The South by Southwest of the Northeast. That’s how I once heard Propeller Festival, New Jersey’s first technology and media festival, described. The inaugural Propeller Festival took place this past Friday on Hoboken’s Pier A Park, a perfect setting for a beautiful day in the sun. With a few minor setbacks, the festival was a huge success and I can’t wait to see what they do next year. Here are some of my observations about the day and what I hope to see next year.

This year marked the first ever extension of the ever increasingly popular Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon series into the New York region, specifically around Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. After a night of rain and cold temperatures, Saturday ended up being perfect for a race with temperatures in the mid 60s and sunny skies. Read on for my impressions of the race and the series in general. I’ll also be running the Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll half at the end of the month, and after such a great day, can’t wait for it.

After spending the last two years at Delaware’s Firefly Festival, we decided to play closer to home this year and try out the quickly growing Governor’s Ball on Randall’s Island in NYC. Once our friends at the Infatuation announced that they were curating this year’s food “playlist”, it was a no brainer. So which food and bands were the best? Streets of Laredo The funky folk fanfare of Streets of Laredo opened up the day.