The Museum of Reclaimed Urbsn Space at 155 Loisaida Avenue (Avenue C)
The Mission of the museum:
(from the museum website)
The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space preserves the history of the Lower East Side’s grassroots activism and promotes environmentally-sound, community-based urban ecologies.
We do this by:
*Archiving and documenting the history of the Lower East Side’s activism.
* Educating visitors with exhibitions and guided tours of the neighborhood.
*Empowering individuals to participate in the drive for sustainable change with workshops and events.
Information of the museum
While walking around Alphabet City for my blog, MywalkinManhattan.com, I came across the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space on the fast gentrifying Avenue C. Alphabet City, technically part of the East Village, has been going through mass gentrification since the early 2000’s. One of the reasons why the neighborhood has not been fully gentrified as been the Public Housing in the upper parts of the neighborhood and lining Avenue D.
The predicament though is even the public housing is going through a renewal with the renovation of the grounds and the buildings with new lighting, landscaping and sidewalks. Hurricane Sandy had really damaged the infrastructure of the complex and the City has been working on this for a few years (Hurricane Sandy was in 2012).
What has been happening in the lower parts of Manhattan as well as parts of Harlem, East Harlem and Washington Heights is that these have become the ‘last frontiers’ for gentrification as New York City keeps getting more expensive. The museum captures the transition of the neighborhood from a burnt out section of the Lower East Side with the bankruptcy of the City to show the grit of the neighborhood not to let their neighborhood decline.
What I enjoyed seeing is how the neighborhood residents banded together to take empty lots and turn them into community gardens, many of them still exist today. These tiny pockets of green have made the neighborhood more desirable to live in. With the expansion of NYU and Pace into the neighborhood and boom of college students moving into the neighborhood made safer by these long term residents have been changing the makeup of Alphabet City. The museum did a wonderful job showing how they banded together and fought the City as it improved in the 1990’s and tried to ‘plow over’ these gardens. There presence today is what gives the neighborhood its character.
The founding of the museum
The history of the neighborhood
The History of the Museum:
(from the museum website)
he Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) was founded in 2012 by members of Times Up! environmental organization and based in C-Squat. As a living history of urban activism, MoRUS chronicles the LES community’s history of grassroots action. It celebrates the local activists who transformed abandoned spaces and vacant lots into vibrant community spaces and gardens. Many of these innovative, sustainable concepts and designs have since spread out to the rest of the city and beyond.
The museum showcases an often untold version of New York City history through photography, videography, authentic artifacts, and documents. MoRUS is a 100% volunteer-run organization committed to open, community-based action. With this space, we invite visitors to learn, engage, and participate in grassroots activism of the past, present, and future.
One of the interesting masks that dot the corners of the museum
A view of the inside of the museum
The Collection and Purpose of the Museum:
(from the museum website)
MoRUS was born in the East Village out of the observation that the neighborhood and its inhabitants, undergoing rapid transformations, are beginning to forget about their own history. When New York City almost went bankrupt in the seventies, community members struggled to preserve and restore their neighborhood. These activists have become fewer, and the new residents, who reap the benefits of their predecessors’ efforts, are left unaware.
Noticing it, Bill DiPaola and Laurie Mittelmann, both long-term residents of the East Village and members of Time’s Up! Environmental Organization, were determined to provide new opportunities for long-term activists to share their story and to pass on their experience and knowledge firsthand to new generations.
Located in the historic building C-Squat, MoRUS officially opened its doors in 2012 as a non-profit organization. The museum’s storefront was renovated almost entirely by volunteers. They did electrical work and plumbing, built walls, ceilings, and floors, and constructed furnishings such as a reception desk and an elaborate mosaic sign. This process took eight months, and involved other volunteers simultaneously sourcing funds and exhibitions, designing tours, and creating structure for the volunteer collective that runs the museum, such as guidelines, by-laws and committees.
Decisions are reached, events are planned, and new volunteers are plugged in through weekly general meetings and committee meetings. Committees include marketing, fundraising, administrative, merchandise, programming, tours, and exhibition/graphic design.
The Museum has become an important fixture in the neighborhood, not only to preserve the untold story of the East Village, but also to encourage community activism and sustainable development.
On the evening of May 22nd, 2025 our college, Bergen Community College, on the Paramus Campus held a wonderful evening of music, dance, art, fashion and culinary delights through the partnership of the Colleges of Art, Music and Culinary Arts in the School of Business/Hotel Management, which make up the incubator, the Bergen Institute of Creative Arts (BICA). This evening showcased the talents of not just the students but the Professors who taught them as well.
The opening reception welcoming everyone
We started the evening with a wonderful cocktail party which the Culinary students created for everyone to enjoy. The food was wonderful and so beautifully displayed.
The delicious crab cakes and beef and cheese tartlets on the table.
The Caramelized Pork Belly has an Asian flair to it
The Vegetarian Quesadilla
The crab cakes were a big hit
The infused Water, Freshly Brewed Ice Tea and Virgin Sangria were offered as beverages
During the Cocktail Party, I got to talk to some my counterparts and some of the students on their works that night. They had done a wonderful job. The Art Department had their works hung all around the Cocktail Party.
The artwork’s theme dealt with the Migrant Crisis
Pictures of people involved in the Agricultural industry
The Fashion Program also put their designs and fashions on display during the party as well.
The student designers that evening showed their designs first at the Cocktail Party
After the Cocktail Party, we moved into the auditorium for an evening of entertainment. We would be getting to see the talents of the Theater, Dance and Music departments as well. The first to perform were members of the Theater Department, who did a wonderful job with their performances. These students could really belt out a tune.
The musical performance of student singer, Francesca Muffoletto, singing “Always Something More”
Then student singers, Ashlyn Kurtzmann and Christine Dunning performed “Perfect Strangers” from the musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”.
The start of the performance
The student singers performing “Perfect Strangers”
Our Dance Department performed next and student dancers, Manna Tao and Lila Knowles performed the dance, “La Bicicleta”.
The student dancers performing “La Bicicleta”
Then our Music Department performed next and one of our Professor’s in the Music Department, Professor John La Barbara, performed with students Steven Hanst and Haydn Day, original songs that he had written. All the music was a Brazilian theme and harmony was brilliant.
Professor John La Barbera with his trio performing “Aqua De Coco”
Professor La Barbera’s original song “Aqua De Coco”
After his performance with his trio, Professor La Barbera performed music from the movies with musician Gunnar Marks, one of our Music students on campus.
The last performance was all the music students, Gabrielle Buttacavole on vocals and Gunnar Marks, Steven Hanst on guitar, Aden Even-Ezra on bass and Michael Ramirez on keyboards performing original songs by both Gabrielle Buttacavole and Gunnar Marks.
The students performing “Share Air” written by the students
After the Intermission, Professor Mary Bays from the Fashion Department introduced her student designers and then they started the fashion show.
Professor Mary Bays introducing the student designers and they started the fashion show.
The Fashion show
The Fashion Show
The Fashion show
The Fashion show
The Fashion Show
Then the student designers came out with their models and did the runway finish with all their creations. These above creative designs were by student designers Michael Agostino, Camila Stefania Rodriguez Cervantes, Ediliana Pena, Priscilla Reyes, Donna Mendoza and Maritza Gomez. Their designs were quite unique.
The student designer and his creations
The student designer and her creations
The student designer and her creations
The student designer and her creations
After the Fashion Show was over to a very rounding success, Professor Ronda Drakeford, Chairwoman of the Hotel and Restaurant program thanked her students for providing the wonderful food for the program. The Culinary students did a wonderful job with both the cocktail hour and the desserts that followed the end of the program.
Then the performances ended and we all went outside the Ciccone Theater to have the dessert hour, which was not quite an hour as all the students, parents and faculty enjoyed the sweets and they were devoured quickly.
The Raspberry Tartlets served after the show
The Raspberry Chocolate Tartlets after the show
It was an excellent evening of students and faculty showing the immense talent of the students at Bergen Community College on our Paramus Campus and the skills they will bring forward in their future colleges and their careers. Congratulations to all our students involved with the Bergen Institute for the Creative Arts (BICA).
In my live classes, I open my consulting company, “Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.”, for business and the whole class bands together and we have one big project. In the era of post-COVID and online learning, I was lucky that I was able to teach one of the live classes on the Bergen Community College, Paramus Campus. It was such a pleasure welcoming students back to campus with live lectures and conversing with them.
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. corporate logo of the six trees
In the past, I have created these projects under the Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. banner, the main consulting company, the Orion Malls banner, a Mall design company and the Buscomonzefi.com banner, my Tech Division. Each business does its best to be creative, forward thinking and have a thought producing presentations. I also challenge the students to top on another in their presentations and build on what they have seen others do in the past.
Professor Justin Watrel, CEO & Co-Founder of Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.
The Behnke Museum Project:
I created the Behnke Museum promotion as a way to promote this wonderful museum located right next to the Bergen Community College campus for tourism. It is such a terrific museum but it never seemed to have any visitors. Not only that, it seemed that no one at the college including the Professors had been there or even knew what it was as they passed it everyday on their way to work. This project, which was the first project in the class, was going to change all of that.
With the help of Fred Behnke and the Board of Volunteers, we partnered together to help the museum promote itself for tourism and put the museum on the map. I created with the help of the Executive Team and the Student Consultants, a series of promotions, commercials and ideas to bring traffic into the museum. The Student Consultants also created an Instagram site for the museum, helped create a website and translated pamphlets into Spanish, Korean and Pilipino to help promote the museum to an outside audience where English may not be the first language. We started the project out with a tour of the museum.
The Sunday Extra Credit tour that my class at the museum
On the Sunday before the formal Class tour of the museum, I gave the students extra credit towards their project to come in on a Sunday and tour the museum at their leisure. About a third of the class took advantage of it.
The next class, I picked my Teams, set up the Executive Team and then it was ‘full steam ahead’ with the project.
We arrived at the museum later that week for our formal walking tour of the museum and the class was broken up into two teams one upstairs and one downstairs.
The Class Field Trip to the Behnke Museum as part of the project
The Team Field Trip to the Behnke Museum
Touring the first floor of the museum
After the tour was over, we took our official Team Corporate picture for the project. Even though it was a gloomy day, it was all energy and smiles and a lot of promise to help the museum gain more visitors.
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Behnke Museum Team picture with the Museum Volunteer Staff
The Student Consultants had a week to put the Presentation together and create a commercial to promote the museum and their PowerPoint on their ideas to create excitement at the museum. Here is their project Presentation and PowerPoint on the project. Please remember that they had seven days to do this.
The Team Picture after the Behnke Museum Presentation to the Museum Volunteer Staff:
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Paramus Team for the Behnke Museum
The Behnke Museum Volunteer Staff was impressed with the students ideas and thought there was a lot good ideas that they can use.
Commercial Group One:
Commercial Group Two:
Marketing Commercial Team Two:
Commercial Group Three:
Marketing Commercial Team Three:
Commercial Group Four:
The Bergenfield Tourism Project: The Bergenfield Museum, Coopers Pond Park and South Church Graveyard Tour Project:
This is when I got the idea of doing the same project in a larger form. I saw the Bergenfield Museum, a small gem on the other side of Coopers Pond Park, that did not much traffic considering the museum is open both during the week and the weekend. The building was an original Demarest homestead and the family had their family plot in the South Church which is located right next to the park. So I approached both the museum and the church to partner with me in creating a project to promote this corner of Bergenfield, NJ for tourism.
Cooper’s Pond Park during the Summer months
So I set up the next series of tours for my students that encompassed the Bergenfield Museum, Coopers Pond Park and the historical South Church graveyard where the Demarest family plot was located. The Bergenfield Museum building is the original Demarest family homestead so it tied in nicely to the project.
Walking through Coopers Pond Park inspired this fascinating project
Two weeks after the Behnke Museum project, I introduced this project and the next week we took a walking tour of all three sites starting with walking through Cooper Pond Park, a WPA project and one of the most beautiful and underrated parks in Bergen County.
We met with the Bergenfield Volunteer Board at the museum to start the tour
The Bergenfield Museum at 100 Cooper Street in Bergenfield, NJ
The President of the Bergenfield Museum Board, Joanne, helped me organize the Team Field Trip of the museum. She had four other docents from the Board helping in four different rooms so each Team would follow each other through the rooms. Each Team had about ten minutes in each room for the docent to explain the collection to them. The Student Consultants got to visit the museum on their own time as well.
Our class being greeted by the President of the Bergenfield Museum, Joanne
Touring the Living Room of the old Demarest Homestead
Touring the old Dining Room and the Chair Factory display in the museum
Touring the Kitchen area of the old homestead
Touring the Military Room of the museum
Discussions of the function of the kitchen on the farm
Discussing the Chair manufacturing in Bergenfield, NJ
The Student Consultants touring the Living Room
The Teams taking notes during the tour
After our tour of the museum was over, we took a group picture outside of the museum with the Board of the museum.
The Student Consultants from Bergecco-Parc Consultants Inc. visiting the Bergenfield museum
After we took the group shot, we walked through the park again to my take note of its Depression era past and beautiful views and colors and made our way to the historic South Presbyterian Church and its historic graveyard where the second half of the project would take place.
South Presbyterian Church at 150 West Church Avenue
Touring the South Church graveyard for the historical walking tour with members of the Church volunteer staff
The tour was lead by Bob Carpenter, a historian who is helping renovate this historical graveyard
The tour of the historical Demarest family plot, which ties into the museum building’s historical past, was lead by historian Bob Carpenter, who is helping the church renovate and restore the graveyard. Mr. Carpenter explained to us how he was fixing all the plots and historic tombstones and how the maintenance of the stones needs to be carefully done.
Mr. Carpenter explains how to maintain the tombstones in these historic graveyards
Video of the walking tour of the historic graveyard:
Both the church volunteers and Mr. Carpenter explaining to the students how families were buried in the 1700and 1800’s
We finished the tour that afternoon inside the South Church to learn its history in the community. Though it will not be part of the project, the church offered the students a glimpse into Bergen County’s past as the original church was built before the Revolutionary War.
The Student Consultants touring the pews of the South Church
Once the tour was complete, the Student Consultants had a better understanding of the locations where the project will take place.
The new project will include walking tours, historical aspects of all three locations, and ways of creating a Destination Marketing Plan for domestic and foreign tourism. This will take place when the Student Consultants present their ideas to myself and the museum and church staffs.
The student consultants had four weeks to this project and put together their game plans. The had to put together commercials to promote the Bergenfield Museum, Coopers Pond Park and the historical cemetery of the South Church. As an extra credit assignment, I had the students develop a Halloween walking tour with food and create a separate commercial for this of which three of the for groups completed.
Quiz Four-The Holiday Project
Before the Team made their final presentation, they created Quiz Four-The Corporate Holiday Party
They did a great job on the ideas for the Corporate Holiday Party and came up with some clever menus and logos.
The Holiday Project PowerPoint:
The Christmas Greeting from the Executive Team:
Executive Greeting:
Team One Greeting:
Team Two Greeting:
Team Three Greeting:
Team Four Greeting:
Then came the big Presentation on December 11th, 2024 and this group did an amazing job with ideas for the Town of Bergenfield promoting the Bergenfield Museum, Coopers Pond Park and the South Church’s Historic Cemetery. Each Team tried to top one another.
The whole idea of the Bergenfield Project was not just to promote the museums, parks and historic churches but to create Destination Marketing Project to promote the Town of Bergenfield as a place to visit for both domestic and foreign tourism. This is the project that promotes that vision:
The Bergenfield Team website for Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc:
The day of the presentation the students had to be in professional dress with men expected to be in Jacket and tie or a suit and the ladies in blouses, slacks, suits and dresses. We presented this project to the Board and members of the Bergenfield Museum and to the Communications director of Bergenfield, NJ, which really gave the students a stamp of approval.
I thought the commercials the students came up with were very clever.
The Commercials of the Bergenfield Museum:
Team One:
Team Two:
Team Three:
Team Four:
The Children’s Walking Tour of the Bergenfield Museum:
Team One:
Team Two:
Team Three:
Team Four:
The Coopers Pond Walking Tour:
Coopers Pond Park sits between the Bergenfield Museum and the South Church and is one of the most beautiful parks and underrated parks in Bergen County. The students were tasked with creating a Walking Tour of the park.
The beauty of Coopers Pond Park in Bergenfield, NJ during the Christmas Holiday season.
Team One:
Commercial One:
Commercial Two:
Team Two:
Team Three:
Team Four:
The Historic Graveyard Tour of the South Church:
The South Church Cemetery is one of the oldest and historic cemeteries in Bergen County and home to the Demarest family plot, one of the most prominent families in Bergen County. The students were tasked with creating a short Walking Tour video promotion for the project to promote the South Church for tourism.
Team One:
Commercial Two:
Team Two:
Team Three:
Team Four:
Some of the Student Consultants also for extra credit created a Halloween Walk for the Church.
The Corporate Picture at the end of the Presentation:
The Executive Team of the Bergenfield Museum project
Another excellent Project from the Student Consultants of Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.-Paramus Benhke/Bergenfield Team
I couldn’t have been more proud of a group of students who created an excellent project!
In my live classes, I open my consulting company, “Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.”, for business and the whole class bands together and we have one big project. In the era of post-COVID and online learning, I was lucky that I was able to teach one of the live classes on the Bergen Community College, Paramus Campus. It was such a pleasure welcoming students back to campus with live lectures and conversing with them.
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. corporate logo of the six trees
In the past, I have created these projects under the Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. banner, the main consulting company, the Orion Malls banner, a Mall design company and the Buscomonzefi.com banner, my Tech Division. Each business does its best to be creative, forward thinking and have a thought producing presentations. I also challenge the students to top on another in their presentations and build on what they have seen others do in the past.
Professor Justin Watrel, CEO & Co-Founder of Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.
I had done a blog promoting the farms (what is left of them) in Bergen County and thought this might be an interesting subject to research further. Farms are destination not just for walking around but for shopping, dining and for entertaining.
I chose Old Schraalenburgh Farm because of the beauty of the farm during the various seasons, the quality of the food and dining options and the location of the farm in comparison from the other larger farms like Alba and Demarest, who have bigger options such as apple picking and hayrides.
Old Schraalenburgh and Farm Stand at 110 Schraalenburgh Road in Closter, NJ:
I talked with their manager one day after class and he seemed intrigued by the idea of new promotions for the farm stand and restaurant. So I put the proposal together, presented the project to the students and then I arranged the Team Field Trip and then we visited as a class.
The Proposal for the project “The Farms of Bergen County, NJ: Visiting Old Schraalenburgh Farm and Farm Stand”:
On a sunny October afternoon, we spent class time touring the farm with the manager of the farm. It was the first time some of the students had had a field trip like this before for a business project.
Our Team visit to the farm in early October
Our host and partner in the project, Manager of the farm Nick Griepenburg, explaining the workings of the farm
Explaining the growing season at the farm and the honeybee business
Visiting the honeybee hives and the honey business on the farm that supplies fresh honey to baked items and for sale in jars on the farm
Visiting the chicken coops which supply eggs for baked goods and fresh eggs sold in the farm store
The Teams feeding the chickens on the farm and hearing about how they supply items sold on the farm
The Team on the Farm
The Team at the end of the tour
After the tour, we went took our Team picture for the Paramus Team working with the farm. This helps the Student Consultants create their own memories of the project and is part of their resume building.
Our group shot at the farm
After the tour, I took the Student Consultants to lunch at Pompilio’s Pizzeria at 223 Westwood Avenue in Downtown Westwood, NJ for a pizza lunch and time for them to get to know each other. These are always successful meals and gives everyone a chance to talk.
Pompilio’s Pizzeria & Restaurant at 223 Westwood Avenue in Westwood, NJ
Team Two having lunch together and creating their game plan for the project
Team Three enjoying a pizza lunch together
This is how we create Team Building and getting the Student Consultants to get to know one another. It is an important part of the project. We break bread with one another and it is how we start the Team project. It was a nice afternoon over good food and conversation and how we are going to market this wonderful farm to foreign and domestic visitors.
Now four Teams will compete with one another to create a Digital Marketing Campaign, Special Events and promoting their wonderful bakery, restaurant, ice cream and flower businesses. Each Team will create a new logo, a commercial for the farm and develop three holiday events to bring families to the farm.
What was good about the project is that is that I hope it helps build their bakery, jelly and ice cream businesses as well.
Their ‘cottage’ businesses during Valentine’s Day
The homemade ice cream business
The homemade jelly business
One event is “Spring in the Air”, will promote the flower gardens and the floral business. They will create an event entitled “The Bunny Visits” with an Easter Egg Hunt on the farm with candy souvenirs. Another event is “The Spirits of Halloween”, for families looking for Fall events like Hay Rides, Corn Mazes and a Haunted Barn event. They will create a special Halloween menu from the Farm’s restaurant list for visitors. It will also promote the pumpkin and apple business.
The last event in development for the Teams is a winter event entitled “Mr. and Mrs. Snowball Arrive”, a secular event enjoyed by all families. This event will open the holiday season on the farm.
After the tour was over, the students spent the next five weeks creating their game plans and putting their creativity to good use developing commercials and shooting them on the farm, formulating logos to rebrand the farm and figuring out how to bring more traffic to the farm.
The student presented the project to myself and to Nick, the manager of the farm who helped me judge the presentations. It really was a great afternoon of new ideas and new ways of looking at the business.
The Corporate Website for the Farm Division of the Paramus Team:
For Quiz Four, I developed the Holiday project to build comrade and prepare the students for their formal presentation. The students are requested by Corporate to create a Holiday menu, an invitation and a holiday greeting in English and Spanish. They have forty-five minutes to create all this and it is always fun to watch how it all comes together.
The PowerPoint presentation on the Holiday Project:
The video on the Holiday Project:
The Presentation Day December 11th, 2024:
I have to admit I was a little nervous about the Presentation to the Farm that morning. Nick , the manager of the farm showed up on time as well as several parents and friends of the students showed up to watch as well. It ended up being a very fine Presentation with not too many hiccups and I was very proud of the students for all their hard work on the project. Since much of the work was done ahead of time, there was time to fine tune the project before the Presentation and that made a difference.
What I liked about the Presentation was the at the Introduction was done in English and Arabic with my Introduction in English and Spanish. About six languages were spoken during the Presentation and I saw some students confidence rise when they spoke in their native tongue. This gave the Presentation a more International appeal and I hope for that when people watch these videos all over the world in the future.
Me with my SVP of Operations Moamen Abdallah and President Gianna Cantatore after the presentation
The Corporate shot of me with the Paramus Farm Team after the Presentation
What I liked about the projects that this Team created is that they are so workable and can be adapted quickly with not a lot of expenses. Since the farm has all the products the Teams used either to raise money or use as refreshments, its a win win for the farm.
I found Nick, the Manager of the farm, to be very open to the student’s suggestions and it gave him many new ways of looking at the farm. After the Presentation was over, there was time for a Question & Answer session where Nick made some really good points. The students did an excellent job creating menus for the restaurant, interesting ideas on promoting the ice cream, bakery and honey businesses and general merchandising and packaging ideas to promote all the wonderful merchandise sold at the farm. It really was an afternoon of creative Marketing and all of this was done in five weeks.
What was the best part of this project was that I felt we made a real contribution in promoting this wonderful farm for domestic and foreign tourism and hope it has an impact in the farm’s future.
Now you have to go and try their farm burger!
Yum!
The Farm during the Christmas holidays after the project was over December 2024:
The outside of the farm decorated for Christmas
The decorations were very festive
The outside of the farm at the holidays
The inside of the Farm Stand Restaurant during the holidays
The delicious looking holiday pies at the farm stand
The sun rose on the day after Thanksgiving to start the sale
The day after Thanksgiving only means one thing to me (and that wasn’t why I had Pesto Pasta on Thanksgiving), we are getting ready for the Christmas tree drop off and the start of the sale in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ.
The set up for the sale
The week before many of the guys cleaned the site on the corner of Terrace and Jefferson Avenues and set the stands and the new ‘shed’ up for the start of the sale the next week. It amazing how fast the holiday season creeps up with us and then we are cleaning the lot again.
The organizing of the Christmas tree drop off
The truck turned the corner and parked by the lot at 7:30am with manhood the guys already there waiting to empty the truck.
The truck arrived at 7:30am
The guys preparing the truck for emptying out
Member Vinnie Decicco unloading trees
Around 8:00am we were joined by a group of high school students who made unloading so much quicker. With most of our members there, we were done unloading and organizing in about forty-five minutes.
The members of the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association
About ten of us stayed through the first two shifts from 10:00am-2:00pm and from 2:00pm to 6:00pm. I stayed through the drop off, the three shifts, the parade and came back to finish the shift and close for the evening. It ended up being a thirteen hour day but we sold fifty-one trees and four stands, a new record.
We also added a float that helped with publicity.
The Men’s Association Float in the 2024 Hasbrouck Heights Holiday Parade
Selling into the late night
Our float in the parade that evening
Characters marching in the parade behind us
The first day of the sale after the Drop Off, I worked a triple shift and marched in the parade handing out candy canes, knowing that I would not be around for the next two weekends and I would be presenting back to back projects at work. So I worked a thirteen hour day plus the Drop Off and the Parade that night and then coming back and closing shop at 9:00pm. It was a long day!
On the night of December 13th, we gathered for our Annual Christmas Tree lot Party for the Men’s Association. I arrived at 9:00pm because I had so many papers to grade. The guys had to force me from my warm home to attend the party and I had a good time as I normally do.
Late night on the first night of the sale
Twenty-Five trees left the night of our Annual Tree Stand Party on December 13th, 2024
Us socializing at the December 13th Christmas Tree Lot Party. Twenty five trees left at this point
By Sunday night, December 15th, we were down to our last two trees. With not much stock left to sell, we put everyone on the honor system that they would pay for their trees by dropping the money off with our members. We think this is a fair system. After all, the money is for our Scholarship program.
The last two trees on the lot at 5:00pm
Not much left after that busy drop off just three weeks earlier
We put people on the honor system
All 427 trees sold out! Another great Christmas tree sale for the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association
Another great year and more scholarship money to give out next year.
On January 18th, 2025, it was time to close the lot down again after another successful selling season. About twenty of us got up at 8:00am and worked until 10:00am to put everything away and clean up the lot. We have to leave it better than when we got it.
Getting everything racked up
Packing up all the stands and equipment
Keeping it all organized for next year
The lot left better than when we found it
See you all on November 28th, 2025. We will be back!
mywalkinmanhattan 