Heritage Spotlight
Welcome to the Heritage Area at the 41st Annual New Jersey Folk Festival!
The 2015 edition of the NJFF will focus on martime folklife. We plan to present the traditional cultural expressions of such groups as seafarers, fishermen, longshoremen, boatbuilders, and seafood processors. We will work with communities located near oceans, bays, or lakes, whose residents have a strong cultural relationship with the water. Maritime folklore encompasses a wide range of genres, including custom and ritual, legend, narrative, language, jargon, and song, as well as folklife forms such as technical skill, foodways, and material culture.
A special focus of this year’s festival will be revival performances of sea shanties. These were the work songs of the square-rigger days. Without them, many a fine, tall clipper ship would not have sailed serenely into port. “A shanty,” one old sailor said, “is another hand on the rope.” Hauling away on the ropes was was but one of the forms of backbreaking sea labor that these songs served to time and enliven. In addition to the sea shanties, we will feature traditional deep-water songs that were sung not for work, but for entertainment. Typically in the watch from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, the men would gather in clear weather around one of the hatches, where there would be singing and dancing of the jig and hornpipe. There were many kinds of songs that were popular at sea, including songs of famous vessels, ballads of sea fights and piracy, as well as songs of adventures ashore in Sailor Town.
Thank you again for coming and celebrating the 40th annual New Jersey Folk Festival with us!
Randy Budd
Randy Budd, 53, is a carpenter from West Creek, New Jersey, located in southern Ocean County. After surfing for some forty years, he began building surfboards in 2008. He chose wood over foam as his medium because it is more traditional and because he was familiar with it. And, as he explains, wood is “way cooler looking.” Various construction methods are used to hollow the inside of the surfboard and lighten the weight of the completed board. The main inspiration, apart from beauty, is that this is a more environmentally friendly method. Currently, Randy makes hollow wooden surfboards, handplanes for body surfing, and traditional Hawaiian alaias. He told us, “I really enjoy what I do, making boards, teaching the craft, and meeting people.”
Mary May
Mary May is a master basket maker specializing in South Jersey white oak baskets. Mary is an expert on South Jersey basket traditions, researching and compiling extensive information on baskets and basket makers from local historical societies, museums and private collections. She is a regular demonstrator at the Tuckerton Seaport, New Jersey Forestry Interpretive Center, and the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, and is a teaching artist in the Jersey Shore Folklife Center’s Jersey Traditions outreach program. Her baskets have been on display at the Tuckerton Seaport and the New Jersey State Museum, and she travels the state as part of the Jersey Shore
Ka Hlaw Meh
Ka Hlaw Meh’s story of struggle and survival begins in 1996 in a small village in the Kayah State in Burma. The Karenni community has long sought independence from the military rule of the Burmese generals. After she and her family fled their village by foot, in a refugee camp Ka Hlaw acquired a new skill: weaving cotton yarn into fabric on a traditional “back-strap loom.” Apart from their traditional skirts and blouses, she weaves bags that may be carried over the shoulder or slung across the chest. She developed a keen eye for color and ability to weave English and Karenni letters into her work. She is now using traditional methods to create contemporary items such as wristlets, cell phone holders, tote bags, and scarves.
Thomas Schnoor
Thomas W. Schnoor is a 4th generation Belford; Pound Fisherman. His Great Grandfather Jacob Schnoor founded Schnoor Fisheries in 1888 after immigrating here from Germany. Tommy took over the business from his Grandfather Otto Schnoor in 1980 at 18 and continues to pound fish till this day on his boat, the Tara Lynn. Tommy has allowed access to the scientist of the James J Howard Marine Science Labs on Sandy Hook for research and has provided live fish to the Camden Aquarium upon it’s opening. Tommy served as President of the Belford Fishing Co Op for 2 years in his early 20’s.Tommy hopes to continue to Pound Fish as long as possible or until State Regulations put him out of business. Tom has gone from fishing 4-5 traps per year to just 1 and from employing 4 deckhands to only 1 now, due to these regulations.
Skip Deckman
Skip Deckman has lived in Tuckerton for forty years, and frequents the woods and bays of South Jersey. Out of necessity, he and his son began making crab traps and bait keepers for their own use, and then began marketing them through his bait shop The Chum Bucket in West Creek, NJ, which he owned for seven years. Skip makes both recreational and commercial crab traps, and teaches classes in constructing the traps at Tuckerton Seaport.
Ron Spodofora
Ron Spodofora is a Barnegat Bay boat builder specializing in traditional sneakboxes and garveys. Ron spent his career building wooden roller coasters for Great Adventure, and upon his retirement became an apprentice of master boat builder Gus Heinrichs. He took over Perrine’s Boatworks at Tuckerton Seaport following Heinrichs’ death. In addition to demonstrating boatbuilding techniques, Ron also teaches classes for both youth and adults, including the popular Family Garvey program, an instructor in the “Voices of the Barnegat Bay” school outreach program, and a member of the Jersey Shore Folklife Center’s Advisory Board.
Carl Tarnow
Carl Tarnow of Belford, NJ is a fourth generation retired commercial fisherman who clammed and fished pound net traps on the Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays. Carl Tarnow’s family ran their own seafood-packing house in Belford and he represented the area as a member of the Shellfish Council for several years. Carl Tarnow designed and maintains the model pound net maze at Tuckerton Seaport and is a valued speaker on pound net traditions. Carl Tarnow represented New Jersey commercial fishing traditions at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Long Island Traditions Folklife Festival.
Chief Mark Gould & Justice John Norwood
Mark “Quiet Hawk” Gould is known among his people, the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Indian Tribe of New Jersey, as a leader who launched a modern-day re-organization of the ancient tribe. Chief Gould works to improve opportunities for tribal citizens, and believes in preserving the tribe’s traditional culture, customs, and values. He is a native craftsman, a traditional dancer, an outdoorsman, and a grandfather.
Rev. John R. Norwood, Jr., an ordained Christian clergyman, is in his 10th year as an elected Tribal Councilman, is the first Principal Justice of the Tribal Supreme Court, and minister to the tribal Christian Prayer Circle Fellowship Ministry. John “Smiling-Thunderbear” Norwood is the tribal delegate to the National Congress of American Indians, the oldest and largest national organization of tribal governments in the country.
Andrew Tonnesen
Andrew Tonnesen is a student at Stockton University, studying Environmental Science with a concentration in Fish and Wildlife Management. He began carving in 2006, under the tutelage of master carver Malcolm Robinson. Upon graduating from Tuckerton Seaport’s Youth Carving Club, Andrew began teaching classes to club members, and he will be teaching an adult class at the Seaport this spring. He is trying to carry on the traditional decoy carving through various styles and influences, and he concentrates on gunning style decoys and folk art. He says “I try to put my own style in my decoys to portray myself in my work.”