Hammonton’s not just blueberries.
“Main Street in Hammonton has really expanded and grown to the point where we have businesses who want their roots to be in Hammonton,” said Ty Wilson, executive director of MainStreet Hammonton. “That was never the case 10 years ago.”
The result is that Hammonton—just a quick jump off the Atlantic City Expressway, its historic train station just an hour’s ride on NJ Transit from Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station—is no longer just a pit stop on the way to the shore.
Italian Highlights
Tradition looms large in Hammonton.What started in 1875, when the town’s growing Sicilian population made a procession through the blueberry fields with a portrait of the Blessed Mother, has grown into a weeklong extravaganza with rides, fireworks, nightly entertainment, and tons of food. More than 100,000 visitors attend each year, said Louis J. Pantalone, president of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society.
“It’s honoring the commitment of our ancestors, and we’re proud to continue that legacy,” Pantalone said.
“We just keep everything the same,” Collini said, with a laugh. “We don’t mess with it. That’s why it’s so consistent.”
He said he knows that if he did change something, such as when he replaced the shop’s ancient black-and-white TV some years ago, he’d hear about it.
“Everybody asked, ‘Where’s the old TV?’” Collini said.
Bagliani’s shelves burst with Sicilian cheeses, salumi, olives, and dried pasta. You can get the shop’s fresh-made Italian sausage served up hot on a roll or buy links by the pound for the grill.
Tacos, Antiques, and More
But new traditions are also taking hold in Hammonton.“We are famous for our Italian festival and heritage,” said Kevin Friel, chief of police and a proud Hammonton lifer and booster. “But we’ve also had a very big demographic shift with Hispanic culture, and we’ve assimilated a lot of the culture and customs they have. Our community is evolving and changing.”
El Mariachi makes in-house all of its tortillas—including thick huaraches, and the tortillas used in the quesadillas folded around huitlacoche (corn fungus) and Oaxaca cheese, or orange- and Coke-braised carnitas. A weekend DJ sets the scene with Mexi-music.
Many old-school Hammonton spots shine anew, such as the Antique Marketplace, a two-floor antique and collectible wonderland housed in an old 1950s furniture shop.
With its mid-century clock still ticking and more than three dozen vendors, it’s easy to get lost in the marketplace. But longtime vendor Denise Baranowski remembers how, when she arrived 15 years ago, most vendors just heaped their wares down on tarps.
“It had no real organization,” she said, sitting beneath a bursting shelf of vintage Marvel action figures.
These days, vendors set up their shops with inviting displays.
“You can find anything in here,” Baranowski said.
The Hammontonians
With many families stretching back generations, Hammontonians can seem pretty tight-knit, locals admit.“My kids tell me they’re Hammontonians, but I’m not,” Jewel Demsak said, jokingly. She moved to Hammonton more than 20 years ago and works as a manager at Rocco’s Town House, a popular bar and restaurant that has been an operating tavern since 1949.
“You see how close everybody is,” Demsak said during a recent shift, as the bar was filling with regulars. “These people went to school together, they went to kindergarten together, and got married to the first kid they sat next to. It’s very cool.”
It used to be that only locals knew that “Everybody Meets at the Town House!” as the sign above the dining room reads, she said.
But with more people coming to check out Hammonton, Demsak said she now greets more fresh faces than ever.
“We get at least 10 people a week who say it’s the first time ever coming here,” she said. “They come in, and they love it.”
