Jose Morillo

Just a little over a week ago the Harrison Fest Committee honored Jose Morillo as a Country Honoree.  Jose walked in the Harrison Fest Parade and participated in the Queens Gala and 175th Anniversary Gala Dinner.

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Jose Morillo, Country Honoree Dominician Republic Harrison Fest 2015 standing on Harrison Avenue closed to traffic on Saturday, September 19, 2015 after the Harrison 175th Anniversary Parade.

Jose passed away suddenly this past week from complications from a stroke.  Jose was 32 years old. There are no words that can express the sorrow of such a loss of a husband, father and Harrisonian. 

A wake will be held at the Mulligan Funeral Home in Harrison tomorrow September 30, 2015 from 2 pm to 8 pm.  A Funeral Mass will be held at St. Stephen's Church in Kearny on Friday, October 1, 2015 at 11:30 a.m.

James Hague, from The Observer, wrote a very nice tribute to Jose Morillo in the September 29th Edition of the The Observer.  The tribute captures how special Jose Morillo was and how his presence will be missed by his wife Amy Nicosia Morillo, his children, family and friends. You can read the tribute by clicking here

Our condolences to the Morillo family for their sudden loss of a wonderful human being.

LusoAmericano Newspaper Article

The LusoAmericano, a Portuguese-American Newspaper, ran a full page story in its September 23, 2015 edition on Harrison's 175th Anniversary celebration and the Parade on Saturday.  They got a great shot of the United States Marines Color Guard and Marines Marching down Harrison Avenue; of the Queens including the Queen representing Portugal Catia Alves on the Queens Float; of the Camponeses do Minho Rancho originally from Harrison but now at the Portuguese Sports Club in Newark; the Groupo de Bombos Os Rouxinois from the Casa do Minho and the line of dignitaries marching including Councilman Anselmo Millan, John M. Pinho, Esq., and Monica Miquens, Coordinator of Harrison Fest Committee.  One of the nice statements contained in the article accompanying the pictures was the statement that Harrison's Parade was so good it is something other towns should emulate.  Thank you Ricky Duraes for such a nice compliment.  We do think it was an excellent parade.

The LusoAmericano is available locally in stores and online at www.LusoAmericano.com

The Observer Covers Harrison Fest

The Observer Newspaper ran a story on Harrison's 175th Anniversary Celebrations during Harrison Fest 2015.  The article was comprehensive and provided detailed information on Veteran of the Year, Second Ward Councilman Victor Villalta.  Businessman of the Year Jaime Lacero.  Businesswoman of the Year, Maria F. Reis.  Woman of the Year, Marion Listwan.  Man of the Year Jorge J. Tena. Woman of Year Louise Wozniak.

Click Here for Observer Article.

Harrison Fest Parade Photos and Videos

If you missed the Parade yesterday and your friends can't stop talking about it, you can try faking you were there by looking at the photos of the parade and videos we just posted on our website www.HarrisonFest.org

The Street Festival continues today so if you missed it yesterday you still have time to say you walked down Harrison Avenue during Harrison Fest's Street Fair.

Check back tonight and tomorrow for more photos and videos.

Harrison Street Fest Continues

It's a beautiful night to come out with the kids and family to Harrison's Street Festival.  The Parade was amazing.  But now there is food and music to be had from Economy Hardware with a DJ music and food from the neighboring restaurants to the other side of Harrison Avenue with the Portuguese club having a live band and great food and drink.  In between you have a food court with Zeppoles, Funnel Cakes, Mr. Softee IceCream, Hotdogs, Hamburgers, Cupcakes, ... it's all there.

Help spread the word on Facebook.  Tonight is the night to come to Harrison NJ.

Harrison Parade Makes History

Over 40 groups participated in Harrison's 175th Anniversary Parade and Harrison Fest 2015 taking a little under 2 hours to make it's way down Harrison Avenue.  At one point, the Parade stopped to allow one of groups to catch up and the Harrison School Cheerleaders on a float did a continuance cheer to the delight of the crowd in front of Town Hall.  The Rancho Camponeses do Minho youth group then decided to entertain the crowd with a Dance which was spontaneous and the crowd cheered their effort to keep everyone's mind off the parade had stopped.  Councilman James Doran was the Master of Ceremony announcing each group as they passed town hall.  Mayor James Fife thanked everyone and singled out Councilman Anselmo Millan for all his hard work that he did on behalf of the community in organizing the parade and the prior nights Gala Anniversary Dinner.

We are working on posting pictures from the Parade later on tonight.  We are trying to take it all in for now.

Outfront Media Helps Spread The News

The Outfront Media Bulletin Board which is located at Harrison Avenue and 2nd Street and displays to Eastbound traffic on Route 280 in Harrison finished its conversion of its Static Bulletin Board into a modern electronic bulletin board.  The Electronic Bulletin Board went online yesterday just in time to celebrate Harrison's 175th Anniversary and Harrison Fest 2015.

Outfront Media wasted no time in spreading the word about Harrison Fest by placing two advertisements indicating that Harrison's was celebrating its 175th Anniversary this weekend and another advertisement indicating that Harrison Fest and the official website of www.HarrisonFest.org for more information.

A thank you goes out to Outfront Media for this public service on behalf of the Town of Harrison.  The Bulletin Board looks great.  Here is the picture of the ad letting everyone know about Harrison Fest.

Harrison Fest Traffic Plan/Street Closures

Harrison 175th Anniversary Parade Route along Harrison Avenue depicted in Orange.  Sections of Streets Highlighted in Red will be closed on Saturday and Sunday during the Street Festival.  Joseph Supor Boulevard depicted in Blue will be closed temporarily for Parade Assembly between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to allow for the assembly of the parade and for it's kickoff.  Once the Parade kicks off Harrison avenue at Franklin Avenue will be shut down to allow for the Parade to go down Harrison Avenue.  Once the last participant goes past Davis Avenue on Harrison Avenue, Harrison Avenue will be closed at Davis Avenue and traffic must make a right onto Davis Avenue.  Harrison Avenue between Franklin Avenue and Davis Avenue will be re-open and remain open during the Street Festival.

Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard will remain open to vehicular traffic with a Police Officer officer insuring that both drivers and pedestrian obey the traffic signal and police officer directions.  The intersection of Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard and Harrison Avenue may close for extended periods of time once the Harrison 175th Anniversary Parade kicks off at 12 noon.

The above map is courtesy of Google Maps and has been edited to add the colors.  All rights reserved by Google.  We just couldn't figure out how to embed the Google map while providing the color guide so we copied the Google Map image and did some some Photoshop editing.

Beautiful Weather for Harrison Fest Parade

When the Town of Harrison and the Harrison Fest Committee Inc. moved the Harrison Fest from its originally scheduled date in June because of unexpected overlap with a Red Bull's game, one big concern was what the weather would be like for Harrison's 175th Anniversary Parade.  We can safely say that that concern no longer exists.

The weather for this weekend has highs of 86 degrees and lows of 66 degrees with very low humidity and little chance of rain.  The low humidity will help everyone marching in the parade and the spectators watching along the Parade route up Harrison Avenue from Joseph Supor Boulevard past Town Hall onto 2nd Street.  Viewing of the Parade will be from Patterson Street to 2nd Street.

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Harrison 175th Anniversary Parade Route along Harrison Avenue depicted in Orange.  Sections of Streets Highlighted in Red will be closed on Saturday and Sunday during the Street Festival.  Joseph Supor Boulevard depicted in Blue will be closed temporarily for Parade Assembly between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to allow for the assembly of the parade and for it's kickoff.  Once the Parade kicks off Harrison avenue at Franklin Avenue will be shut down to allow for the Parade to go down Harrison Avenue.  Once the last participant goes past Davis Avenue on Harrison Avenue, Harrison Avenue will be closed at Davis Avenue and traffic must make a right onto Davis Avenue.

There are over 40 groups that will be participating.  Elected Official, Marching Bands, traditional dancing groups from various countries, fire departments, police departments including local and county police departments, Veteran Organizations, Harrison Fest Queens, and much more.

Kickoff is at 12 noon.  Assembly is at 11 a.m. on Joseph Supor Boulevard off of Harrison Avenue.

Too Late for Historic Book

The Harrison Fest Committee has removed our Gala Ad Book Order page from our website because you can no longer place an advertisement in the book.  In the next few hours, the Gala book will be finalized in preparation to have the presses rolling to produce the book in time for the 175th Anniversary of Harrison Gala Dinner. We thank all the local merchants and companies who supported the Gala book by taking an advertisement.  The book will see the light of day at the Gala Dinner to be held on Friday, September 18, 2015 at 8 p.m. in the Holy Cross Banquet Hall. 

We are featuring one picture here that will appear in the book which we all thought highlighted the importance of Saturday's Harrison Fest Parade down Harrison Avenue.  We honor our past and look to a bright future when a Parade kicks off and goes down Harrison Avenue. 

Below is a picture taken from the apartment building on South 3rd and Harrison Avenue looking down toward Town Hall of the 100th Anniversary of Town of Harrison Parade held in 1940.  A lot has changed in 75 years but much has stayed the same.

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Town of Harrison's 100th Anniversary Parade down Harrison Avenue.  Picture taken from 3rd Street looking East on Harrison Avenue.