Event at Applebee’s on Aug. 3 raised $9,500
To the editor:
Thanks and gratitude to the many supporters and volunteers who helped the fourth Hillsborough Music Festival reach new levels of success on Aug. 3.
Despite the early rain, we all courageously pressed ahead and made a beautiful day go smoothly. The festival raised an unprecedented $9,500, a 135 percent increase over the previous year. Funds raised will directly benefit suicide prevention, anti-violence/bullying initiatives in our local schools and post-secondary academic scholarships for area youth.
As in previous years, this event was a very effective collaboration between public and private sector sponsors. The Hillsborough Cultural Arts Committee, Township Administrator Anthony Ferrera and many other township representatives pulled together and showed their support to Hillsborough Music Festival founder Donnetta Johnson, her family, and the staff of The Allegra School of Music & Arts.
The Hillsborough high school advocacy group BoroSafe, the group BoroGreen, Lee DiBlasio and participating merchants at the Hillsborough Promenade, host Applebee’s Restaurant and its owners Doherty Enterprises, and local businesses, large and small, from the surrounding area resoundingly demonstrated their commitment to the vitality of Hillsborough’s children through generous support of this festival.
This year’s event grew 50 percent, attracting more than 1,500 locals from the Hillsborough, Montgomery, Manville, Towaco and South Jersey areas. They came out despite the threat of rain to enjoy more than 20 performances from our immensely talented local community and beyond and to enjoy the products and services of our generous, customer-focused merchants at the Hillsborough Promenade. Princeton Automotive, our gold sponsor, was joined by Applebee’s, Bentley’s Fine Jewelers, Weis Markets, Kohl’s and Dunkin’ Donuts as our top sponsors.
Special thanks to the Hillsborough Patch and NJ.com for their coverage of the event, generous donations by Paul Valenzano and his team at Corporate Graphics Inc., along with Staples for flyers, posters and signage supporting the event. Thanks also to Mike Ferranzzano at DragonFly Imaging for their great work on the main festival banner.
Thanks go to the young people from BoroSafe, Hillsborough High School and Somerville High School, who spent a long day making the festival a success! To our many volunteers and donors, thank you! You are incredibly special for taking time away from your busy lives to help out with your time and/or financial generosity.
To all of our performers, you rocked the event! From alternative rock to blues, techno to gospel, spoken word to musical theater, and great singer-songwriters, thank you all for making the Hillsborough Music Festival an important cultural event for our community, and the hottest Hillsborough summer destination. Hillsborough is well on its way to becoming an exciting cultural hot-spot in central New Jersey!
A special thanks to the festival steering committee made up of members from BoroSafe and Allegra for the many months of effort put into creating new levels of excellence with this year’s event and never accepting “no” or “can’t do” as an answer for our children.
It was a labor of love for the Allegra School of Music and Arts, the festival founder and sponsor, to organize and present this event for the fourth year. The children of Hillsborough, for whom this effort is all about, will greatly benefit through scholarships provided through My Son, Your Daughter, the Jonah Johnson Youth Scholarship Fund and BoroSafe.
We look forward to seeing you next summer! Please feel absolutely free to pass along any suggestions to make our festival better next year to me (don’t be shy.)
By the way, if your plaza would like to host next year’s festival, please contact me. It’s a great festival. It’s a great Hillsborough celebration and tradition. It’s great for business!
Donnetta Bishop-Johnson
Director and founder
Allegra School of Music & Arts
Hillsborough