The Personal Injury Attorney in Allendale, NJ, You Can Trust

There is no better way to celebrate July 4th than with a sparkling array of fireworks near you in New Jersey, and luckily the state has plenty of shows tonight, July 3 and through the Fourth of July weekend to satisfy your dopamine cravings.

The weather is expected to be pleasant and there is undoubtedly at least one fireworks show near you worth checking out — honestly, are any not worth it? — so keep reading to get a sampling of some of the best fireworks shows across the Garden State.

There are at least 19 fireworks displays in New Jersey on July 3. Here's the lineup, alphabetically:

Other fireworks on July 4 will take place in these NJ towns: Augusta (Sussex County Miners game), Allendale, Bridgewater, Camden, Collingswood, Cape May, Elizabeth, Evesham, Jersey City, Livingston, Long Branch, Millburn/Short Hills, Millville, Ocean City, Oradell, Margate City, Trenton, Union, Sea Isle, Summit, and Washington Township (Gloucester).

Audubon fireworks

Audubon's Independence Day parade will be on July 4th, starting at Amherst Road and Harvard Ave., but their fireworks show is around 9 p.m. Saturday, July 5th at the Audubon High School in Camden County.

Barnegat Township fireworks

Barnegat Township will offer food trucks and live music and set off fireworks at dusk on July 5. Celebrations begin at 5 p.m. at Barnegat High School.

Bradley Beach fireworks

Bradley Beach in Monmouth County will set off fireworks at the beachfront on July 5 beginning around 9 p.m.

East Windsor fireworks

East Windsor will host its fireworks show at dusk on Saturday, July 5 at Etra Lake in Mercer County.

Frankford fireworks

The Sussex County Miners are hosting fireworks on July 4 and July 5 this year during their games against the Ottawa Titans. Gates open at 4:30 p.m., with fireworks following the game.

Tenafly fireworks

Bergen County's Tenafly Borough will hold their annual fireworks display on Saturday, July 5 behind the Tenafly High School. Live music begins at 7:30 p.m. with fireworks to follow at 9 p.m.

Lori Comstock is a New Jersey-based journalist with the Mid-Atlantic Connect Team.

1 minute read

ALLENDALE — What does winning look like?

Running 90 feet in 4.6 seconds, batting four out of five balls 150 feet in the air, and throwing four out of five pitches on target — including two bull's-eyes — did it for Taylor Holmes. The 9-year-old was the youngest ever to win the 9/10 softball division of the MLB Pitch Hit & Run national championships at Minute Maid Park in Houston between World Series games on Nov. 4.

The Brookside School fourth grader represented the Philadelphia Phillies with three other division winners at the finals. She said the major league park was "so cool compared to a regular softball field."

"When I saw how many seats there were, I was like, wow, really?" Taylor said. "My parents and my brother Ben brought me good luck, cheering me on."

Taylor's mother, Johanna, played softball in high school and college. She said Taylor's skill-building began as a way to pass the time during the isolation days of COVID.

"You can't teach running; they're either good at it or they're not," Johanna said. "But she caught on to the pitching. I thought she was pretty good. And my husband, Brian, and I built a batting cage for her in the backyard. We had plenty of time and space to practice."

Of the three skills tested, Taylor said, pitching was the one she worked on the most in anticipation of the event.

"It's where you earn the most points," said Taylor, who plays soccer as well as softball at the rec, travel and club levels.

Taylor placed third in the 7/8 division finals last year at Truist Park in Atlanta. Still, there were enough differences this year to get her attention.

"I wasn't expecting them to hold the scores to the end," said Taylor, who won by 10 points. "Usually they add them up and give them to us after each event."

Taylor will be honored at a Phillies game next spring.

ALLENDALE — Ethel Avenue residents are contesting proposed water treatment upgrades on their property's easement by Veolia Water New Jersey as "overburdening" the site.

Superior Court Judge Nicholas Ostuni has ordered a stay on improvements to Well 17, operated by Veolia, pending a December trial, as reported in a two-page May 20 email message from the mayor and council. The legal action resulted from a complaint filed against the utility in February by Kris and Laura Van Der Leeuw of 7 Ethel Ave. The borough has since been added as a third-party defendant.

"Unfortunately the borough has been brought into it," the two-page letter from the Allendale mayor and council said. "Veolia has now been ordered by the court to stop the planning process to filter PFAS at this site, which provides 20% of the water to our residents."

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are called "forever chemicals" because they break down very slowly in the environment. New Jersey formally adopted some of the country's strictest drinking water standards in 2020 and required public systems to begin monitoring their water for the presence of these chemicals in 2021. Similar standards were enacted nationally by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2024.

Public water agencies are now required to measure and report on PFAS levels in their systems on a regular basis, with a limit of 4 parts per trillion, or 4 ppt, in drinking water. According to the newsletter, Well 17 is testing at 8.24 ppt, "more than double the Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level."

Mayor Amy Wilczynski said the borough has five operational wells, with temporary PFAS treatment systems on two of them. The newsletter said Well 17 has been treated with sodium hypochlorite (concentrated household bleach) "to kill potential pathogens" for over 30 years.

Allendale oversaw its own water system until 2013, when it sold control to Suez Water, which was transferred to Veolia in 2022.

Well and pipes only

The Van Der Leeuws' complaint charges that the wording of their easement, created in 1966, limits its use at the north end of their property on the edge of Ethel Avenue's eastern cul de sac to a water well and pipes.

Their complaint says a November inspection of the current utility shed revealed the installation of chemical tanks, a wash basin, water treatment facilities and a high-powered electrical panel without borough approval. Chemical showers are also proposed.

The complaint further charges that evergreen trees around the current shed have been removed without permission, in violation of the easement's "properly landscaped" requirement. The proposed expansion of the utility shed to 25 by 21 feet would cover so much of the site that "there would not be sufficient area left to properly landscape with evergreen trees, as required by the terms of the easement."

In addition, the complaint says the easement did not provide for on-site storage or use of dangerous chemicals. Sodium hypochlorite and zinc orthophosphate for corrosion control are currently being stored and used on the property, and the addition of liquid ammonium sulfate for disinfection purposes is being proposed.

The complaint concludes that the proposed additions "far exceed the scope of the easement agreement" created in 1966 for a well and pipes.

"The Mayor and Council truly hope there is a mutually agreeable solution and reaffirm our commitment to advocating for the wellbeing of all residents," the email said.

William Strasser, attorney for the Van Der Leeuws, said, "We believe that the law is very strong in our favor on this, and we believe we're going to prevail in the end."

Veolia Water New Jersey spokeswoman Debra Vial said the company is "committed to protecting public health and enhancing water quality and reliability for Allendale residents."

"Since acquiring the system, we have made significant progress by installing two PFAS treatment facilities to ensure compliance, replacing lead service lines and hydrants, and undertaking other essential upgrades," Vial said. "Our work to make necessary improvements for the community is ongoing, and we maintain an open dialogue and close collaboration with the borough on these efforts."

3-minute read

ALLENDALE — David Bannister leaves his home in Paterson in the early morning darkness and starts his workday at Northern Highlands Regional High School long before the first bleary-eyed student has trudged through the entrance.

The Paterson-born chef and his team of 14 cafeteria workers begin prep at 5 a.m. for a food service that will eventually feed 1,300 students.

On one recent school day, the cafeteria team worked with the synchronicity of an orchestra as it sliced fresh vegetables and roasted chicken breasts — exactly 450 cutlets. Then, Bannister turned his attention to the stove where his soup of the day burbled in a stock pot.

This is what he’s known for. The students call him the Soup King. Each recipe is made from scratch, and the ingredients in his latest concoction, Buffalo chicken soup, tingle on the tongue.

“That’s what we do here,” Bannister said with a big smile after taste-testing his latest creation.

'He’s a great asset'

Bannister worked his way up from dishwasher to head chef at Pomptonian Food Service, the company hired by the Allendale school district.

Now he is being recognized with two awards from the National Black Chefs Association in Chicago.

“We wanted to recognize what he’s doing for the school — it’s hard work that starts early in the morning making hot meals for the children and faculty,” said Bernard Talley, president of the trade association, adding that Bannister was nominated by the noted Paterson-born chef Rasul York. “He’s a great asset for the association and the city of Paterson.”

Bannister is a man of few words. His food does the talking, and his dishes speak many languages. In addition to the regular menu, the school cafeteria offers an international station with Chinese sweet-and-sour-chicken, Polish kielbasa and Italian tortellini.

The breadth of his culinary knowledge seems even more impressive considering that he never attended culinary school. Now he is being appointed chapter president in the chefs' association.

The organization, founded more than a decade ago, began giving out awards in 2018 in different disciplines, including for pastry chefs, cake artists, grillmasters, caterers, even ice carvers. In addition to the Hall of Fame honors, Bannister won an award usually reserved for chefs working in traditional restaurants.

“He could work anywhere — he could run a restaurant,” David Pretini, Pomptonian’s food service director, said about Bannister. “But I think he likes what he’s doing because he has the freedom to do what he wants.”

'I trust him implicitly'

Pretini says the workday begins with a brainstorming session with Bannister in which they decide the menu, then he leaves Bannister to his own devices.

“I’ll tell him to make chicken-and-rice soup and he makes it however he likes,” Pretino said. “I trust him implicitly — I know it’s going to come out right.”

Lunch begins at 11 a.m., but students begin lining up at the counters much earlier. In fact, the issue of students sneaking off to the cafeteria became so prevalent that the head office had to institute a rule not to sell food before a certain hour.

“The teachers all complained that students were coming to class late,” Pretini said.

This isn’t the cafeteria food that most people endured as schoolchildren. No mystery meat is on the menu. This is restaurant-quality food. And if the students of Northern Highlands weren’t so generous with their gratitude, it would make a person envy them.

Instead, the walls of the kitchen are lined with thank-you notes addressed to Bannister and student-drawn portraits. Brooke Xu, a junior, even wrote a story about Bannister for the school newspaper.

The most ostentatious display of the school’s appreciation for Bannister is a banner hung in the lobby, right next to the trophy case where the Highlanders boast their athletic and scholastic achievements.

“He’s an institution here,” Scot Beckerman, the school’s superintendent, told Paterson Press. “We wanted to make sure the parents and kids, when they come to school, know he’s being recognized.”

Beckerman said that in his 30 years working as an administrator, he’s never met a chef of Bannister’s caliber working in the school system. The superintendent said he is so fond of Bannister’s comfort foods like meatloaf and chili that he no longer needs to leave the premises for his midday break.

“I used to go home for lunch,” he said. “Now I eat lunch in the cafeteria with the kids.”

Darren Tobia is a contributing writer for Paterson Press.