to the Museum on Sunday, June 26, at 4 pm to present a virtual tour of New York Harbor through slides of the many types of boats that once plied the Hudson under the power of steam. Suggested donation: $5.; members free. 


The Hoboken Historical Museum is open six days a week, Tues-Thurs 2-7pm, Fri 1-5 pm, Sat/Sun 12 – 5 pm, at the Shipyard complex, 13th & Hudson St. Call 201-656-2240 for more info. or visit www.hobokenmuseum.org.
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