The Odunde Festival began in 1975 as a community event in South Philadelphia inspired by Yoruba traditions from Nigeria. It has since grown into one of the largest Black cultural festivals in North America.
“Odunde”is often translated as “the celebration has arrived.” The festival is rooted in the Yoruba New Year celebration and honors African heritage, history, and spirituality.
LEFT: Vonetta Jones, (from left), Cynthia Johnson and Alexis Murray. RIGHT: Lea and Damon Cunningham and their grandson, Noah, 6.
As a photographer working a Sunday-to-Thursday shift for decades, I’ve covered this and many other Sunday ethnic, religious, historic, and cultural festivals — always with a street-photographer vibe.
When I was assigned to photograph stylish clothing last Sunday — festivalgoers are known for expressing their cultural identity, heritage, and pride through fashion — I saw it as fun challenge to work outside my comfort zone and channel a bit of Philly influencer Big Rube or Humans of New York creator Brandon Stanton.
LEFT: Penny Thompson RIGHT: Kelvin Beck
Something I am always asked when speaking to camera clubs or groups of amateurs photographers is: “Do you have to ask people permission to take their picture?” Others ask, “Do you need to get their names?” The most consistent question, though, is: “How do you approach people you don’t even know?”
Joe Quinones.
I am not an extrovert, but early on I realized that “hiding” behind my camera gave me the confidence to meet and build rapport with strangers.
LEFT: Partners Julian Livingston (left) and Nyobi Nashedeem-Murphy (right) and Nyobi’s mother, Stacey Daniels. RIGHT: Tyanna Man and Bella Reina (right).
After years of doing it, talking to people has never been a concern. But using a flash outdoors to fill in shadows while also worrying about visual variety — different ages, genders, couples, individuals, and backgrounds — was not the way I usually work.
LEFT: Angelina Fletcher (left) and her niece and nephew, Leah Fletcher and TJ Fletcher. RIGHT: Jamar Williams and Jamar, Jr., 9.
I think it turned out OK, and I look forward to trying something similar with my visual coverage of the many events ahead this summer. Bring on the World Cup, America 250, the All-Star Game, and everything else.
Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:
Following the Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX win, Deptford High School students Hunter Thomas and Dominic Alia made an Instagram fan page for then-rookie edge rusher Jalyx Hunt, who played a key role in wrecking Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ night.
Just over a year later, Hunt showed up to the high school graduation of the “Jalyx Hunt enthusiasts.”
On Thursday, while waiting to receive his diploma, Thomas received a text from his mother. Hunt, whom Thomas invited, was sitting in the away stands of Deptford’s football stadium. He waved to the Eagle, who signaled right back at Thomas and his friend, Antoine Sims.
“After that, my head starts spinning,” Thomas told The Inquirer. “There’s no freaking way that he actually came.”
Thomas first met Hunt at last year’s Eagles Autism Challenge. There, he showed the edge rusher the fan page called @jalyxhunt_enthusiast. Hunt loved it and followed the account back. Since then, Thomas and Alia have exchanged direct messages with Hunt, wishing him happy birthday and sending him messages throughout the season.
Before the Eagles’ final regular-season game this past season, a 24-17 loss to the Washington Commanders, Hunt met Thomas and Alia above the tunnel to sign Thomas’ jersey. “Always love,” Hunt, who recognized the pair, signed. “Go birds!”
When graduation came around, Thomas had an extra ticket, so he thought to text his favorite player first. To his surprise, Hunt responded that he would be able to come. Immediately, Thomas employed his sister to decorate his graduation cap, complete with Hunt’s No. 58 and a throwback Eagles logo.
In a post to his Instagram story on Thursday, Hunt shared a photo of his view from the Deptford stands. “I’m locked,” he wrote, tagging the fan account which now sits at roughly 1,000 followers.
“I get my diploma, and my mom, because she’s a teacher, she gives it to me,” Thomas said. “I hug her, and when I walk back to my seat, I point out to Jalyx. He points back. When I did it, I was just thinking, ‘I got to show him some love.’”
Jalyx Hunt with Hunter Thomas at Thomas’ high school graduation.
After all his classmates’ names were called and his cap was thrown, Thomas made his way over to Hunt, who was now sitting with Thomas’ father. Hunt caught up with Thomas, telling him that he was cheering loudly when Thomas received his diploma. Eventually, Thomas found Alia on the field and the three posed for photographs.
“There’s a lot of NFL players with all this clout, and their heads are so big, and then he’s just the most down-to-earth [person],” Thomas said. “He’s like, ‘Yes I play football, but I’m still a normal guy at the end of the day.’
“He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life. Me and Dom said, after we were like, ‘This is like a memory that we’re going to have forever.’”
Vineland’s public school teachers are having an easier timewith the question of what to wear to work — at least for the final days of the school year.
In a move to boost morale in the South Jersey school system and make teachers’ lives easier this spring during a hectic testing period, the district eased its dress policy to allow denim jeans until the end of the school year on June 25.
Teachers love it and hope it will continue in September.
“It’s one small way to make the world of work a little friendlier,” said Vineland Education Association president Louis Russo, a social studies teacher. “It’s one small thing off of their shoulders.”
Teachers Andrea Ruiz (left) and Elaine Petrini (right) at Rossi Elementary in Vineland on June 9. The teachers are allowed to wear jeans until the end of the school year.
School board president Cedric Holmes said the Cumberland County district notified employees when they returned from spring break in April that they could wear jeans any day of the week under a pilot program.
Holmes said there had been rumblings among staff because the district — the largest in Cumberland County, with 11,000 students — had to extend the school year to make up snow days. Vineland‘s June 25 last day of school isamong the latest in the region.
The months following spring break are among the toughest with students undergoing standardized state testing, Holmes said. There are also end-of-the year field trips and outings when it makes sense to allow more relaxed clothing, he said.
“It was important to the board that staff felt that we saw the stress of all of that of this as a practical way to give a morale boost for the end of the year,” Holmes said.
Teachers typically dress a bit more formally for school.According to Vineland’s policy, female teachers must wear skirts, slacks, skorts, or dresses with blouses or sweaters, or school uniform. The skirt, skort, or dress should not exceed three inches above the knee.
Male staffers can wear suits or slacks with jackets and ties, sweaters, school uniform, or sports or dress shirts. Deemed unacceptable for both are sneakers, flip-flops, bedroom slippers, combat boots, and work boots. There are exceptions for teachers attending field trips or who work in specialized areas such as health and physical education or arts.
The district also has a uniform policy for students, but Holmes said that has been relaxed and the board also plans to reexamine that policy.
New Jersey’s 600 school districts set their own policies for staff and students.
Steve Baker, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Education Association, which represents 200,000 teachers and support staff, said the union supports the efforts in Vineland “to develop policies that help create a positive learning and working environment for students and staff.“
On a busy morning last week at Anthony Rossi Elementary in Vineland, third-grade teacher Jeffrey Martine stood in front of the class dressed in khaki shorts, a button-down blue dress shirt, and slip-on loafers. As an added bonus, it was a dress-down day, which allowed teachers to wear casual attire beyond jeans.
Jeffrey Martine, a teacher at Rossi Elementary in Vineland, greets a student at the school last week.
“If you do your job well, you have to be able to move,” Martine said. “I’m all about comfort.”
Students in Martine’s gifted and talented class were spread around the room working on a project in small groups. Some sat at desks making posters, while others were stretched out on the floor.
“I don’t think professionalism and comfort are mutually exclusive,” Martine said. “Teachers should be judged more on how they interact with their students than the pants they select.”
Holmes acknowledged the dress code was outdated and revisions are needed. The board plans to review the changes implemented this spring and may allow teachers to wear jeans during the new school year, he said.
“It was time for a change,” said Kaitlynn Rossi, a long-term substitute teacher. “People don’t dress like that.”
Teacher dress codes have evolved nationally over the years, especially during the pandemic, when more casual attire was the norm.
Based on responses from teachers around the world, the website We are Teachers in 2024 compiled a list of “16 Ridiculous Dress Code Rules for Teachers You Won’t Believe Are Real.” The list included prohibiting hats, capri pants, pants with pockets, UGGs, hoodies, or dark underwear.
In Philadelphia, where classes ended last week, there is no system-wide dress code for staff. Arthur Steinberg, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, which represents about 14,000 teachers, counselors, nurses, secretaries, and other workers, said employee dress typically does not come up as an issue.
School board president Cedric Holmes at Rossi Elementary in Vineland last week. Holmes said the teacher dress code policy was relaxed in an effort to improve morale at the end of the school year.
Holmes said teachers have responded well to the changes in Vineland and there have been few infractions, like torn or ripped jeans.
Before Vineland implemented the pilot dress code, teachers were allowed to wear jeans only for special days. The schools sponsor fundraisers that allow teachers to pay $2 to wear jeans. Students are allowed to wear jeans on dress-down days determined by their school principal, and they do not have to pay.
Fourth-grade teacher Andrea Ruiz said dressing more casually helps her students see her differently. A sign in her classroom says: “Be the best version of you.” She enjoys sitting with students on the carpet in her classroom or playing kickball on the playground.
“We’re meeting them where they are,” said Ruiz, who was wearing a gray T-shirt and striped pants. “It’s definitely something different for us.”
Teacher Kaitlynn Rossi with students at Rossi Elementary in Vineland last week.
Timothy Purnell, executive director of the New Jersey School Boards Association, said a decision as simple as allowing jeans can have an impact on the learning environment.
“If jeans support a positive environment during testing, that’s a local call we respect,” Purnell said.
Russo believes a less-stringent dress code will help attract and retain younger teachers amid a national teacher shortage. He wants them to still dress in a manner that gets respect from students.
“We just have to find the right balance,” Russo said.
Staff writer Kristen A. Graham contributed to this article.
LAWNSIDE — For nearly 200 years, the historic Peter Mott House — believed to have once served as a stop on the Underground Railroad — has managed to withstand the encroachment of the outside world.
In the 1950s, construction of the New Jersey Turnpike brought a heavily used trafficway within just a few hundred feet of the home.There was the time, in the 1980s,when a developer bought up a patch of surrounding land with plans to raze the structure and build housing units. And the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 left the home shuttered for three years — and its future temporarily uncertain.
Now, the New Jersey Turnpike Authorityplans to soon begin work on a $2 billion project to expand the turnpike, which would bring the highway — currently located just 220 feet from the Mott House — 12 feet closer to the building.
The plans have prompted a wave of pushback from a small but vocal group of Lawnside residents, who fear that vibrations from the construction could damage the nearly two-century-old structure and that already “deafening” traffic noise in the area could become unbearable.
Already, says Linda Shockley, the longtime president of the Lawnside Historical Society, which owns and maintains the Mott House, it can be difficult for visitors to hear over the hum of the turnpike. The back of the house, which boasts a quaint patio, is essentially unusable without the use of microphones, she said — and this is to say nothing of the potential environmental and safety implications of bringing a heavily traversed highway even closer to a residential area.
The expansion, which also includes plans to widen nearby Warwick Road, has become — in Shockley’s words — “like a sword of Damocles hanging over us.”
“What are you doing and when are you going to do it?” Shockley said. “And what say do we have over how it’s done?”
Traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike passes at the end of a cul-de-sac near the historic Peter Mott House in Lawnside, N.J.
Theconstruction arrives at a seminal moment for the historic borough, which this year is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its incorporation.
Originally settled by formerly enslaved people who escaped or were freedand considered the first independent, self-governing African American community north of the Mason-Dixon Line, Lawnside has long boasted a historical significance far outsizing its modest 1.4-square-mile footprint.
In the 1930s, it was home to a bustling entertainment district, drawing high-profile acts such as Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Three decades later, Lawnside’s school district became one of the first U.S. governmental entities to declare the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a holiday.
No aspect of Lawnside’s history, however, has remained as vital to its identity than the Mott House, the onetime home of Peter Mott,a free Black farmer, preacher, and abolitionist, who, along with wife Elizabeth, was a conductor on the Underground Railroad.
Built around 1845, the home is Lawnside’s oldest known house and is widely believed to have been a refuge for enslaved people traveling from the South — making it a strong symbol for the community at large.
“This town has been a beacon of hope for African Americans,” said Darryl Lee Dozier, 60, a longtime Lawnside resident. “To be able to walk outside and say, ‘Harriet Tubman came through this town’ — that’s iconic, man.”
At least 18 municipalities across Salem, Gloucester, Camden, and Burlington Counties will be affected by the turnpike project, but the proximity of the Mott House — as well as a neighboring housing development — to the construction has stoked fears that it will be uniquely vulnerable. State officials say they are working closely with local leaders to ensure that any adverse effects of the project are minimal.
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AECOM, the infrastructure firm handling the engineering work for the turnpike project, told The Inquirer recently that Lawnside qualifies for noise barriers to help alleviate the effects of the project, and that “vibration monitoring,” as well as inspections, would be conducted throughout the course of the project.
“Should the vibrations for any reason exceed a threshold that would cause concern, then the activities would pause and we’d figure out what’s going on,” said Matthew Rao, a project manager with AECOM.
New Jersey Assemblyman William F. Moen Jr., who grew up in the area, said he has been engaged in conversations with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority about the project since 2020 and has been cognizant of the questions raised by Shockley and others.
“I’m acutely aware of her concerns, and I think they’re valid,” he said. “This is the time to be talking about those things, and making sure, to the extent that they can be, that they’re reflected in the final plan of what’s going to happen.”
Still, many in Lawnside remain wary.
Kia Jones at her home next door to the Peter Mott House in Lawnside, N.J. Tuesday, May 26, 2026. Plans to expand the nearby New Jersey Turnpike have left local residents concerned about how it could affect a beloved institution as well as neighboring homes.
Despite meetings with officials, said Kia Jones, 60, whose home sits near the proposed turnpike expansion, residents have largely felt powerless throughout the process.
“Their whole attitude seems to be, ‘It’s a done deal — we’re just talking to you because we have to, but nothing’s going to change,’” she said.
For some in this South Jersey borough of roughly 3,000 residents, meanwhile, the expansion raises unmistakable echoes of the 1950s, when construction of the turnpike left a profound impact on the community.
At the time, America’s vast network of highways was displacing — and often targeting — Black communities across the country.
Initially, Shockley said, only six homes in Lawnside were supposed to be affected by the turnpike’s creation. But by the time it opened in November 1951, she said, 27 families had been affected.
“Some people’s houses were purchased, some houses were condemned,” Shockley said. “I’ve seen pictures of houses on flatbed trucks, being moved.”
(It was not lost on some in Lawnside, Shockley points out, that the turnpike conveniently curves around the nearby Tavistock Country Club, a private golf club founded in 1920.)
Though few in Lawnside are old enough to remember the turnpike’s arrival, many have felt the ripples.
Lorraine Pollitt, 70, a lifelong Lawnside resident, grew up hearing about her great-grandparents’ farm, which, she said, had fallen in the turnpike’s right-of-way and, as a result, had to be sold.
Seventy-five years later, Pollitt said, the expansion project feels like more of the same.
“Just taking more from us here,” she said. “It’s always something.”
For Shockley, who has served as president of the historical society since 1994, the effort to preserve and protect the Mott House has been a nearly 40-year endeavor.
She first got involved in the late 1980s, when a local developer, Mark DeFeo, received permits from the borough to raze the house in order to build a small housing development.
A group of residents organized to try to stop the home’s demolition, and Shockley — who was raised in Lawnside and had recently moved back from New York — joined the effort.
It took three years and considerable legal wrangling, but the developer eventually agreed to sell the home to the group for $1.
For its efforts, Shockley later told the New York Times, the group found itself in possession of “a decaying, vacant house … in danger of collapsing.”
In the years since, however, the historical society, buoyed by a dedicated collection of volunteers, has turned the property into a gem that has garnered national renown. The group has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars toward upgrades and repairs through grants and donations.
The house opened to the public in 2001, and, today, it offers a variety of programming, including a weeklong summer camp for middle schoolers on the history of the Underground Railroad, sitting on both the national and state registers of historical places.
In her mid-30s when she joined the effort, Shockley is now in her 70s, her hair flecked with gray. She retired in 2021 from her job at the Dow Jones News Fund, a journalism nonprofit foundation.
“Don’t tell anyone,” she joked one morning recently, from a seat inside the Mott House, “but I’m getting older.”
Linda Shockley, president of the Lawnside Historical Society, at the Peter Mott House in Lawnside, N.J. Tuesday, May 26, 2026. Shockley has served as president of the local historical society since 1994.
But while there is still work to be done, she remains dedicated to doing it — one more battle in a long string of them.
“Ask anybody who’s trying to do anything with historic buildings, or restore history or culture, and you find that, yeah, there’s always something — and there are always threats to it,” she said.
Officials of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Turnpikes have chosen a design to replace the 70-year-old bridge over the Delaware River linking the toll roads: a six-lane span that would be built about 195 feet north of the existing one.
Called a ”tied-arch” bridge, the $1.6 billion replacement would be cheaper than other styles considered and can be built fastest, said John Boyer, senior engineer for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.
“Shorter time frames mean less disruption to local businesses and daily life for the communities in this area,” said Boyer, the manager of the joint project.
Because the new bridge would be farther from the existing Delaware River Bridge than alternatives, traffic can keep flowing as it’s built, he said.
Planners for years have known that the region would need a new turnpike bridge because of exponential growth in traffic volume, especially trucks.
Freight volumes nationally are projected to grow by 73% by 2050, with warehouses on both sides of the river relying on crossing.
Before the nearby I-95/Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange opened in 2018, an average of 42,000 vehicles a day crossed the four-lane Delaware River Bridge. Now, that’s up to around 70,000. By 2050, projections say an average 93,000 vehicles will need to traverse the replacement.
The surfaceof a tied-arch bridge provides tension to resist the horizontal forces pressing on either end of the arch, like the taut string that connects a bow. It requires less sturdy foundations than a bridge supported by cables.
“You can be build those river piers while you’re building the arch structure off-site,” Boyer said. When the piers are ready, the arch can be brought in by barge and “you can essentially jack it and elevate it up into place,” he said.
Federal authorities approved a new span in 2003, but the project was put on hold because of problems paying for it.
As congestion increased on the repaired bridge, more traffic capacity became imperative, officials said.
Because the earlier federal approval was so old, officials had to start again with a new environmental impact statement and design studies. Last year, turnpike officials settled on two options.
Now, they’re finishing up the environmental impact statement, with formal public hearings scheduled for the winter.
Turnpike officials expect the Federal Highway Administrationto make a decision on the project around April 2028.
The two states’ turnpike agencies will finance the balance. Borrowing would be backed by toll revenue, but both say the bridge project won’t increase tolls for drivers.
Angelo’s Pizzeria owner Danny DiGiampietro has been pursuing two ambitious goals: reviving a landmark Montgomery County bakery and opening a branch of his Michelin-recommended pizza-and-sandwich operation in South Jersey, where it all began.
Both projects now appear to be gaining momentum. While Angelo’s vaunted rolls are being baked at the former Conshohocken Italian Bakery property, which DiGiampietro purchased last year, the long-held plans to reopen the bakery’s counter to retail customers remain on hold. DiGiampietro said the building requires additional work, which he declined to specify. “Every time we fix one thing, something else comes up,” he said.
Danny DiGiampietro (left), owner of Angelo’s Pizzeria, with partner Jared Braunstein at the bakery in Conshohocken in December 2024.
But Angelo’s is moving into wholesale bread production, the backbone of Conshohocken Italian Bakery’s business under the Gambone family for more than a half-century before its 2024 closing.
A key piece of the puzzle is on the way: a massive Polin oven imported from Italy to give his bakers more flexibility, DiGiampietro said.
The future location of Angelo’s Pizzeria in West Collingswood Heights, previously Di’Nics, on June 18, 2026.
At “Conshy,” as the Jones Street bakery was known, the Gambone family supplied rolls and bread to hundreds of restaurants and sandwich shops throughout the region. Its closing created a frenzy among customers and competitors.
DiGiampietro said the new oven will allow bakers to create a line of kaiser rolls, potato rolls, steak rolls, and hoagie rolls. Although he will in effect be selling to his sandwich shop competitors, he likens it to giving shops “the canvas to make their art,” DiGiampietro said. “Everyone’s different.”
A return to wholesaling was not in the initial plans for DiGiampietro, who owned a bread bakery in South Philadelphia about 20 years ago. “I went bankrupt the first time. So hopefully I don’t go bankrupt again.”
Meanwhile, demolition and rebuilding are underway at the future Angelo’s Pizzeria location at 310 Black Horse Pike in the West Collingswood Heights neighborhood of Haddon Township, Camden County. The stand-alone building was formerly Di’Nics.
Crews recently gutted the building, which DiGiampietro hopes to transform into a full-service Angelo’s within the next several months.
The project will mark his return to New Jersey. DiGiampietro opened his first Angelo’s in Haddonfield in 2013 before closing it in 2018 to focus on the Ninth Street location in South Philadelphia, which opened in 2019 and helped turn Angelo’s into one of the region’s most sought-after pizzeria and cheesesteak shops.
The Angelo’s in West Collingswood Heights, about 10 minutes from the Walt Whitman Bridge, will include table seating as well as a counter overlooking the kitchen. Initially, DiGiampietro wanted more seating. Then he began talking about a takeout-only operation.
“But people love the show,” he said. “They like to see everything happening.”
The build-out still requires installation of a pizza oven, walk-in refrigeration, and other equipment. Even so, DiGiampietro believes the compact space can work.
“We think we can keep a dining room and still fit everything we need in there,” he said. “It’ll be tight, but we work on Ninth Street in basically a submarine, so how much tighter can it get?”
Jasmine Jackson sat on her couch at her home in Winslow Township, watching a broadcast of the nation’s fastest high school hurdlers competing at the 2025 Brooks PR Invitational. As she watched, she made it her goal to be on that track, competing in the race.
After a year of training and dropping time, her invitation arrived in the mail, making her the first athlete in Winslow Township history to earn a spot in the prestigious event.
“It was a big accomplishment when I got the invitation,” she said. “I was ecstatic. To know I was the first to do this showed it was a stepping stone to something even greater.”
And something greater came at this year’s Brooks PR Invitational on June 7 in Renton, Wash.
The Winslow Township High School sophomore claimed the 100-meter hurdles title with a time of 13.33 seconds. It came days after winning the New Jersey Meet of Champions and running a personal-best 13.28 seconds.
Jasmine Jackson set a personal record in the 100-meter hurdles at the New Jersey Meet of Champions.
Her personal record currently ranks No. 3 in state history, No. 3 all-time on the wind-legal list for sophomores, and No. 3 in the nation this season. Jackson continues to climb the ranks as one of the nation’s fastest hurdlers and wants to accomplish more.
Her love for hurdling began at a young age. Jackson grew up going to the track with her dad, Tyree Jackson, who was a sprinter and relay runner at Camden High School and Rowan. He is now a track-and-field coach at Pennsauken.
When she was 5, she saw a hurdle on the track and asked her dad if she could try to jump over it. Tyree initially said no, worried she might hurt herself, but she persistently asked, so he finally gave in.
She cleared the hurdle with her right leg leading and left leg trailing, the form she still uses today.
“It was perfect,” Tyree said.
Starting out, however, he wasn’t convinced that hurdles would become her event.
“There were a lot of times where I thought that maybe hurdles weren’t for her because she was too timid and scared to actually run through the hurdles,” he said.
Tyree scoured the internet for drills and training ideas to help his daughter develop as a hurdler. His former teammates offered advice on technique and form, and they soon progressed from wickets to smaller hurdles. She joined Winslow Elite Track and Field at age 8 to keep improving.
By 14 years old, Jasmine broke the national record for the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.72 seconds at the 58th AAU Junior Olympic Games in Greensboro, N.C. That race gave her a newfound confidence.
“That race pushed her over the edge as far as her demeanor and her confidence level because in order for her to win and break the record, she had to beat some really talented athletes she had never beaten before,” Tyree said.
And as her confidence has grown, her times have dropped.
Part of that growth has come from racing against the nation’s best, including one of her biggest competitors, Nia Armstrong from Tampa, Fla. The hurdlers have developed a friendly rivalry over the years since they typically compete in the same races and push each other to faster times.
“Whenever those two compete against each other, it’s like I don’t care who else is on the track, the race is going to be between them,” Tyree said.
Before the Meet of Champions earlier this month, Jasmine was nervous. The meet featured the toughest competition she faced all season. But as she set up on the line, she reminded herself that she belongs here and is built for the moment.
“I just tell myself I’ve been here before. It’s just a track. I know how to run. I know how to hurdle. I know what I’m capable of,” she said. “I believe in myself, I’m ready for this moment, and not to let an opportunity pass by because you might not get it again.”
Developing self-belief in a mentally challenging sport, Jasmine says, has been one of her biggest areas of growth.
“She’s always been good. She just didn’t have the confidence to know that she’s good,” said Shawnnika Brown, Jasmine’s high school coach. “Now, she is running with a purpose.”
That purpose is reflected in her daily routine. Jasmine trains with her team after school, goes to the gym to lift weights, and does additional hurdle sessions with her dad on the weekends.
Having Tyree as her coach has also been an important part of her success.
“I try not to let the coach interfere with the father,” Tyree said. “I’ve learned how to talk to her and get her motivated to the best of my ability without her being upset with the father.”
After Jasmine won at Brooks, Tyree let his daughter enjoy the moment before turning their attention to the next race.
“She knows I’m going to focus on the flaws first before I celebrate her and give her roses because I sometimes have to be the coach first and then dad second,” he said.
That approach is shaping one of the nation’s fastest high school hurdlers, but Jasmine’s goals go beyond state titles and national championships.
Jasmine Jackson will compete at the New Balance Nationals at Franklin Field this weekend.
“The ultimate goal is to go to the Olympics,” Jasmine said. “Knowing I have that goal in mind, no matter how I feel, I know I have to work for it. It’s not going to be given to me. I have to earn it.”
For now, the 15-year-old can check the Brooks PR Invitational off her list. Up next is the New Balance Nationals running until Sunday at Franklin Field. Jasmine will run the 100-meter hurdles and 4×400-meter relay championship. She is looking to earn her first national title at the event.
“I’m tired of being second at this event,” she said, laughing. “I’m going up against pretty tough girls, so it’s going to take a lot to win. I believe I can do it if I put my mind to it.”
RINGOES — The first time Ozgur Tunceli planted hazelnut saplings on her Hunterdon County farm, deer came through and ate them to the ground.
The next time, her goats did the same.
“Imagine me sitting there and crying and regretting everything that I did,” she said. “I said, ‘I should sell this farm and just go back to my suburban life.’”
Instead, she got an electric fence. Now, four years after she set out to become a hazelnut farmer, Tunceli has close to 1,000 trees planted on her hilly, sprawling property in Ringoes. She’s part of a small but widening group of pioneers who are working to make hazelnuts as much of a signature New Jersey crop as tomatoes, blueberries, corn, and cranberries.
“We are really trying to build an entire industry here,” Tunceli said.
The state wants to help, said Ed Wengryn, the state’s agriculture secretary.
Officials are eyeing incentives to offset high startup costs and entice more farmers into growing the trees, Wengryn said.
And Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-Middlesex), whose district office is just up the road from a hazelnut farm in Hillsborough, is seeking $6.5 million in state funding to help growers buy equipment to sort, shell, and package nuts for sale and secure a processing site. He envisions hazelnuts at every Garden State farm stand and a New Jersey version of Nutella on supermarket shelves someday.
“The potential for New Jersey to become a major player in hazelnut production is enormous,” Zwicker said. “I don’t think New Jersey peaches, blueberries, and tomatoes are going away, but I think if we get this right, we will be known worldwide as a hazelnut producer.”
Ozgur Tunceli shows one of the few of her hazelnut trees that is taller than she is on June 5, 2026, at Our Farm by the Creek, her hazelnut farm in Ringoes.
Some hazelnut history
Turkey produces about 70% of the world’s hazelnuts, and until recently, Oregon’s Willamette Valley was the only place in the U.S. to grow the nutrient-rich, round nuts also known as filberts.
The seeds for New Jersey’s fledgling filbert industry were first planted, literally, by Rutgers University.
Tom Molnar was a Rutgers student about 30 years ago hunting for a Ph.D. topic when he decided to focus on hazelnuts, which are native to New Jersey but had been decimated by disease decades ago. Molnar’s mentor was the late C. Reed Funk, Rutgers’ famed turfgrass breeder whose work made the school millions in royalties and a global powerhouse in grass development. Funk saw better breeding as key to growing nuts in the Northeast, Molnar said.
“We had land, we had funding, and he knew how to run a breeding program,” said Molnar, who’s now a professor of plant biology at Rutgers.
Molnar rejected nut trees like walnut, pistachio, and pecan, not wanting to compete with big U.S. producers like California and Georgia. He picked hazelnuts because, besides being native to New Jersey, they need less water, are more compact, and produce faster than other nut trees, he said.
He started by collecting hazelnut seeds from around the world and eventually planted tens of thousands of trees at Rutgers’ research farm in East Brunswick, observing and experimenting to create disease-resistant, higher-yield trees.
By 2020, his research had progressed enough that he wanted to see how his trees would do around the Garden State. He partnered with several farmers to plant Rutgers-bred varieties whose names honor their Jersey roots: Raritan, Somerset, Monmouth, and Hunterdon. Those farms still serve as living laboratories, with new growers adding to their ranks since Rutgers licensed a Columbus nursery to sell their cultivars.
“This has been a dream to grow hazelnuts in the eastern U.S. for 200 years,” Molnar said.
Ed Clerico was one of the “early adopters,” as Molnar puts it.
Farmer Ed Clerico walks the fields of his farm in Hillsborough on June 6, 2026.
Clerico is a third-generation farmer whose family ran a dairy farm in Hillsborough (the one near Zwicker’s office), but who pivoted in retirement to perennial crops that don’t require annual tillage and planting.
He also had a career in water resource management, an experience that has deepened his dedication to filbert farming.
His 38-acre farm sits along Royce Brook, which feeds the Millstone and Raritan rivers, two waterways that flow through nearby Manville and Bound Brook and that sometimes catastrophically flood. He regards hazelnut trees, as well as thirstier breeds like the persimmons and pawpaws he’s planting in a floodplain beside the brook, as pulling double duty.
“There’s just a lot of benefits to agroforestry. Growing trees sequester a lot of carbon, so there’s greenhouse gas benefits. And they help with water quality and flood mitigation,” Clerico said. “This could be one of the best stormwater management and water quality advancements. When you hear about stormwater management, people are very oriented towards man-made infrastructure, but we could be using the environment as infrastructure too.”
Wengryn already is a convert, for the trees’ ecological benefits alone.
“They create a shade canopy, reducing ambient air temperatures in and around the orchard area. When we get these intense storms that drop a quarter to a half inch of rain in 15 minutes, the leaf canopy breaks that up, so it actually falls more gently to the soil and we get less soil erosion from this kind of agriculture,” Wengryn said.
Molnar ticks off a long list of other perks he hopes will persuade more farmers to plant Rutgers’ hazelnuts. They don’t require as many fungicides or insecticides, or as much pruning, as the peach, apple, and other fruit trees more commonly grown in New Jersey. They’re harvested by machine so don’t need as much labor as hand-picked crops. The trees are more climate-resistant and can live for over 50 years, making them both less susceptible to weather extremes that can destroy less-hardy crops and a good long-term investment. And hazelnuts aren’t as perishable as other crops; harvested unshelled nuts can be stored and stay fresh for over a year.
“That means you could sell them throughout the winter into the spring,” Molnar said.
But several hurdles have kept the industry small so far.
The high land costs that can make farming a pricey profession in New Jersey have hindered hazelnut expansion, farmers agreed.
The costs and logistics of processing are another barrier, Molnar added.
With most filbert farming occurring on other continents, U.S. growers must look to Europe and beyond for the machinery to harvest, sort, and get the nuts to market. Tunceli, Clerico, and two other farmers formed an agroforestry cooperative to process, promote, and sell their nuts. The co-op recently bought some equipment, funded by a federal grant, that they’ll house at Tunceli’s 89-acre farm until they find funding to open a separate processing facility.
Farmer Ed Clerico bought specialized equipment, including this mower, to harvest hazelnuts on his Hillsborough farm.
At the same time, it takes five years for young hazelnut trees to produce their first nuts and seven to eight years for them to come into significant production, Molnar said. That means farmers see little to no return on their investment for years.
“Younger farmers don’t really have that much money to invest, while older farmers don’t have that much time,” Tunceli said.
Tunceli, who’s 56 and has kept her job in the healthcare insurance industry, hopes her orchards will thrive enough for her to live wholly off her land, but she expects that could take another five years.
Because hazelnuts have not been a U.S. crop outside of Oregon, some local farmers also see challenges in who to sell them to, fretting that a market might not exist here.
Tuncheli is not one whit worried about that.
She grew up in Turkey and immigrated here for college about 30 years ago. In Turkey, every bit of hazelnut trees gets used, she said. The kernels become nut butters, oils, flour, milk, candies, desserts, and other foods; the trees’ leaves can make herbal teas; their limbs can be used to weave baskets; and nutshells can be used for exfoliating scrubs, cosmetics, and even clean-burning fuels.
“That part is really easy,” she grinned.
Wengryn doesn’t see that as a problem either, noting a “global craze” for treats like Italian company Ferrero’s Nutella and Ferrero Rocher chocolate-hazelnut bonbons.
“People love this product,” he said of hazelnuts. “There’s very little domestic production of it, and this is an opportunity to enter that market.”
The future of filberts
Zwicker has submitted two budget resolutions that, if approved, would provide $298,200 in state funding to the agroforestry cooperative to support hazelnut automation, cold storage, food safety compliance, and commercial-scale infrastructure and nearly $6.3 million for the cooperative to build a processing facility and establish grower incentives.
Wengryn said he aims to work with the state Economic Development Authority to tailor more “business builder” funding to sustainable agriculture like hazelnut farming. He also thinks New Jersey could designate money collected under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate effort to reduce the power sector’s emissions that worsen climate change, for agroforestry.
“This type of agriculture really complements that carbon sequestration and really does improve our air quality and our water quality,” he said.
Whether or not New Jersey becomes a hub for hazelnuts, Rutgers’ cultivars now grow beyond the Garden State. Their trees are planted on about 300 acres across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio, Molnar said.
His work has made him somewhat of a celebrity in agriculture, at least elsewhere, in places where hazelnuts are a major, prized crop.
“In New Jersey, I’m an anonymous nobody, and like, nobody cares what I do,” he said with a laugh. “I guess agriculture isn’t really cool.”
Thomas Molnar stands in front of hazelnut trees cultivated by his team at Rutgers Horticultural Farm 3 in East Brunswick.
But Clerico expects Molnar’s research, like the trees on his own Hillsborough farm, will outlive them both.
“Rutgers’ work isn’t just leading-edge in terms of New Jersey. What they’ve done in their breeding programs to produce trees that have multiple gene resistance to diseases could benefit everywhere in the world,” Clerico said.
Some state legislators clearly agree and aren’t waiting on the industry to scale up to brag about New Jersey’s role in the hazelnut tree’s return to the region’s soils.
They want hazelnuts to be the official state nut.
The Assembly passed the proposal Thursday, despite opposition from most of the chamber’s Republicans that drove some to voice their objections for the record.
Assemblywoman Aura Dunn (R-Morris) said anointing hazelnuts the state nut was a few decades premature, Assemblyman Gregory Myhre (R-Ocean) said the American chestnut should get the honor, and Brian Bergen (R-Morris) blasted the the bill as a “moronic, awful, stupid, crazy, nutty piece of legislation.”
“Why on earth do we need a state nut?” Bergen said, before imploring Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin: “I just really wish that, Mr. Speaker, you would do a better job selecting the bills that come to the floor, because this is useless.”
Bill sponsor Assemblyman Sterley Stanley (D-Middlesex), whose district includes Rutgers’ research farm, remained undeterred.
In a sweeping statement on the Assembly floor with Molnar standing at his side, Stanley hailed hazelnuts as “the most promising engine for economic development offered to rural communities in decades.”
“These trees represent a monumental achievement for our state, a true breakthrough in science that reinforces why we are known as the Garden State,” he said. “These hazelnuts are testament to the balanced spirit of innovation and resilience that lies at the heart of what it means to be a New Jerseyan.”
On a warm weekend earlier this month, dozens of shoppers, some of them dressed in Regency-inspired apparel, milled about the city of Bordentown, in Burlington County.
Those donning bonnets and hand fans weren’t time travelers or lost actors — they were there to celebrate the opening of a new bookshop with plenty of historic flair of its own.
Inspired by the works of renowned 18th- and 19th-century novelist Jane Austen, Austen’s Shelf penned a new chapter June 6 with the opening of its storefront at 230 Farnsworth Ave. The bookshop, which held a period-inspired costume contest for the occasion, is part of a growing surge of independent bookstores nationwide.
Austen’s Shelf launched last year as a mobile bookstore in a 98-square-foot trailer.
Austen’s Shelf launched last year as a 98-square-foot mobile bookstore that popped up at festivals and events, many of them in South Jersey. It was born out of founder Charity Herndon’s desire to fulfill a lifelong dream of owning a bookstore, something she decided to pursue after facing a breast cancer scare.
While she ultimately didn’t end up with a diagnosis, the experience changed how the now-30-year-old looked at life.
“I feel like a completely different person than I was before the health scare,” she said. “After you get over that mountain, it’s kind of like, all systems go.”
For Herndon, it was. Within months of her mobile shop’s September opening, she began to contemplate a more permanent space, seeing a desire from customers to “sit and linger.” With long lines forming at pop-ups, she felt like the shop had become as much about buying a book as it was a place for people to connect.
That was further stoked after a dreary winter and one particularly busy January pop-up at Turtle Beans Coffee in Bordentown. During that event, she said visitors told Herndon “we need a bookstore like this in town.”
While there’s already an independent bookstore there, Old Book Shop of Bordentown specializes in general used, out-of-print, and antiquarian books. Coincidentally, Jane Austen is the 21-year-old shop’s second-best selling author, owner Doug Palmieri said.
Given the two don’t have significant crossover in their business models, he welcomes having another bookshop nearby. Like antique stores, “the more there are in one area, the better for business,” he said, adding that he got a boost during Austen’s Shelf’s opening weekend, which coincided with the New Jersey book crawl and another store’s opening.
Independent bookstores like Austen’s Shelf are on the rise nationally. According to the American Booksellers Association, 605 new bookstore businesses opened in 2025, an 87% increase from 2024.
They’ve proliferated in the Philadelphia suburbs in recent months. Chapter Two Books opened in Wynnewood in May, Forage Books debuted in Kennett Square in February, and two bookstores, Celia Bookshop and Dirt Farm Books, opened in Swarthmore in October and January, respectively. The latter specializes in used and rare books.
Books aren’t the only media form making a resurgence. A Passyunk Square resident is on the hunt for a place to set up Little Movie Store, a video rental shop in the vein of Blockbuster.
Palmieri — a 20-year member, current secretary, and past president of the Downtown Bordentown Association, which promotes and supports local businesses — attributes the growth of indie bookshops partly to an uptick in younger readers, primarily those in their 20s and 30s.
“They like the touch and feel of books,” he said. “They like to have the books in their hands.”
DBA treasurer and past president CJ Mugavero, who owns Artful Deposit, sees the rise in retail as something of a reaction to the increased digitization of society.
“What people are craving is the human factor,” she said. That’s helped spur a number of new businesses in Bordentown recently.
Located next door to Austen’s Shelf, menswear and home store Haberdashery and Home debuted this month. Earlier this spring, the historic city welcomed art spaces Bonaparte Boutique and Sleeping Cat, an expansion of studio Leaping Dog. Abyssal Brewing and yoga and pilates studio The Movement also put down roots there in the first half of this year.
Beyond a desire for the tactile, “people long for community, and I think that’s something you can’t necessarily find if you’re just ordering your books off of Amazon,” Herndon said.
That was top of mind when she conceptualized her new space, which is small, but more than quadruple the size of the mobile bookshop. Clocking in at under 500 square feet, it has a “homey” vibe that allows for lingering and connecting. There are two sitting areas, one with a couch, the other a table and chairs. The latter sits beneath a large mural depicting Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy from Austen’s Pride and Prejudice,painted by Philadelphia artist Erik Weedeman.
Shoppers browse for books and other goods at Austen’s Shelf in Bordentown.
Like its predecessor, this edition of Austen’s Shelf caters to a wide range of readers, stocking a curated selection of young adult, literary fiction, poetry, mystery and thriller, and fantasy, as well as children’s books.
There’s also a room dedicated to Austen, complete with a gilded digital display showing film adaptations of her books. Herndon also sells a selection of what she’s dubbed “Regency-modern” apparel.
With a permanent space now up and running, Herndon has no plans to stop taking the mobile bookstore out. She’s just refining the schedule and taking on fewer events.
A former Bordentown resident who now lives in Gloucester County, Herndon hopes the shop helps draw visitors to the city. She wants visiting Austen’s Shelf to feel “like an experience where the entire town can kind of be a place to linger.”
If opening weekend was any indication, that just might be the case. Looking out at the historic city during the grand opening and seeing people wander the streets in period-inspired attire, she said the image “just fits like a glove. It’s the dream, literally.”
Austen’s Shelf is open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
After nearly 25 years in operation, the newly renovated H Mart in Cherry Hill is drawing crowds as regulars and newcomers marvel at its major improvements.
The outpost of the renowned Korean grocery store off Route 70 has served the local community since 2001. In April 2025, the Cherry Hill Township Planning Board approved plans for an expansion. A year later, the grocery store reopened with enhancements to the first floor and an open-concept food court, bakery, and retail space on the second.
As a diehard H Mart fan, I decided to venture across the bridge on a recent Thursday and see the 39,000-square-foot store for myself.
Customers shop inside H Mart Cherry Hill.
Where to start your H Mart visit
I arrived at the brick building, marked with the familiar “H Mart” sign in big red letters, at about 11 a.m. Entering through the double sliding doors of the second floor, I found myself inside the new food court.
A few customers dined in the massive seating area that morning, enjoying various dishes. I decided to grab an iced brown sugar coffee boba from Tiger Sugar as a little treat to sip on during my exploration.
Beginning the journey on the second floor was the right move, according to Ryan Solot, a regular shopper at H Mart. He and his wife, Miki Solot, came to the store once a week before renovations. The couple were shopping for dashi stock and Japanese sauces when I ran into them. They were happy to see the makeover, particularly on the second floor’s general shop department. But the Solots still felt the first-level aisles were a bit narrow for ideal grocery shopping.
“The layout is strangely unchanged,” Ryan Solot said. “It’s still kind of awkward to get through the aisles … but start from the top [floor] and make your way down, it’s much more organized upstairs.”
Korean beauty section at H Mart Cherry Hill.
The second floor of H Mart: general goods, Korean beauty products, and an arcade
Walking out of the food court area, I found a mini Korean beauty store with boxed shelving displaying creams, serums, cleansers, tonics, and other products from popular brands such as Medicube, Anua, and Beauty of Joseon. Attendants explained the various products to customers, especially to Korean skincare novices like myself.
Neon arrow signs next to the beauty department directed me into H Mart’s general store and “H Pop” section. A small selection of drinks and snacks lined the shelves leading me into the rows of shelves with over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, toiletry items, slippers, bedding, and kitchenware.
In the back corner I found a vast selection of cutesy notebooks, pens (ones with funky kiwi and toilet attachments), furry character key chains, mini toys, makeup storage containers, and other knickknacks. The prices for items were organized by serial numbers, which were listed on a card hanging off the shelves. Pro tip: Take a photo of that price card to reference as you shop.
Customers shop inside H Mart Cherry Hill.
The first floor of H Mart: frozen foods, fresh produce and seafood, snacks, and lots of instant noodles
Taped to the elevator, two signs offered directions on where to find specific items. “Second floor: food court, house ware, characters, K-beauty, game, health food” and “First floor: Asian/Western, produce, fish, meat, ready to eat, banchan” were written in all caps and highlighted in yellow.
The elevator also had another sign with an important tip for shoppers: “You are welcome to shop freely on both 1st and 2nd floor, and you may check out either floor.”
Downstairs on the first level, the elevator opened up to aisles upon aisles of snacks, produce, sauces, packaged sweets, and lots of instant noodles. Each aisle is organized by number with a sign noting all the items available.
Shrimp crackers at H Mart Cherry Hill.
I walk into Aisle 3 as I exited the elevator and found snacks galore. KitKats, Pocky sticks, Buldak ramen-flavored chips, O’jelly real plum candies, lychee gummies, Poongnyun Bakery seaweed crackers, and so much more lined the shelves. I picked up some of my favorites: Shrimp crackers, crispy snacks made from starch and ground shrimp, and a bag of chocolate yogurt-covered orange slices sitting nearby.
Next, I headed into Aisle 5 for beverages. The vast selection includes soy milk, hojicha, banana milk, corn silk tea, coconut milk and juice, and taro. I grabbed a tall can of Thai tea and a couple of glass bottles of Ramune, a fizzy, fruity, sweet Japanese soda.
Thai tea at H Mart Cherry Hill.
I stopped by Aisle 10 for chili oil and pho seasonings. And on Aisle 1, I found instant noodles plentiful — the Japanese-style soba noodle box piqued my interest. At the end of Aisle 9, I saw cups filled with ice in the freezer section and drinks packaged in pouches for easy pouring. I grabbed the peach mango tea to accompany my post-shopping food court lunch.
As I walked deeper into the store, I found Catherine Yao and her mother, Jingjing Dong, in the massive seafood section, picking live crabs from a big box.
Live crab selection at H Mart Cherry Hill.
Yao and Dong, who live five minutes from the store, come to the H Mart every week. They come for the fresh seafood — live fish, lobsters, and crabs swim in big tanks near the butchers, while some sit in displays on ice — and frozen meats — think beef bulgogi and pork belly. The two also like exploring the premade foods section next door; I picked up a crab onigiri for the road.
The mother-daughter duo recommended stopping by the vast produce section near the cashiers. “I like the fresh durian, lychees, mangoes, and the gold melons,” Dong said.
Food court at H Mart Cherry Hill.
The food court
Around noon, I took the elevator back up to the second floor and ventured back into the food court for lunch.
The court can feel overwhelming, with nine vendors to choose from — think bibimbap, Korean fried chicken, and noodles. Thankfully, Yao and Dong recommended a couple of options: Kyodong Noodles, a Korean-style Chinese noodle restaurant; Daily Seoul, a Korean lifestyle food brand; and Tiger Sugar, the Taiwanese bubble tea vendor I sampled earlier.
While perusing the vendors, I ran into regular Ryan Solot at Mirim, a traditional Korean restaurant. He recommended the cold buckwheat noodle soup. “I didn’t like how it looked at first but then I tried it and it was very good,” he said.
Spicy cold buckwheat noodle soup H Mart Cherry Hill.
I ordered the spicy buckwheat noodles with beef at Mirim. The dish was served in a metal bowl with pickled vegetables on the side, chopsticks included.
For Yao, the food court is a great addition to the store.
“I like coming here more now because they have a food court — we go to eat there pretty often, for lunch and dinner sometimes,“ she said.
H Mart Cherry Hill: 1720 Route 70 E, Cherry Hill; 856-489-4611; Monday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
