Four Elements of Hip Hop curated by The Litehouse
Photo credit Joe Brown
Rahway’s Arts and Music Festival 2019
Submitted by Amy Garcia Phillips
Rahway’s Arts and Music Festival, taking place September 21, 2019 from 1-6 p.m., is an explosion of arts all throughout the downtown. With so much going on at this rain or shine festival, here are 5 areas you do not want to miss!
Earl’s Girls Create a Magical Space on Irving Street by The Gallery Space
Earl’s Cuts and Curls: Opening up the festival at Earl’s Cuts and Curl’s Barber Shop, located at Seminary and Irving, is the Earl’s Girls Vaudville Spectacular. Food trucks, music, a magical garden and art abound in this special area circling Rahway’s art gallery, The Gallery Space.
Hamilton Stage: Make sure you hit the Hamilton Stage for the 3rd Annual Rahway Reel Short Film Festival. This year’s format will feature only New Jersey artists and will play on a 30-45 min loop, starting at the top of each hour. Grab some free popcorn (while supplies last) and catch the latest in the independent NJ film scene. Come back at 5 p.m. for a Q&A and a chance to meet the filmmakers! Also at the Hamilton Stage is one of our featured dance stages with workshops throughout the day.
Dance entices festival goers at the Hamilton Stage
Photo Credit Rich Kowalski
Northfield Bank: Northfield Bank parking lot comes alive with music, dance, spoken word and poetry. Featuring The Dv8tors Dance Crew, Music by Young Bry and poetry by RADI, Letitia, Rob Hylton, John Burke, Myster E, James Ellerbe and Etcetera. Hosted by our favorite local poet, “Big Mike” Bertram of ACP Arts, host of the monthly “What’s the Word, Rahway?” and the youth centric “Poetry at the Pit” and author of “Said the Paper to the Pen”. Open Mic hours from 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. for those who would like to share their talents (sign up at 1 p.m.).
Main Street: Main Street hosts two separate parties, The Four Elements of Hip Hop, curated by The Litehouse clothing shop and at the other end, a Latin fiesta hosted by Cubanu Restaurant and lounge. Live music, live art, food and dancing are features of this exciting street.
Cherry Street: If you have been in downtown Rahway, then you must have taken a stroll down Cherry Street. In the past few years, new businesses such as Atelier Rosal, Ebony and Ivory, Rahway Sushi, The Coffee Box and The Gramercy have brought new life to this central street. They complement the existing businesses such as The Waiting Room, The Cherry Street Market and Rahway Fried Chicken that have been staples of this idyllic path. During Culture Crawl it will become a vibrant pedestrian walkway, curated by the businesses on the street; musicians, artisans and more will bring this street to life! The newly opened “Hive”, The Wannabes dance studio, will be “hip-hopping” (pun intended) as they host many styles of dance.
There will be so much more than these five areas to see that you will want to make sure you get there early to attempt to see it all. Exhibits and performances will be moved indoors in the event of rain so there is no need to miss out on all of the excitement! All areas of the festival are FREE to enjoy. Visit CultureCrawl.com for more information or for an application to become an artist.
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ACP Arts Curating Spoken Word, Open Mic, Dance Performances and Poetry Slam
Photo Credit Joe Brown
