Contributed wire/staff report

In observance of the Christmas holiday, the Highland Park Public Works Department will be using the following schedule:

After "five to seven years in the making," the ongoing facelift of Route 27 through Highland Park resumed August 19th, with groundbreaking for the Raritan Avenue Streetscape project.

“You will have a finished look and it will invite peole to hang out,” borough councilmember Padraic Millet says of the amenities designed by Philadelphia's Wallace Roberts & Todd.

James McCrone, executive director of Main Street Highland Park is taking a leave of absence (officially a reduction of duties) for 10 to 11 months beginning next month. McCrone’s last day will be Aug. 12 and Paul Lanaris will become the acting executive director Aug. 15.

McCrone, who has been involved with Main Street Highland Park (MSHP) for 5½ years, has been executive director for 2½ years. MSHP is the non-profit organization that promotes the businesses along Raritan Avenue in the borough.

The New Brunswick Free Public Library will present a Summer Photography Contest accompanied by free photography programs featuring local professional photographers. The theme is New Brunswick “Unique”—–capture what is special about New Brunswick: the places you go, things you do and sights you see.

Highland Park’s “A Better World" Café opens its second summer in operation with an exciting expansion. Starting June 17, patrons will be able to enjoy ‘suggested price’ dinners on Friday evenings.

The new hours -- 11 AM to 9 PM on Friday and 11 AM to 3PM on Monday through Thursday -- coincide with the opening of the borough's "Jersey Fresh" Farmers Market located outdoors at 222 Raritan Avenue, adjacent to A Better World Café.

The rain, the wind, fog and lightning do not deter them. Snug in their raincoats, brandishing umbrellas, and weighed down with sacks and cartons of books, the Highland Park community pours into the library on a recent Tuesday morning.

Of course the first step was to explore through attics and dive into basements, packing cartons of books: the telltale evidence of mystery book clubs; the college chums that changed your life; troubled assets from Borders and Waldenbooks; gently-loved hand-me-downs from the children . . .  they all go into the mix and magic comes out.

Highland Park has long been associated with many artists, famously including painter Roy Lichtenstein, who is said to have made his first Pop Art painting here; sculptor George Segal, who taught art clases in the borough; and J. Seward Johnson, founder of Hamilton Township's Grounds for Sculpture.

To celebrate the health of our local arts community, the Highland Park Arts Commission will hold an Open Studios event on the afternoon of Sunday, May 15th.

 

On Saturday May 7th, a new musical, "Oh, Ah, Noah!" will have its world premiere at the Reformed Church of Highland Park. The play in two acts for musical theater was written by members of the congregation.

 

Borrowing Shakespeare’s mechanism of dual roles, the dozen actors of the ensemble are portraying animal characters in some scenes, and human characters in others. Forty Highland Park residents, kids and adults, constructed the animal puppets used in the show.

It's official - Almetra Lundy, owner of Kinetics personal-training studio, is moving her fitness and wellness business down to Raritan Avenue, with a grand open house this weekend.

"Kinetics implies movement, and we are all about getting people moving in a way that improves their health and well being,” Lundy says. The new storefront at 409 Raritan Avenue, across from the Highland Park post office, opens this weekend with a two day dance and music celebration.