BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Bloomfield High School graduate Sal Festa, Class of 1980, will be retiring at the end of this month, after 14 years as a Bloomfield School District employee. Festa, 59, worked as a custodian for the district — for two years at the high school, 10 years at Oakview Elementary School and, finally, […]
GLEN RIDGE, NJ — Plans for battle are being hatched by Glen Ridge’s Mosaic Dance Theater Co., as the company prepares its first in-person performance since 2019. The offering, inspired by Homer’s “The Iliad,” is titled “Troy, Women of War.” It is being written by company founder and producing artistic director Morgiana Celeste Varricchio, and […]
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Despite upheavals caused by the pandemic, the Rev. Susan Dorward of the Brookdale Reformed Church was certain about one thing. “I didn’t want the pandemic to close the church,” she said in a telephone interview the last week of December. The pandemic, she said, made her a better listener. But another change […]
GLEN RIDGE, NJ — For Glen Ridge Police Chief Sean Quinn, the most important factor in public safety is the trust his officers can create and maintain with borough residents. For him, this bond is paramount. According to Quinn, the majority of borough arrests happen because of what residents see, hear and share with law […]
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — It came as a surprise to departing school counselor Sybilree Fitzgerald of Bloomfield’s Fairview Elementary School on her last day, Thursday, Dec. 23, when Principal Ginamarie Mignone told her there was a situation on the playground. “I thought I had to talk to a student,” Fitzgerald said. She did not. Instead, she […]
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Thirty-six years as a district educator came down to one afternoon, Thursday, Dec. 23, for Bloomfield High School counselor Manuela Gonnella. Growing up in Newark’s Ironbound section, attending East Side High School and Montclair State University, Gonnella did her college practicum and student teaching at BHS. And although she was hired as […]
GLEN RIDGE, NJ — Adapting to the pandemic, the volunteer Glen Ridge Community Fund has managed to continue its assistance to borough residents and even improve on one of its fundraising efforts. The annual letter-writing campaign requesting contributions, which begins at year’s end and continues into the new year, was once a snail mail and […]
UNION, NJ — Premiere Stages, the professional acting company in residence at Kean University, has resumed production after a two-year, pandemic-induced hiatus with the staging of “Year One,” a 90-minute one-act play by Erik Gernand. The play was directed by Glen Ridge resident John Wooten. “Year One” is about the conflict within a multigenerational family […]
GLEN RIDGE, NJ — We’ve Got Friends, a local nonprofit organization providing teens and young adults with special needs with the opportunity to connect with their peers, held its second golf classic and dinner at the Glen Ridge Country Club on Monday, Aug. 23. The golf outing, however, was postponed until this coming Monday, Aug. […]
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — A procession of Bloomfield High School seniors and teachers made its way down Belleville Avenue to Foley Field on Wednesday morning, June 23, for a traditional commencement, leaving behind more than a year of lockdowns and a senior year fractured by the pandemic. For the venerable school, it was the 167th graduation […]