Plans For Chatham’s Retro Fishawack Festival Are Underway

CHATHAM, NJ — Chatham’s Fishawack Festival is a longtime annual favorite normally held in the third week of June, but was sidelined during the pandemic.

However, Chatham Borough Council recently approved several resolutions that will help set the ball in motion for the 2021 Retro Fishawack Celebration, to take place in September.

The 2020 festival was canceled in April 2020 because of the pandemic, with the retro celebration outside of its usual time of year, with many coronavirus restrictions only lifted late this spring.

The decrease in COVID-19 transmission, along with the number of Chatham Borough residents who’ve been vaccinated, are two of the reasons the council went ahead to put the celebration dates on the calendar for Friday, Sept. 24 from 4 to 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 26 from 4 to 7 p.m.

Mayor Thaddeus Kobylarz said at the council’s last meeting, the first meeting in person since the start of the pandemic, there were no new cases of coronavirus reported in Chatham Borough, as of the night of the July 12 Council Meeting.

The celebration, which helps to support local businesses and services, encourages the concepts of both “Keep Chatham Thriving” and to “Shop Chatham First.”

Another resolution pertaining to the festival was to waive vendor fees, which are normally charged, because of the hardships businesses experienced as a result of the pandemic. Among them are: $225 food vendor fees, $125 business registration fees, $125 for participating crafters and artisans, $125 for fine arts exhibitors, $50 for nonprofit groups, the $54 fire permit application fee and the $40 board of health daily application fee.

The council also gave the green light to the Chatham Borough Police Department to close several parking lots and areas during September’s festival, including: Post Office Plaza’s lot, South Passaic Avenue between Main Street and the Post Office Plaza parking lot entrance, Firehouse Plaza between Fairmount Avenue and the end of Reasoner Park near the firehouse entrance, the Bowers Lane parking lot and the Jaycees Roadway Foot Race Route.

The Fishawack Festival became an annual event beginning in 2011, after it was a biennial one since 1971. It was in 1971 when the Chamber of Commerce held its first “Fishawack Day," which started out as a sidewalk sale.

The day honors Chatham’s place in Native American history, when it became the crossover location for tribes, because it was where the Passaic River - called “Fishawack” by the Lenni Lenape - was narrowest.

RELATED: Why Fishawack?

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.