Saturday, July 24 was one of the hottest days of the summer. Some spent the day at the beach or pool and others took advantage of their air-conditioned homes. But some Hobokenites chose to spend the day celebrating local bands and businesses at hMAG’s first annual Music Fest!

Kicking off at Shipyard Marina Pier at 13th Street at 1PM, the Music Fest offered community members the chance to hear acoustic sets by the very talented Casey Henry, Marc Giannotti, Ray Greiche, Jessica Rose and Anna Zoe. Along with this, hMAG set up a cash bar, activities for children (including a bounce house and money machine), and vendor booths with local sponsors like Connect by Hertz, Halstead Property, Local Barre, LA Boxing and Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine. The Music Fest boasted free smoothies from Energy Kitchen, ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s and subs from Vito’s Deli. Along with this, raffles were drawn all day with prizes ranging from music lessons at Garden Street Music and 2 Ibanez guitars from Guitar Bar to Rockaholic hair products from hMAG advertiser TONI&GUY.

After the family-friendly day portion of the Music Fest wrapped up at 6PM, the second half of the festival drew music-lovers over to one of the best music venues in Hoboken, Maxwell’s (1039 Washington St.), from 8-1AM. For $10, after-party-goers could enjoy the fresh sounds of Hey Tiger, Red Flag Fleet, 7Mornings, InAshton and The Better World. Along with this, TONI&GUY offered more raffle prizes and hMAG raffled off another Ibanez guitar from the Guitar Bar. This crowd was 21+ and the vibe was lively as everyone rocked out to the original, catchy sounds.

hMAG’s first annual Music Fest was a huge success because of the great bands, Hobokenites who attended, GNYC-TV in associate with M.E.A.N.Y .USA, business owners and especially due to the sponsors: Connect by Hertz and TONI&GUY. Don’t worry if you missed this year’s Music Fest-- hMAG will be having another next summer! Interested in learning more about the featured bands? Check out the July/August issue of hMAG or hmag.com/musicfest and stay on the lookout for our September/October issue which will include more photos and information from 7/24!