The Hammonton Gazette 06/17/15 Edition | Page 6

Page 6 • Wednesday, June 17, 2015 • The Hammonton Gazette The Hammonton Gazette “The Paper of Record” gabriel J. donio, Publisher gina Rullo, Editor-in-Chief dan Russoman, Sports Editor benny mendez, Staff Artist marysusan hoffman, Paul J. macrie iv, michael hozik, donna brown, Joseph bruno, brittany mauro, lauren bucci, lauren crescenzo, Staff The Hammonton Gazette is located at 233 bellevue ave. to reach a staff member, call 704-1940 or fax at 704-1938. the mailing address is P.o. box 1228, hammonton, nJ 08037. editoRials The Hammonton Gazette is published Wednesdays, by The Hammonton Gazette, Inc. Copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. ISSN 1093-6181 big game comeback? The quickly-changing landscape of high school football in New Jersey impacted both local programs last week as the West Jersey Football League (WJFL) voted to merge with the Cape Atlantic League (CAL) beginning with the 2016 season. The merger means that the CAL’s 17 football teams will join one of the largest leagues in the state and create an 83-team “super conference.” Locally, the impact will be felt the most by St. Joseph High School, where the Wildcats will join old rival Hammonton in the WJFL. The Blue Devils jumped to the league last season as part of their shift out of the CAL and into the Tri-County Conference, one of the WJFL’s founding leagues. St. Joseph had been the proverbial elephant in the room, holding up past attempts at a merger between the two leagues because few, if any, of the WJFL’s smaller-enrollment schools wanted to play against the Wildcats. To help facilitate a merger, the WJFL altered its constitution and bylaws, allowing schools of any enrollment group to play against each other, clearing the way for St. Joe to take on larger, stronger programs. The merger also means there is a strong chance that the annual Thanksgiving rivalry between Hammonton and St. Joe will be renewed, possibly as soon as the 2016 season. Geography is a big factor in the schedule-making decisions of the WJFL, and no two teams are located as close to each other as Hammonton and St. Joseph. Throughout its short history the league has also shown a willingness to keep as many longstanding rivalries as possible alive, which only strengthens the odds that local fans will once again be able plan their Thanksgiving weekends around the Hammonton-St. Joe game. Last season was the first in 52 years that the rivals did not play each other and late November just didn’t feel the same as it always had in Hammonton. Let’s hope everyone involved at both schools as well as the WJFL recognize the importance that the rivalry had, not only in Hammonton, but around southern New Jersey, and they opt to have the two teams meet again beginning in 2016. What a turnout! If the thousands of people who came to town for the first-ever Hammonton Food Truck Festival are any indication, our town has another hit annual event on its hands. Congratulations to MainStreet Hammonton and the members of the Hammonton Food Truck Committee: Joanna Iacovelli, Ryan Gardiner, Lauren Crescenzo, Jen Enders and Robin Gazzara Macri. They had the vision and the desire to bring a food truck festival to town. Mainstreet Hammonton Executive Director Cassie Iacovelli and the board of MainStreet Hammonton also threw their support behind the event. The result of their efforts: thousands of people from Hammonton and throughout the region in the downtown area, long lines at each of the 21 food trucks, overflow business at restaurants downtown, uptown and elsewhere. The goals were to show off the downtown, have some fun and make some money for the food trucks, restaurants and business owners of the town. Those goals were achieved. The town has never seen a first-year event draw so many people. It was, as this newspaper wrote two weeks ago, the perfect marriage of food and socializing. The food truck craze has never been hotter, and the marketing of the event, which used print media, radio, television and the social media of the Hammonton Food Truck Festival collectively and all the food trucks individually, was outstanding. It was great to see so many lines at the food trucks, and the restaurants have a wait for tables. The event provided quite a boost to the local economy. On June 12, history was made locally. A new annual event was born, and with all the people walking and driving throughout our community, the town felt like a tourist town, like Lancaster or Wildwood, for a night. Because a portion of the thousands of people decided to eat elsewhere in Hammonton, the event went from being a food truck festival to a food truck and local restaurant festival. We can’t wait to see what it means for events like the Red, White and Blueberry Festival and the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and this fall’s Cruisin’ MainStreet. We believe this event will grow in size, adapt and modify some aspects to make it even better in the coming years, becoming something that the public looks forward to every June, just like our other outdoor summer festivals. Congratulations to everyone involved and many more years of success! PeRsPective/life in england As I am sure I have stated before, the move to England was not a cheap one for us. While we certainly had some help from the military, they still only help so much (which doesn’t really seem fair; if you are going to make me move, at least cover all of my expenses). They, unfortunately, don’t consider pets to be part of the “family,” so a lot of the expenses that came along with bringing Steve here (which is an embarrassingly large amount) went on our credit card. One year later, it is finally paid off. We decided to celebrate this financial gain by booking our incredibly late honeymoon. Before we found out about the orders to England, we started throwing around ideas for our honeymoon. One of the first places we looked up was Iceland. Unfortunately, the thousands of dollars for airfare would have made the trip nearly impossible. After we found out that we’d be spending a few years in England, we started thinking European destinations. Italy and Greece were ideas that were thrown around. One night, we were eating dinner, and my husband looked up at me and said that he just realized we could probably afford to make Iceland our honeymoon now. The recognition and excitement on our faces was probably almost amusing. We, unfortunately, had to wait to pay off some debt before finalizing anything. This past weekend, we were finally able to book the trip of our dreams! In November, we will be spending nine nights and 10 days traveling around Iceland. A car is included in our package. We will fly into Keflavik Airport where we will be greeted by a car that will be taking us to Reykjavik (the capital of Iceland), and that is where we will be starting our journey. We will be driving a circle around Iceland (by ourselves!) hitting some major villages and towns along the way (all preplanned by a travel agent). We will be seeing hot springs, glaciers, waterfalls, and volcanic beaches. To say we are excited would probably be the understatement of the year. Everyone who visits Iceland says that it is absolutely the most beautiful place on the planet, and I still can’t really believe that I will actually be visiting there. Needless to say, I have a feeling that Iceland will be all that’s on my brain for the next few months (which is convenient since I will also have to save a decent chunk of spending money!). Outside of the amazing vacation opportunities we have here in England, life is continuing as normal. I have been working in an inclusion school every Monday-Thursday and continuing to teach English at a college in Ely on Fridays. I am being kept busy and actually really starting to learn the school system here. Working has also really helped me to blend in here. The more time I spend working, the more I catch myself using British words, which is actually pretty helpful. I also managed to drive myself to Cambridge for a shopping trip while Matt was at work one weekend. I parked the car, wandered around the city to do some shopping, stopped for coffee, and walked back to my car. This may not sound impressive, but the fact that I managed to do this without getting lost or getting a ticket is actually quite an accomplishment and it proves just how well adjusted I’ve become here (I was afraid to drive my car anywhere when we first moved here). My summer break will be starting a bit later than it did in the states since school will go until the end of July here. I am happy to be kept busy and to keep making money. My birthday will be coming up in July, and I am hoping to plan a fun (but smaller) adventure for that weekend! corinne nardin england Corinne (Grasso) Nardin is a 2006 graduate of Hammonton High School. She and her husband Matthew moved to England in spring 2014. Quote of the Week: “RemembeR that cReating a successful maRRiage is like faRming: you have to staRt oveR again eveRy moRning.” — H. Jackson Brown Jr. The Hammonton Gazette welcomes letters to the editor that are no more than 800 words long. All letters must include the name of the author and an address and telephone number for verification. Letters should be mailed to The Hammonton Gazette, Editorial Page, P.O. Box 1228, Hammonton, NJ 08037. Letters also will be accepted via fax. The fax number is 704—1938.  Or by email to [email protected]. Deadline for all submissions is 2 p.m. Monday. The Hammonton Gazette reserves the right to edit any submissions. The opinions expressed in letters, perspectives or in guest columns do not necessarily reflect those of The Hammonton Gazette.  The Gazette is not responsible for factual errors in letters, perspectives or in guest columns. The Gazette retains the right to refuse any submission or advertisement.