

LAMBERTVILLE — This year's Shad Festival on Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26 will feature more performing arts and a different parking set-up.

For the first time organizers will use part of closed Church Street not for vendor parking, but to create an open-air performance space that will be filled by Roxey Ballet dancers throughout the two-day festival.

There isn't a central stage for the music, instead listen for it from the front porch of Bank of Princeton, The Lambertville Station parking lot and at Cafe Galleria on North Union Street.

The other change regular attendees of the 34-year-old festival will notice is parking. This year there is no shuttle from school on Route 179. City fire companies will continue to provide $10 parking in multiple business lots, and Rago Arts and Auction will do the same for the local nonprofit Fisherman's Mark.

One new parking area this year is the lot that is to become a city pocket park, at the corner of Cherry and North Union Streets. Hibernia firemen will park cars there.

Other options recommended by organizers are are just north of the city at the Holcombe-Jimison Farmstead Museum, and across the Delaware River in New Hope, at the high school or Union Square.

Handicapped parking is at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church's lot on Bridge Street.

Be prepared to pay for parking, whichever option is chosen, because on-street, free parking is difficult to come by during the festival.

The festival really starts Friday, April 24 from 7 to 9 p.m. with a free preview of the original art poster auction entries at the First Presbyterian Church gym.

More than 150 original art posters, created and donated by area artists, will be displayed during the festival. They are auctioned off on Sunday at 3 p.m.; proceeds fund scholarships for local students pursuing college art degrees.

Posters made by schoolchildren are displayed in business windows, and at the Justice Center on South Union Street. They were contributed by students attending Lambertville, West Amwell, Stockton and New Hope elementary schools.

The Shad Festival is organized by the Greater Lambertville-New Hope Chamber of Commerce. Admission to the street festival is free.

Chamber executive director David Morgan said, "We have a beautiful community! People should come here to enjoy the many beautiful natural resources we have as well as the Shad Festival."

The river is a natural place to find that beauty. The Lewis Shad Fishery crew will demonstrate, weather and river conditions permitting, seining for the silvery fish, which were an important food source for centuries, and now is a barometer of river health.

Visitors can watch from the banks of Holcombe Island at 1 p.m. both days. The island is reached from Lambert Lane.

Delaware River Basin Commission will teach about how to test water quality from the island.

Fans of the distinctive fish can find it on outdoor grills at The Lambertville Station restaurant, or the eatery Annie's on North Union Street.

Lambertville restaurants are found alongside select vendors at the food court in the Wachovia Bank parking lot. Bell's will sell its crab cakes and Marhaba its Middle Eastern dishes.

Other booths sell root beer, lemonade, hamburgers, cotton candy, ice cream, fried Oreos and more.

Children's activities are again centered on the city's North Union Street lot. The Lambertville Historical Society is also giving a walking tour from its headquarters, The Marshall House on Bridge Street, on April 25 at 11 a.m. The cost is $5 per family.

Tours for adults take place April 25 and 26 at 3 p.m. from the same place, $5 per person.

Nearly 100 artists and crafters, said Morgan, will line Union Street, which will be closed to traffic from Ferry to York streets. Apparel, ceramics, furniture, framed art, jewelry, accessories, artisan foods and other home decor are among the offerings.

The design on this year's "o'fish'l" demin-blue shirt was designed by local graphic artist Jacob Stephens. The chamber is selling the shirts for $12, in sizes through XXL. They will also be sold from the Bank of Princeton and the North Union Street lot. Free programs and festival information is dispensed at each.

Said Morgan, "We're proud and very glad to have Hunterdon Healthcare as our principal sponsor" for the festival. The health organization's name is imprinted on each T-shirt, on the back of the neck.

Renee Kiriluk-Hill may be reached at rkhill@hcdemocrat.com. Follow her on Twitter @ReneKirilukHill. Find The Hunterdon County Democrat on Facebook.