st. ann's italian festival- the highlights

I wandered over to the St. Ann's Italian Festival which is taking place in our neighborhood for the next week or so. It was just that time when Hoboken fills up again, and everyone's getting home from a hard weeks work. St. Ann's Festival takes place from July 20th - 26th and features live music, food, games & rides for kids and adults. Just walk on over to 7th & Jefferson to witness the spectacle. Below is my full report. But first, a few general ambiance pics:


The above pic show the view to the west towards the cliffs. Velocity Hoboken is one block west.




Here are some highlights from the various booths scattered throughout. The first was one of the most intricate looking booths out there. Wild Bills - he offered a menagerie of interesting flavored sodas, and you got to keep your cool silver cup and come back for refills:


Here's the JUGS Radar Speed Ball cage - totally awesome name, but the girl operating the booth was hiding in the corner when we walked by, so I'm not sure if she lived up to the name. Maybe she'll be working tomorrow? :


Water Works: simply the coolest looking one on the block. Very old school. Reminded me of summers down in Wildwood on the boardwalk (minus the mesh tank tops and sky high bangs and spandex). Cool sign too:



Loved the frogs:


Anyone who regularly reads HH will know I'm not a huge fan of cats. Especially stray ones that people feed. Let's be honest, I love animals, and at one time even wanted to be a veterinarian, but allergies play a large role in why I'm not a cat fan. It's a disaster, really. I am however, a big fan of this:


Wendy Williams would totally dig this one. "How ya doin?!"


My partner refused to sit in the chair. She was very friendly though:


Pic came out a little fuzzy, but I had to include Mr. Cartoon Octopus:


One of the festival sponsors, Metrostop, had a booth set up within the 'adult' area of the church parking lot, where you were free to have alcoholic drinks in plastic cups. She should have been handing out shots of Pucker or serving green apple-tinis in recycled glass wear! Booth looked nice though, and I especially enjoyed her cowboy boots:


The Food. Clearly my favorite part of any outdoor fair. This being an Italian festival, you just know the food is going to be amazing. We sampled quite a few things, I mean why not? Eating fried and fattening food doesn't count when you're doing it to raise money for the big guy upstairs, right?


First up was the rice ball. It was a gargantuan fried ball that weight as much or more as my head (and that's quite a feat). Full of rice, cheese, mystery meat, then coated and deep fried and smothered in tomato sauce. I wanted to bury my face in it it was so good:


You must RUN to Luca Brasi's right now and order one. Luca should also try throwing some scrambled eggs and tomatoes and spinach and goat cheese in there and calling it the breakfast ball. I'm telling you, it'd be genius.


Ok - the showstopper of St. Ann's HAS to be the Mozzarepa. It looks like this:


And tastes like heaven. Large golden circles of pure joy and happiness. Two sweet cornbread cakes, with a layer of gooey melty mozzarella cheese in the middle. I cannot describe the sensation. They've event printed up special cardboard holders that look like this:


I'm telling you, they were amazing. It felt like this:


Like touching the hand of god, Mozzarepa style:


Do you think he loves Mozzarepas as much as I do? :


Here are a few more highlights. Meat:


Meat:


Meat that hypnotizes you:


And bananas. Meat optional:


The People. There were a ton of people in attendance. Families, couples, teenagers with mohawks, grandparents, dogs, you name it they were there. The church steps proved to be a popular area to sit and chill:



The dude with the hat had great style:


These ladies were awesome. I think they were monitoring the sound system for the temporary stage set up, but to me they looked distracted:


Here was the informational tent put up outside St. Ann's:


This guy had amazing style. Love the sunglasses too:



Small vehicles were allowed:


My favorite part of the evening was the adult only beer tent set up in the parking lot of the church:


I enjoyed Budweiser Select, which I hadn't tried before. Tastes like every other overpriced light beer on the market, but after walking up and down the street eating everything in sight it becomes torturous not having an ice cold beer to wash it down with.


This was the tented bar area where most of the 20 something's hung out. Girls wore large sunglasses and even larger hand bags, and the guys had on their Seven jeans and untucked button downs. It was charming:


I like the giant Bud Light cans hanging from the tent ceiling:


Here are some random signs that I thought were cool:






I included Mr. Fried Oreo because I just had to point out they were selling FRIED OREOS. Who's the genius behind that one?


Here are some random miscellaneous pics that I just thought were either funny or strange. First up: Dora the Explora / Sponge Bob/ Blow Pop Explosion!


These lit up at night:


A cool vinyl tablecloth:


Italian horns with little men on top of them?


I don't know why but I thought the shoe stand was a bit odd:


The cork wreath:


Plush Toys in Prison:


Life size Bud posters featuring girls with oddly yellow skin in bikinis swigging Bud Light:


As the sun started to set, the crowds started to dwindle, kids went home happy with prizes and full stomachs, and we strolled home. If you can, in the next few days, come on by and check out the festival, it's worth a visit. At least just to taste the Mozzarepa :)