November 13, 2024

Trees in Hinds Plaza Provide Welcome Shade, And There is No Reason to Replace Them

To the Editor:

On page 1 of the October 30 issue of Town Topics is a report of a discussion by the Princeton Council of a proposal to “revitalize’” Hinds Plaza [“Council Hears Report from Consulting Firm on Revitalizing Hinds Plaza” ]. In my opinion, the plaza is a valuable, charming, and functional component of the downtown landscape just as it is, and is in no need of reconstruction.

What particularly galls me is the assertion by the consultant, Mr. Ribaudo, that the honeylocust trees in the plaza are at the end of their life span and need to be replaced. more

Mara Franceschi Thanks All Those Who Supported Her Reelection to Board of Ed

To the Editor:

I am writing to express my gratitude to the Princeton community. I am humbled and honored by the support shown in reelecting me to a second three-year term on the Board of Education.

Thank you to everyone who hosted a lawn sign, amplified my name, and otherwise supported me. It is a privilege to serve you all and, most especially, the children of Princeton. I look forward to continuing my work on the Board and building on the positive momentum in the district as we work together to provide the best education possible for all our children.

Running for the Board is demanding and difficult. I applaud all the candidates for the effort they put into their races and their dedication to public service. Their ideas and perspectives challenged us all to think more deeply about our schools’ needs and future. It has been a pleasure getting to know them and I look forward to working with Chris and Ari on the Board.

Thank you again for your support.

Mara Franceschi
Greenhouse Drive

Arguing that John Witherspoon’s Legacy is Something to Be Understood, Not Celebrated

In the October 16 issue of Town Topics readers were presented with the decision of the Princeton University Trustees regarding the fate of the John Witherspoon statue on Firestone Plaza [“Despite Controversy, Witherspoon Statue Will Stay at University,” page 1]. After two years of “debate and deliberations,” the Trustees decided the statue should remain. The question Princeton Trustees had to wrestle with was whether to honor Witherspoon’s legacy in light of the fact that he was a slave owner and advocate against abolition.

One of the main arguments forwarded by Witherspoon’s apologists during those two years of deliberations was that Witherspoon was “more enlightened” than many others of his time, as he provided educational opportunities for some “free Blacks” and made some semblance of arguments for eventual abolition. They also lauded Witherspoon’s advocacy for the humane treatment of the enslaved.  more

In time of Drought, Try to Keep Birdbaths Clean and Replenished

To the Editor:

This is a request to all Town Topics readers who have a birdbath in their yard.

As the days and weeks tick by with little or no rain, I’ve observed an ever increasing number of birds of all kinds (and squirrels) drinking from the two birdbaths in my yard from dawn ’till dusk, indicating to me that their usual sources of hydration have vanished. Yes, we need to conserve water more than ever, but the joy that New Jersey’s native flying feathered creatures bring to our lives merits the small amount of effort and resources required to keep these avian water resources of last resort clean and replenished.

Waking up to the sound of birdsong may seem like a small thing, but life’s simple pleasures are often the things we take for granted, until they’re gone.

George Point
Lawrenceville Road

Obituaries 11/13/2024

Patricia Strazza

Patricia Jean Peterson Strazza died peacefully on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, in her home on a warm and sundrenched fall day, surrounded by family, her dear caregivers, and the art and beauty she loved.

Born in Logan, Utah, January 30, 1933, “PJ,” as she was known, had western roots and grew up surrounded by pioneer spirit, often taking road trips with her adventurous parents to national parks and other points of interest. In 1948, the family moved to Washington, DC, her father taking a job in the US Department of Interior and her mother starting her career at Sidwell Friends School. PJ blossomed during her time attending Sidwell Friends where she excelled in academics, played the piano and organ, even performing at the National Cathedral. After graduation she went north to Cornell University where she embraced college life and made numerous lifelong friends. Big Red held a special place in her heart thereafter. She also found there the love of her life, Richard Strazza, the lucky third wheel she met while dating Dick’s roommate. They married in 1955, the year she graduated from what is now Cornell’s College of Human Ecology.

Once married, she followed her mother’s footsteps into teaching, but soon found her hands more than full, with three children. She and Dick moved to Princeton in the mid ’60s where they raised their children (with a parenting style she jokingly called “benign neglect”) as well as a gaggle of Newfoundlands. PJ was a lover of dogs, people, and good times. No college football or hockey season went by without a raucous Cornell/Princeton party at the house; it remains surprising that a porch full of attendees collapsed only once. At various gatherings, holidays, and the annual Strazza Christmas Eve Open House, she could usually be found at the bench behind the piano singing hymns and Cornell songs, family and friends crowded around her, delighting in the glow of her warmth and merriment. She always welcomed her children’s many friends who hold their own fond remembrances of her from those times at the piano and of the smile she seemed to always wear.

During her time in Princeton, she volunteered for many causes including the Princeton Hospital Fete, Recording for the Blind, and local politics. Her passion for art led to her and Dick’s involvement in the local art scene, culminating in their purchase of Gallery 100 on Nassau Street in Princeton. They loved befriending and supporting local artists and that the gallery became a gathering spot for many.

It was her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren that brought her the greatest joy. She reveled in their accomplishments, attending countless sporting events, school ceremonies, birthday parties, marching band competitions, and band concerts, always looking for a chance to celebrate them. She cherished the times she and Dick spent at their vacation home in Treasure Cay, Bahamas, where she escaped winter to soak in the sun sparkling off the turquoise blue water, loving the Abacos for their warm Bahamian people and island lifestyle. She shared their paradise with dear friends from Cornell and elsewhere. The door was always open there. And her heart was always open everywhere.

“We had so much fun” was the refrain as she contemplated her life these past years. Indeed, she did.

She was predeceased by her younger sister, Mary Lou of Portland, Oregon, and her husband, Dick Strazza. She is survived by her three children, Sophia Tomasi (Ted), Craig Strazza (Ann), and Karen Strazza (Jeff Heath); her sister, Sue Peterson Huguely (Geoff); as well as eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren (with another on the way!). They, and her many nieces and nephews, in-laws, step grandchildren, friends, and all she touched in her unique way, will miss her terribly. But they also know that she is celebrating with her beloved “Pop Pop” and the family and friends that have gone before her.

She always shouted out to those leaving after a visit “Don’t change!” Same to you, PJ; know that the deeply fond memories of all those you have known will never change.

Arrangements and cremation services were private under the direction of the Holcombe-Fisher Funeral Home, 147 Main Street, Flemington, NJ 08822. For further information or to send an online condolence, please visit PJ’s memorial page and guestbook below at holcombefisher.com.

———

Jean Hoy Hoover

Jean Hoy Hoover of Princeton, NJ, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her loving family on October 22.

Born in 1930, Jean resided in Princeton for 61 years after moving from Lafayette Hill, Pa., in 1963. She spent many summers in Avalon, NJ, with her siblings and extended family. She attended Moore Institute of Art (now Moore College of Art) in Philadelphia after graduating from Norristown High School in 1948. There she met the love of her life, John L. Hoover Jr.

They were married and went on to have five children. A woman and mother of her generation, she stayed at home to care for her children. At age 44, she was predeceased by her husband and Jean became a tireless household manager and single mother.

As her children matured, Jean pursued her love of art and began her career as an interior designer and fashion illustrator. Her interior design work included the Nassau Inn in Princeton. Her fashion illustrations appeared in publications including The New York Times as well as local Princeton newspapers.

Jean also enjoyed her gardens and spent endless hours moving earth, rocks, plants, and shrubs to achieve just the right garden design. She was a longtime member of the Dogwood Garden Club as well as the Present Day Club. For many years Jean was an active volunteer at the Princeton Hospital and the Princeton Hospital Auxiliary. She also was an avid tennis and paddle tennis player well into her sixties. Her pride and joy was her family and “Grandy,” as she was known by her grandchildren, was the matriarch.

Predeceased are her parents, William F. and Anna M. (Gebhart) Hoy; siblings Elizabeth Gerhard, William F. Hoy, Jr., and Anne Finkbiner; and her husband John L. Hoover Jr.

Jean is survived by her five children, Curry Simmel (Scott), Stuart Hoover (Carey), John L. Hoover III, Eric D. Hoover, and Christian Hoover (Marianne); six grandchildren, Sarah A. Reynolds (Whitney), Alexandra J. Stabert (Samuel), Eric W. Hoover (Mary), Anne Cardew (Griffin), John R. Hoover (Sara), and Grace Hoover; six great-grandchildren, Callan, Eloise, Theodore, Eleanor, Wesley, and Sloane. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews, extended family, and friends.

A private Memorial Service will be held on Friday, November 29, 2024, at The Mather Hodge

Funeral Home, Princeton. The interment of Ashes will follow at Trinity-All Saints Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to All Access Mental Health, 819 Alexander Road, Princeton, NJ 08540 (aamh.org).

November 6, 2024

Incumbent Franceschi, New Candidates Santarpio and Meisel Elected to School Board

By Donald Gilpin

In a close race Tuesday for three seats on the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education, incumbent Mara Franceschi, who has received 5,326 votes (20.64 percent), Christopher Santarpio 4,618 (17.90 percent), and Ari Meisel with 4,443 (17.22 percent) have defeated Erica Snyder with 4,310 votes (16.71 percent), Lisa Potter with 4,148 (16.08 percent), and Shenwei Zhao with 2,921 (11.32 percent), according to unofficial results from the Mercer County Clerk’s Office.

With many mail-in ballots and provisional ballots remaining to be counted, certification by the Mercer County Clerk’s office is not expected for about two weeks.

In two other local elections, both uncontested, Mark Freda won another four-year term as Princeton Mayor, and incumbent Leighton Newlin and new candidate Brian McDonald won three-year terms on Princeton Council. more

Cow Serenade

Cows were celebrated and honored at the Annual Cow Parade festival at Cherry Grove Farm in Lawrenceville on Saturday afternoon. The tradition comes from the Swiss Alps, when the cows are brought down from the mountains to the lower pastures each fall, with elaborate decorations. The event also featured hayrides, games, face painting, food, music, dancers, storytelling, and local artisans. (Photo by Sarah Teo)

State Urges Caution as Drought Persists

By Anne Levin

With October 2024 in the record books as New Jersey’s driest October in history, a statewide fire ban is now in effect. On October 17, Gov. Phil Murphy issued a drought watch, urging residents and businesses to conserve water.

It hasn’t rained locally in over a month. And there is no real end in sight.

Thursday, November 14 is the first mention of any precipitation, with “rain ending in the morning” as predicted on Accuweather.com. The next possibility is November 22, when “a morning shower followed by a little rain in the afternoon” is listed. And nothing else is predicted until December 10: “Periods of light rain.” more

“Shop Local” is the Message for Residents, Tourists

IT’S STARTING: Local holiday offerings this year will include the return of the Arts Council of Princeton’s Winter Chalets at Hinds Plaza, selling gifts made by artists in various media from November 14 through December 22.

By Anne Levin

The weather is balmy and Halloween is barely behind us, but the winter holiday season is officially on.

Black Friday and Small Business Saturday are several weekends away, with a late Thanksgiving (November 28) shortening the usual gift-buying season. Drawings for Experience Princeton’s “ShopPrinceton2Win” contest began this week, and decorations will soon be hung around town. The goal is to encourage patronage of local stores and restaurants.

“There is a lot of competition out there, especially online,” said Councilwoman Michelle Pirone Lambros, who is the liaison to Experience Princeton, the nonprofit that promotes local businesses. “You go into the big box stores, and the decorations are out. But it’s still not the same experience as going into a local shop. We have some new retail in town, and they all seem to be gearing up.” more

PPS Presents Theater, Music, Visual Arts; Neil Simon’s “Rumors” Nov. 14-17 at PHS

“RUMORS” AT PHS: The casts of Neil Simon’s 1988 “elegant farce” are preparing for their November 14 opening at Princeton High School. The play runs through November 17. (Photo courtesy of Julianna Krawiecki)

By Donald Gilpin

In theater, music, and visual arts, Princeton Public Schools (PPS) is presenting a diverse array of events in November and December.

Rumors, a 1988 Neil Simon “elegant farce,” as the author described it, will take the spotlight on the Princeton High School (PHS) stage November 14-17. At Princeton Middle School (PMS) on November 22 and 23, the theme will be self-image and social and emotional learning in Hoodie, a short “play for the times,” according to PMS Theater Director Chaundra Cameron. more

PU Graduate Students Bring Love of Science to Community Outreach Events

PUMPKIN BIOLOGY: Members of the Molecular Biology Outreach Program at Princeton University (in MBOP shirts) show young visitors to their booth at the Arts Council of Princeton’s Pumpkin Palooza how to extract pumpkin DNA.

By Wendy Greenberg

When a group of Princeton University graduate students set out to inspire youths and adults in the community with the wonders of science, they found that they ended up being inspired themselves.

Graduate doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in the Molecular Biology Outreach Program (MBOP) recently ran a science fair on campus for high school students; plan to judge a science fair at Stone Bridge Middle School in Allentown; and are inviting adults to a “Science by the Cup” night to educate them on what scientific processes go into making beer.  They also showed community members how to make their own skin lotion, and demonstrated how to extract DNA from strawberries at the Ewing Library and from pumpkins at the Arts Council of Princeton’s Pumpkin Palooza event. more

SPIA in NJ Program to Consider Ideas for a Healthy NJ Economy

By Wendy Greenberg

How can the community contribute to an inclusive, productive, and healthy New Jersey economy? Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs in New Jersey (SPIA in NJ) is partnering with several departments and community nonprofits to find out, with the goal of informing the public and identifying and addressing future challenges before the next election cycle.

The second of three sessions of the program New Jersey & The American Economy will be held on Tuesday, November 12 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Robertson Hall, Bowl 002.  Co-sponsors are Princeton University Department of African American Studies, Princeton Public Lectures, the Program for Research on Inequality, Labyrinth Books, and the Princeton Public Library.

Although the three-part program is held close to the 2024 election cycle, it is actually timed for the next one. “We timed this program very intentionally so that New Jerseyans could hear from policy scholars and analysts about some of the issues that polls show matter most to them,” said Anastasia Mann, founding director of SPIA in NJ. “We designed the structure to highlight where we have come from and where we are heading, from a tax and budget perspective, when it comes to issues like wages, access to housing, public safety, food security, immigration, climate, health care, and more.” more

PU Fund for Irish Studies Presents Illustrated Lecture by Paul Muldoon

IRISH HISTORY IN 10 POEMS: Pultizer Prize-winning poet and longtime Princeton University Professor Paul Muldoon will read from his work on November 15 at an event on the campus. (Photo by Christine Harris)

By Anne Levin

A survey of Irish history, from the Vikings to the Troubles and beyond, is the focus of a reading by Paul Muldoon on Friday, November 15 at the James Stewart Film Theater, 185 Nassau Street. “A History of Ireland in 10 Poems” is a free, illustrated lecture presented by Princeton University’s Fund for Irish Studies.

The event is the latest in the Fund’s 2024-25 series, which will also include conversations with leaders of the Abbey Theater, and readings by authors Colm Toibin, Niall Williams, and Fintan O’Toole. The Fund “affords all Princeton students, and the community at large, a wider and deeper sense of the languages, literatures, drama, visual arts, history, and economics not only of Ireland but of ‘Ireland in the world,’” reads a release from the University’s Lewis Center for the Arts. more

Mixing It Up with Phil Lesh and Ezra Pound on The Day After

By Stuart Mitchner

Writing on Sunday, November 3, I’m trying not to worry about the state of the nation on Wednesday, November 6. The backyard is painted yellow gold with leaves; the bird baths, front and back, are thriving; the new birdfeeders are wildly popular, and we’ve had a month of classic autumn weather — if you don’t count the drought. But I might as well be on “Dover Beach” with Matthew Arnold, the night-wind on my face on a sunny afternoon, the closing lines like one long sentence — “the world which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams, so various, so beautiful, so new, hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, not certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; and we are here as on a darkling plain swept with confused alarms of struggle and light, where ignorant armies clash by night.”

How about going with something a little lighter but dark around the edges, like Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” (“let us stop talking falsely now, the hour’s getting late”) — or else “Desolation Row,” even if Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot are “fighting in the captain’s tower.” Funny, as much as Allen Ginsberg admires Dylan, he complains about that line on allenginsberg.org because “Eliot and Pound were friends.” Hey, this is Bob Dylan, this is what he does, he mixes things up, so does Pound, who didn’t ride to the rescue of The Waste Land with gentle suggestions: he struck the lance of his pen deep into the heart of the first page. Otherwise we’d have something called  He Do The Police In Different Voices.

OK, we’ll mix vintage Ezra with some buoyant electric bass from the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh, who died late last month. Lesh’s playing on “Dark Star” and “Alligator” kept me going as I tried to read The Cantos and early troubadour poems like “Na Audiart,” which reads like a verse translation of Lesh’s bassline, with the Dead putting the pulse of life into Pound’s refrain “Audiart, Audiart.” more

New Jersey Symphony Opens Princeton Classical Series with Music of Three Centuries

By Nancy Plum

It is not easy to find a connection among composers from Mexico, Austria and Russia, but New Jersey Symphony brought these three cultures together this past weekend with its opening concert of the 2024-25 Princeton series. Led by Music Director Xian Zhang, the Symphony successfully wound a musical thread through the works of contemporary Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz, 18th-century Austrian Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and 19th-century Russian Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

The key to the three pieces performed Friday night in Richardson Auditorium seemed to be the composers’ use of winds for innovative orchestral color. In Ortiz’s Kauyumari, wind solos reflected the diverse musical influences which surrounded Ortiz in her native Mexico. The one-movement Kauyumari, commissioned in 2021 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, depicts the ancient “blue deer” rite of Mexico which allows the Huichol people to communicate with ancestors and reaffirm their role as guardians of the planet. Channeling the sounds of Latin America into a classical work, Ortiz created a piece to capture both the blue deer, with its power to “enter the world of the intangible,” and the reopening of live music following the pandemic.  more

Refugees in the U.S. Search for Family Members in “Anon(ymous)”: Lewis Center Presents a Contemporary, Stylized “Odyssey” at McCarter

Students perform Anon(ymous) by Naomi Iizuka during the final dress rehearsal in the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center on Oct. 31, 2024. Photo by Larry Levanti

“ANON(YMOUS)”: Performances are underway for “Anon(ymous).” Presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University; and directed by Bi Jean Ngo (assisted by Matthew Cooperberg), the play runs through November 9 at McCarter’s Berlind Theatre. Above: Anon (Aabid Ismail, left) journeys in search of his family, accompanied by a variety of characters, including the streetwise Pascal (Oriana Nelson, right), a West African refugee. (Photo by Larry Levanti / Lewis Center for the Arts)

By Donald H. Sanborn III

The Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University is presenting Anon(ymous) at McCarter. Playwright Naomi Iizuka’s contemporary, stylized retelling of The Odyssey centers on two refugees in the U.S. — Anon and Nemasani — each of whom has been separated from a family member.

Iizuka’s script embraces and offers ample scope for multiple forms: drama, modern dance, and performance art — in short, much of what live theater offers. Bi Jean Ngo, director of the Lewis Center production (assisted by Matthew Cooperberg), takes full advantage of this; the polished staging makes use of often dazzling production values while ensuring that the performances are the primary focus. more

Disney Stage Musical Comes to MCCC’s Kelsey Theatre

BE OUR GUEST: Sally Graham Bethman, left, and Pat Rounds star in “Beauty and the Beast” at Kelsey Theatre November 8-24.

Maurer Productions OnStage presents Disney’s musical Beauty and the Beast November 8-24 at Kelsey Theatre on the campus of Mercer County Community College in West Windsor.

The enduring fairy tale tells the story of Belle, a spirited young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, a prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end, and he will be transformed into his former self. But time is running out, and if those lessons aren’t learned soon, the Beast and his house will be doomed for all eternity. more

Several Cultural Events On Rider University Stages

Rider University’s arts programs are performing in theaters on the Lawrence Township campus throughout the remainder of the fall season.

On Friday and Saturday, November 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m., the University’s dance majors present their fall dance concert in the Bart Luedeke Center Theater. The following weekend, Westminster Opera Theatre presents Die Fledermaus in the Yvonne Theater. Shows are Friday and Saturday, November 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m. more

Paul Anka Presents All the Hits — His Way

HITMAKER: Paul Anka is at the State Theatre New Jersey on November 12.

State Theatre New Jersey presents singer-songwriter Paul Anka: All the Hits — His Way on Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $49-$229.

Born July 30, 1941, in Ottawa, Canada, into a close-knit family, Anka sang in a choir, studied piano, and honed his writing skills with journalism courses, even working as a cub reporter at the Ottawa Citizen. In 1956, he convinced his parents to let him travel to Los Angeles to visit his uncle, where he hitchhiked to a meeting with Modern Records that led to the release of his first single. more

Two String Quartets Perform as an Octet

CHAMBER MUSIC: Members of the Ebene and Belcea String Quartets will join forces for a concert at Richardson Auditorium on November 13. (Photo by Maurice Haas and Julien Mignot)

On Wednesday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Richardson Auditorium, the Ebene and Belcea String Quartets will return to the Princeton University Concerts (PUC) series for the first time since 2022 and 2016, respectively.

Their program, part of the Concert Classics series, includes music of Mendelssohn and Enescu; they will bring it to Carnegie Hall the following evening. more

Benjamin Grosvenor to Appear In Princeton Concert Series

PIANIST RETURNS: Benjamin Grosvenor is back on the Richardson Auditorium stage on November 7 with a program of music by Brahms, Schumann, and Mussorgsky.

Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor will make a long-anticipated return to the Princeton University Concerts (PUC) series on Thursday, November 7, at 7:30 p.m. at Richardson Auditorium on Princeton University’s campus.

Grosvenor last came to PUC in 2017, when he was in his early twenties; now he returns with a program of Johannes Brahms Intermezzi, Op. 117, Robert Schumann Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17, and Modest Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition. more

Folk Music Society Presents Mustard’s Retreat

On Friday, November 15 at 8 p.m., the Princeton Folk Music Society presents an evening of uplifting songs and stories with Mustard’s Retreat. The performance takes place at Christ Congregation Church, 50 Walnut Lane.

Since they first got together in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1975, Mustard’s Retreat (David Tamulovich and Libby Glover) have been performing songs and stories they enjoyed and cared about, regardless of the trends of the music industry and pop culture.

“Folk music is, at its heart, defiantly hopeful,” said Tamulevich. “We came of age in the 60s, at the confluence of Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan, and the singer/songwriter revolution. We care much more about what we do and stand for and finding that common ground with our audiences, than fame or money. This is our community of choice, and we consider ourselves so fortunate to be here.”

Tickets are $25 ($20 for members, $10 for students). Visit Princetonfolk.org.

Rye Tippet’s “At First Light” at Morpeth Contemporary

“AT FIRST LIGHT”: This oil on panel work by Rye Tippet is featured in his third solo show at Morpeth Contemporary in Hopewell. An opening reception is on Friday, November 8 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Morpeth Contemporary, 43 West Broad Street, Hopewell, has announced the opening of its latest exhibition, “At First Light,” the third solo show for painter Rye Tippet. Alongside Tippet’s paintings will be a selection of metal sculptures by fellow Bucks County, Pa., artist Justin Long, in his debut with the gallery. The opening reception is on Friday, November 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibition will be on view through Sunday, November 24.

Tippet’s latest paintings are mysterious and allusive, yet involving, urging closer examination. Their surreal nature ignites viewers’ curiosity, inviting thoughts about where dreams join reality, how the past informs the present, and whether the departed commune with the living.  more

Arts Council Hosts Annual Sauce for the Goose Market

SAUCE FOR THE GOOSE: The Arts Council of Princeton’s Sauce for the Goose Outdoor Art Market, featuring unique gifts from more than 100 local and regional artisans, celebrates its 30th year on November 9 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Princeton.

Now celebrating its 30th year, the Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) will hold the Sauce for the Goose Outdoor Art Market on Saturday, November 9 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Downtown Princeton.

Sauce for the Goose is an annual destination for unique, high-quality, and handmade gifts. This year’s market will feature more than 100 local and regional artisans selling their wares in ceramics, textile, apparel, jewelry, printmaking, wood, glass, painting, and more. more

“Near and Far” Exhibition at Cranbury Public Library

“CRANBURY HOLIDAY STREET”: Works by local artist Donna Senopoulos are featured in “Near and Far,” on view at the Cranbury Public Library through December 29.

The Cranbury Public Library is hosting a solo exhibition by local artist Donna Senopoulos through December 29. Entitled “Near and Far: From NJ to Florida in Watercolor,” the collection includes scenes from locales such as Cranbury, the Jersey Shore, and Fort Myers, Fla. The artwork is primarily watercolor-based medium on paper, canvas, and wood, and also includes mixed media with pen or pencil, and metallic foils. All artwork is for sale. more