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LAMBERTVILLE: 33rd Shad Festival begins gearing up

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
   Lambertville’s 33rd annual Shad Fest is shaping up “as a great event,” said Ellen Pineno, who is in her seventh year of coordinating the Fest. This year, it will be held from 12:30 to 5:30 on Saturday and Sunday, April 26 and 27, rain or shine. Admission is free.
   ”This year’s Fest will offer things people are used to having and have shown they really like, with some exciting new additions,” Ms. Pineno said Monday. “We’ll have a lot of fine artists and crafters again. Favorite vendors of years past are returning. And we have a great, and really comprehensive, crop of artists and crafters who will be at the Shad Fest for the first time this year.”
   A complete list of artists and crafters will be posted on the Lambertville’s Chamber of Commerce website soon, she said.
   Music has always been a big part of the Shad Fest and this year will be no exception, Ms. Pineno said. A change, though, is that this year the music will be spread all over town.
   ”Instead of having a centrally located stage, as we used to do in the past, this year the music will be at venues in different areas of town,” Ms. Pineno said. “The hope is that this will get visitors to travel around the Fest more than they might if we still had the one stage.”
   Among the music acts that will be performing at the Shad Fest are The Shackers, John Sontag and the Tall Tones, Waterfront Blue and the Jane Paul Trio. Said Ms. Pineno: “There will be live music at the Cafe Galleria on North Union Street, at the Lambertville House on Bridge Street, in the parking lot of the Lambertville Station (also on Bridge Street) by their beer garden, and on the steps of the Bank of Princeton.”
   Ms. Pineno declared that “the food at the Shad Fest is going to be incredible. Crab cakes and other old favorites will be back. El Tule, which has a restaurant here in town, will be in the food court for the first time this year, serving authentic Peruvian and Mexican food. Also new this year at the food court will be barbecue.”
   The Shad Fest is “excited to bring back the inflatable rides for kids again this year,” Ms. Pineno said. “There’s a new location for that this year, to the rear of the parking lot on North Union Street.”