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MOUNT OLIVE, NJ – The Region 2 Tournament did not go as well for the Hasbrouck Heights wrestling team as the District meet went as no wrestlers advanced to the finals in Atlantic City.

Anthony Cummings at 126 pounds, was the only Hasbrouck Heights wrestler to win their first match pinning Fair Lawn’s Stephen Toth in 3:33. Cummings dropped his second match to second seed Chris Hong, 11-4 in quarter-final round.

Nico Nipitella (106 pounds) was pinned in his opening match by Isa Kupa of Boonton, in 4:20.

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At 157 pounds, Oliver Fermin lost a majority decision 10-0, to Mike Maglione of West Essex. Malik Alzubi of Parsippany pinned David Drezek at 5;21 mark of their match at 175 pounds.

After receiving a bye in the opening round, fourth seeded Connor Scuilla dropped a 1-0 decision to Fair Lawn’s Matthew Muri. Scuilla had defeated Muri 6-5 last week in the sectional finals. In the wrestleback round, sixth seeded Najati Salim of Clifton eliminated Scuilla with a 9-6 decision

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FAIR LAWN – The greatest Bergen County girls basketball dynasty rolls on.

Sparked by 15 courageous and clutch points from Cristina Parrella, Saddle River Day added to its record with a seventh consecutive Bergen County title by grinding out a gutty 42-37 win over Immaculate Heart Academy on Wednesday night at Fair Lawn High School.

“It means everything,” said Parrella, who scored seven straight points during a game-changing stretch bridging the third and fourth quarters. “This is what I came here for. We win championships. We work hard and it paid off.”

The big storyline coming in was whether IHA could finally beat the Rebels after three straight losses in the Bergen County final. The answer was… they got as close as they ever have.

Check out the photo gallery, then continue reading.

IHA led 30-28 after a 3-pointer by Julia Schutz midway through the third quarter but then went cold from the floor, failing to score for more than nine minutes.

That break gave Saddle River Day just enough time to surge ahead. Parrella, a transfer from Demarest, sank a 3-pointer, made a jumper from the elbow, then drove to the basket for two more to boost the Rebels to a 35-30 lead with 4:27 left.

“She had a monster game,” Saddle River Day coach Frank Clark said. “She really gutted through after getting banged up the other day. I am really proud of the whole team, everyone. Our team effort was great.”

IHA hurt Saddle River Day with its size inside, but the Rebels were able to clamp down in the final 12 minutes to prevail.

“We knew they were going to fight,” Parrella said. “But we knew we had to fight back and that’s exactly what we did.”

“IHA is a hell of a team,” Clark said. “Isabella Asencio is a great player. What a handful.”

The other main storyline coming in was Clark. He took over the Rebels midway through the county tournament, stepping in for Derek Amalbert. While the school has now won seven county titles, it was the first with Clark on the bench.

“If you had told me this three, four weeks ago, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Clark said. “I am not going to lie, going into this tournament there is a lot of pressure to keep it going, especially filling in as an interim position and having to do this.”

When asked if he would come back and coach the Rebels next season if asked, Clark said “absolutely, 100 percent.”

The bad news for the rest of Bergen County is that the Rebels only graduate one player, senior forward Jess Carter. Parrella is a junior and her running mate at guard, Julianna Almeida (11 points on Wednesday night), is also a junior. Throw in sweet-shooting sophomore guard Faith Williamson and its quite a core of talent for the Rebels.

Now focus shifts to the state tournament. IHA will be a contender in Non-Public A, but Shore Conference titan St. John Vianney may have one of its best teams ever – and that’s saying something. Non-Public B is stacked. Saddle River Day got the top seed, but may not be the favorite in a section loaded with Morris Catholic, Montclair Immaculate and Gil St. Bernard.

“There will be some great match-ups,” Clark said. “We just have to play our game and keep working on things. It’s not perfect, you know. We’re very happy, but you’re never satisfied. You have to keep that hunger going.”

There was even an imperfect moment for Saddle River Day in the final 10 seconds. The Rebels led 42-36 but were whistled for a technical foul for having six players on the court as the crowd looked on puzzled. IHA converted one free throw, but no more.

“That’s a team mistake right there,” Clark said. “That’s on me. We had five coming in and six were on the floor. I don’t know what happened.”

“It happens,” Parrella said with a laugh. “We just had to put it in the past and we did.”

Six players on a court doesn’t happen often. But the number everyone else will remember is seven.

It’s becoming easier than ever to shop local in Fair Lawn.

Located in the heart of Bergen County, the borough of 33,000 people has more than 600 small businesses, ranging from kosher pizzerias and acupuncturists to investment firms and children’s entertainers.

In an effort to make residents more aware of all that one of the county’s largest municipalities has to offer, the Fair Lawn Economic Development Corp. compiled that information in one place — a free online directory called the Fair Lawn Marketplace.

Besides highlighting the breadth of services and activities available locally, the newly launched site aims to give greater exposure and searchability to the many shops, businesses and organizations listed at fairlawnmarketplace.com.

From left, NJ Small Business Development Center Intern Andrew Clark; Fair Lawn Mayor Kurt Peluso; Deputy Mayor Cristina Cutrone; Councilmember Gail Friedberg Rottenstrich; and Small Business Development Center Regional Director Vincent Vicari celebrate the website for local businesses.

Its debut also came in time for Small Business Saturday, an annual campaign held the Saturday after Thanksgiving that encourages shoppers to support local independent merchants – from traditional brick-and-mortar retailers to service providers to e-commerce businesses.

This year, as Main Street businesses are still trying to heal from the pandemic, a recent American Express Shop Small impact survey found that 56% said Small Business Saturday is more critical than ever.

For Elyss Frenkel, the owner of Chicken Galore, a fried chicken restaurant on Broadway, the added boost provided by the Fair Lawn Marketplace is nothing but a plus for the local business community — especially coming out of the COVID crisis.

“The internet is an integral part of business today. It is important for small businesses to be seen online in order to remain in the public space. It is a very powerful place. People of all ages ask a phone or an Alexa-type device ‘What restaurants are near me?’ and choose where to eat based on that answer,” Frenkel explained. “If your name does not come up, you will not get that business.”

Although Chicken Galore has a website, as well as a Facebook page, Frenkel said, “Many small places do not have web addresses, due to cost or even understanding. This [Fair Lawn Marketplace] puts them out there on display, so to speak sort of – in the arena – with good information — for anyone to see.”

Planning began in October 2020, just a few months after Abigail Polizois began as EDC’s president and the public-private partnership began shifting its priority from helping businesses develop to helping businesses survive the pandemic.

Though the public health emergency prompted many restaurants and businesses to begin offering online services, Polizois said it also “brought to light how many small businesses had a lacking or nonexistent web presence” and motivated the EDC to help “fill in the gaps for these underrepresented businesses.”

From there, the EDC teamed up with the Fair Lawn Chamber of Commerce and the NJ Small Business Development Center at Ramapo College to provide a digital platform that put all businesses, services and vendors in town on an equal footing.

With no comprehensive list of local businesses to refer to, EDC board member Frank Hall said the sheer number of businesses situated in Fair Lawn “came as a surprise” and that they “kept discovering more” as the year-long project progressed.

“Since the site has launched, numerous others have contacted us, looking to be added. In fact, with such a large number of business locations, we know it will be a perpetual job to update the site, as businesses come and go,” said Hall.

When it came time to develop the technical aspects of the project, the EDC turned to the SBDC at Ramapo College, which provides no-cost assistance to businesses, nonprofits and organizations across North Jersey.

For its part, the SBDC assigned Andrew Clark, one of its junior consultants and a computer science major, to work with the EDC to “map out the best strategy to complete the Fair Lawn Marketplace,” said Regional Director Vincent Vicari.

“He also interfaced with the company hosting the site, identified and helped fill gaps, fixed errors, made site improvements, and worked on search engine optimization. He also aided with data entry, categorization, and tagging. [And he] helped put together a distributed mailer, with a specialized QR code, that went out to every unique address in Fair Lawn,” Vicari said.

He went on to say, “The SBDC is proud to have played a role in creating this marketplace and enhancing the economic vitality of the region. This digital marketplace has made Fair Lawn the gold standard on how a N.J. municipality can come together to support its local business population.”

Since the site went live, Polizois said, “The feedback has been overwhelming. We have received a very warm reception from local businesses and the borough of Fair Lawn alike.”

Additionally, it has earned accolades for being an invaluable service to the community from U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th District, Bergen County Executive James Tedesco and the Bergen County Board of Commissioners.

The project is also one of the first to be funded through a grant administered by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ Main Street New Jersey program.

In September 2021, the Fair Lawn Economic Development Corp. secured a Main Street New Jersey designation for the borough, opening access to financial resources to help its business districts. The EDC was among the 14 Main Street New Jersey district organizations across the state to receive grants from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs earlier this year.

In Fair Lawn, the EDC used the grant to help businesses make non-structural updates to storefronts as part of a façade improvement program.

Those are just two of the many initiatives launched by EDC to encourage local spending and support of community businesses.

There’s also a new subsidized gift card program, which allows local businesses to sell gift cards at a discount and receive compensation by the EDC for the discounted percentage.

Over the summer, the EDC and Fair Lawn Main Street New Jersey program successfully ran a Small Business Scavenger Hunt, in which people were invited to submit selfies visiting various businesses across town for a chance to win gift certificates at local stores.

For information on the Fair Lawn Economic Development Corp., visit fledc.com.

For information on how to add a business to the Fair Lawn Marketplace, visit fairlawnmarketplace.com.

FAIR LAWN, NJ - The Board of Education added Eid, a Muslim holiday, to its 2023-24 calendar and deleted Easter Monday.

At the February 23 meeting, the entire board voted in favor of adding the Eid holiday, April 10, 2024 to the calendar.

However, the board was closely split in a 5-4 vote on excluding Easter Monday, April 1 from the calendar.

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Good Friday, March 29, is a day off. Easter occurs on Sunday, March 31. Easter Monday is on April 1 and the day off has been a long-standing tradition in the district.

Eid takes place at the end of Ramadan, a month of prayer and fasting.

Joseph Baldofsky, Gene Banta, Julie Mahan, Lisa Yourman and Ron Barbarulo voted for the deletion of Easter Monday, while Ed Bertolini, Mike Rosenberg, Mark Spindel and Rita Fayvelevich voted against the change, all for various reasons.

Several individuals from Fair Lawn's Muslim community, including students, spoke at the meeting advocating for Eid as a school holiday. Students noted they did not want to choose between celebrating with their families and missing out on school work.

Banta said he had come prepared to vote against Eid as a holiday on the calendar, but after hearing the students, he changed his mind.

"You showed up and made a compelling argument," Banta told the audience.

Superintendent Nicholas Norcia explained the calendar is a well-thought-out activity, taking into account how many days students are mandated to be in school, what the district is contractually obligated to do for teachers, and other community needs and sensitivities. He noted the 2023-24 calendar begins on August 30 as a full staff in-service day.

"Staff has asked for Easter Monday because for the first time in this district, we're starting the school year in August," Norcia said.

Diwali, a Hindu festival of lights, was put on the schedule last year; but this year, the first day of the holiday falls on a Sunday, November 12. No day has been scheduled for Diwali on the 2023-24 calendar, although Bertolini said he supported giving Monday, November 13 as a holiday to honor Diwali.

February 19 and 20, often noted as Presidents' Day and winter break, was suggested to be cut back to just February 19.

"What happened to our wellness, our mental health?" Mahan said, advocating for February 19 and 20 as days off. Those days off were maintained.

Graduation is on June 18, 2024, therefore ending the school year.

Martin Luther King Day is a day off on January 15. It was suggested that holiday be subtracted from the calendar.

"92% of Bergen County schools are not open on Martin Luther King Day," Norcia said. "I don't think it's a good idea to give to one community and take away from another."

The board members debated back and forth about taking one holiday and adding others, noting there must be 180 days of school per state mandate.

The agreed upon calendar has 183 days for students and 186 days for teachers, with three days set aside for snow or other emergency closures.

Economic Development

The Fair Lawn Economic Development Corporation has restructured as Fair Lawn Main Street Inc., a nonprofit entity charged with facilitating and coordinating the strengthening of Fair Lawn’s economic and commercial vitality. Additionally, the new entity is responsible for managing the two special improvement districts within the Borough of Fair Lawn.

“This new structure will enable more resources, volunteer energies, and beautification outcomes to flow into the Broadway and River Road commercial districts” explained Fair Lawn Borough Councilmember Gail Rottenstrich. “In the past year, the Fair Lawn Economic Development Corporation yielded tremendous positive results through its state designated Main Street NJ Program. The creation of Fair Lawn Main Street Inc. allows Fair Lawn’s local needs, goals, and objectives to be better addressed.”

A “special improvement district” refers to an area within a municipality designated by local ordinance as a region in which a special assessment on property within the district is imposed for the purposes of promoting the economic and general welfare of the district and the municipality. Fair Lawn Main Street Inc. shall be assuming a position as the administrator of Fair Lawn’s special improvement districts and will be responsible for executing programs to enhance the local business climate.

On Jan. 11, a 9 member board of directors was elected to lead Fair Lawn Main Street Inc.:

Fair Lawn Main Street Inc. has also established a liaison relationship with the New Jersey Business Action Center. The New Jersey Business Action Center, housed within the New Jersey Department of State, provides specialized and professional services to small businesses.

Services of the New Jersey Business Action Center include mentoring, technical training, regulatory assistance, site selection, export assistance, state-contracting support, emergency preparedness guidance, and access to business recovery programs. The New Jersey Business Action Center also works to connect local businesses with a variety of financing options through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) and community-based micro lenders.

“We are honored to have a liaison relationship with the New Jersey Business Action Center,” touted Fair Lawn Main Street Inc. Board Chairperson Abigail Polizois, “this partnership will allow Fair Lawn Main Street Inc. to nurture the Borough’s economic prowess, grow jobs, and help expand Fair Lawn business opportunities.”

To access more business news, visit NJB News Now.

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