Conditions were raw, but the mood was congenial Sunday at the 27th annual Morristown Festival on the Green.
“I don’t care about rain!” said college student Ciara Burns, 21, who was glad for the chance to catch up with friends in the beer tent. “Everyone gets to talk and have fun.”
While precipitation held off, temperatures in the 50s challenged musicians in the Heart of Gold Band, the Tropy Band and Shorty Long and the Jersey Horns.
Marty seemed quite comfortable, however.
“He talks to everybody who walks by,” Kathy Murarik said of her 6-year-old Siberian Husky, which yowled at passersby to stop and check out the Morris County 4-H Club.
Calvin Solomon, 40, made a beeline for the Pierogies House tent, as he does every fall.
“Love it, love it. They never fail, year after year!” he said, savoring a plateful of kielbasa and pierogies.
Like many others at the festival, Solomon was ready to put the pandemic behind him. The 1999 Morristown High grad works at Morristown Medical Center, where things were “very, very scary” at the outset of COVID-19.
But vaccines have minimized the severity of the virus, and he was “ecstatic” to see so many festival-goers supporting the community and local businesses.
“Old school love. That’s what it’s all about,” Solomon said.
Slideshow photos by Kevin Coughlin. Click/hover on images for captions:
Precautions still are wise, said Madeline Dorestil, a 31-year-old nurse practitioner from Union, after trying her luck at the darts booth.
“I’ve got to wash my hands and do my part,” she said with a smile, after her tosses fell short of winning a stuffed animal.
Her boyfriend, Franck Nelson, 31, moved to Morristown awhile back and was curious about the five-hour festival. “I wanted to connect and see what the town has to offer. It did not disappoint,” said the healthcare administrator.
Around the corner, 7 1/2-year-old Ana Danielpour of Morristown was doing her best to scale an ersatz cliff, with help from a safety harness and her dad.
“I challenge myself to do rock climbing,” Ana explained.
The festival is presented by the nonprofit Morristown Partnership. Executive Director Jennifer Wehring has been involved for the last 17 autumns. The pandemic canceled the 2020 edition. But Mother Nature never has washed out the affair. Not on Wehring’s watch, anyway.
Some 179 organizations and businesses bought spaces this year, she said, sporting an outlook considerably sunnier than Sunday’s sky.
“I’m wearing a sweatshirt. I’m loving it,” she said. “I can get an apple cobbler, or watch (the Giants) game in the beer tent. What more could you ask for?”
Maybe Santa Claus.
No, wait. He’s due on the Green next month. The Christmas Festival at the Morristown Green starts on Nov. 27, 2022.