Talk:Hungarian Festival
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[edit] HUNGARIAN EXPERIENCE
Heritage celebrated at New Bruns. festival Home News Tribune Online 06/3/07 By REBECCA LERNER STAFF WRITER rlerner@thnt.com
NEW BRUNSWICK — Nearly 1,000 of people weathered 89-degree heat Saturday to celebrate the 32nd annual Hungarian Festival on Somerset Street.
"Everyone gets together and celebrates the folk music, dancing, and the whole Hungarian experience," said 26-year-old city resident Gregory Urbach, standing outside the Hungarian Scout Home on Plum Street.
Urbach was drinking a pink alcohol concoction called the "Rum Master Flex" from the Buda Bar on Somerset Street, which used to be called the Budapest. Behind him, dozens of people sat down in the middle of Plum Street and drank Yuengling and Heineken beer under the shade of a tent. Police officers strolled around the peaceful grounds, but no one was worried — public drinking was legal for the festival.
Nearby, Rick Fosko of North Brunswick was getting ready to chow down on the Hungarian classics for sale inside the Hungarian Scout Home, including stuffed cabbage, kolbasz, a sausage, pecsenye, pork, and beef gulyas, a stew.
"I really like this celebration because it really shows our heritage. We're not like other cultures. We've got a little uniqueness," said his daughter Nicole Fosko, 11. She was wearing a red, green and white pin that read, "Hug a Hungarian today!"
Her sister, 8-year-old Melanie Fosko, was dressed up in a traditional costume. She had performed a Hungarian dance earlier as a member of the intermediate folk-dance group in the American Hungarian Athletic Association.
"It's really fun dancing with your friends," Melanie said.
She had lots of fans. The air-conditioned Hungarian American Club on Somerset Street was packed to the brim during the folk dance performances. An all-ages audience was standing elbow-to-elbow inside the auditorium as dancers with stiff upper bodies twirled around the stage. Musicians stood to the side, playing traditional music.
Downstairs in the club, 74-year-old Al Bauer of Bridgewater was running a history exhibit complete with with maps, placards about Hungarian Nobel Prize winners and photographs of folk costumes. He came to New Jersey as a refugee in 1956 during the Hungarian Revolution. He brought his then-fiance, whom he married, and eventually earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. His daughter Alice Bauer came from Denver, Colo., to attend the festival.
"I wanted my girls to see it," Alice said, referring to her daughters Francesca Montgomery, 5, and Gabriella Montgomery, 19 months. All three were wearing white clothing with floral Hungarian embroidery.
Outside, Metuchen resident Ernest W. Docs zipped around on a golf cart. The secretary of the Board of Directors of the American Hungarian Foundation was offering free rides to the foundation's museum a few blocks away.
Meanwhile, festival-goers milled around at vendors' tents, where they bought Hungarian books, CDs and pastries.
"Hungarians have really good food and really good beer," said 17-year-old Airlia Oroszvary of Trenton, who was waiting in a long line to get fresh langos, a fried dough similar to funnel cake served with cheese, sour cream and garlic powder.
The festival ran from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and was supported by the city, Johnson & Johnson, the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, Magyar Bank, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the William Penn Association and the Hungarian Civic Association.
"I've been coming here as long as I can remember," said city resident Peti Szemere, 27, who attended the festival with friends. "It's my nationality. It's my heritage. I embrace it."
Rebecca Lerner:
(732) 565-7271;
rlerner@thnt.com
