By Pam Hersh Special Writer
Princeton was on sensory overload on Saturday, Sept. 15, from noon to midnight.
The sounds and aromas from Jazzfeast on Palmer Square mingled with the visual and intellectual stimulation of the Princeton Public Library’s Children’s Book Festival at the Albert E. Hinds Plaza. The afternoon morphed into an evening of sidewalk musicians (at Halo Pub, Thomas Sweet, Blue Point Grill) serenading the outdoor diners. The residents of Pine Street engaged in a foot-stomping celebration of their new park, thanks to local musician Bill Flemer, guitar, bass, fiddle, who pulled together an ad-hoc gathering of musician friends to perform for the occasion.
But the highlight — literally and figuratively — was the eagerly awaited illumination of the Princeton Battle Monument and the party that followed the ceremony, which featured the “psychedelic Southern funk” sound of the Shaxe, another Central Jersey band featuring Princeton native Tom Stange on saxophone.
With all this mind-blowing activity came the “I-can’t-believe-it’s-Princeton” chant that I heard at least a half-dozen times during the course of the day and evening. A Princeton University first-year student proclaimed the street scene was “amazingly” almost as good as Cambridge. A physician acknowledged she should stop mourning the fact that she no longer lived in Manhattan, because Princeton was far from the sleepy suburban bedroom community she expected to find when she moved here three years ago.
A longtime Princeton resident said he was incredulous not only because of the hyperactive street scene, but because the Princeton Battle Monument lighting “actually happened.”
What started out as a dream of the late Princeton Borough Mayor Joe O’Neill to rehabilitate and light Princeton’s most significant piece of public art finally came to fruition. The Princeton Parks Alliance, led by Councilman Andrew Koontz, adopted the mayor’s vision, got the community turned on to the concept, and two years later flipped the switch that bathed the monument in light.
I had several “I-can’t-believe-it’s-Princeton” moments that day. When I handed out Monument Lighting fliers at Jazzfeast, people really read them, and if they crumpled up the paper, they were polite enough to do it out of my line of sight. At the lighting ceremony, all the politicians and officials promised to give brief remarks, and did so — maybe because it was chilly and dark, so few could see the remarks they wrote — but whatever the reason, they kept their promises.
A diverse group of social and political factions —Democrats, Republicans, borough residents, township residents, Pro-Consolidationists, Anti-Consolidationists, Mets Fans and Yankee Fans, were unified in their support of the lighting initiative.
And most unbelievably, four teenaged females crashed the monument party and danced up a storm among the invited guests, the majority of whom were more than three times the age of the crashers. People were whispering – who are they? how did they get in? did they pay?
In fact, I would have paid them to show up, because the effect on the crowd was magical. They inspired a bunch of us older fogies to forget our knee, hip and back pains and get up and move around on the dance floor with them.
An activity that brought sweet music to my ears was the deafening silence on the issue of parking. No one complained about parking fees or a dearth of parking spaces. Several people walked to the monument event — as did I, wearing shoes that allowed me to keep up with (well, kind of) the teens on the dance floor. People seemed to finally realize that the price they have to pay for a wonderfully lively social scene are some challenges with parking and traffic.
My most gratifying “I-can’t-believe” experience occurred when I learned that one couple — who own three cars — did not want to “deal with the traffic downtown” and in the afternoon took the bus to Hinds Plaza.
Because of the efforts of some persistent and concerned borough residents, an official bus stop now is located at the front of the library on Witherspoon Street, a location that offers some protection from the elements, thanks to the Library building ledges and overhang. The bus stop sign in front of the library appeared without fanfare, speeches, or even a cup of coffee, but its appearance a few weeks ago was almost as heartwarming to me as the lights shining on the monument.
A longtime resident of Princeton, Pam Hersh is vice president for government and community affairs with Princeton HealthCare System and a former managing editor of The Princeton Packet