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There, Now
Australian transplant is harness racing’s rising star
Randy Now’s Man Cave makes its move (to Hightstown) but retains its groove
BY RICH FISHER Bordentown residents may not be aware of the fact that one of the hottest and most charismatic young drivers in the sport of harness racing is walking among them. But if an Aussie accent pops up in a crowd, more than likely that’s the guy. Todd McCarthy, a 29-year-old Australian transplant, received the sport’s 2021 Rising Star Award from the U.S. Harness Writing Association after a campaign in which he won 337 races and $7,458,614 in purse earnings. McCarthy hasn’t missed a beat this season. As of July 21, he ranked 32nd in wins in North America with 156, and 14th in earnings with $3,111,883. He stood fourth in earnings among drivers with less than 1,000 starts. On June 18, McCarthy drove Pebble Beach to victory in the North America Cup at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Canada, making him, along with brothers Luke and Andy, the first brother trio to See McCARTHY, Page 10
BY RICHARD J. SKELLY
Kelsey Ford, right, of Ford’s Nest Farm, helps a customer looking to buy flowers at the Bordentown Farmers Market, July 24, 2022. (Photo by E.M. Hume.)
Garden State in full flower at Bordentown Farmers Market BY SUE FERRARA Each year from late March to Thanksgiving, Jersey farmers show just why we own the nickname: The Garden State. New Jersey is home to 9,900 farms, with a combined total of 750,000 acres according to the Department of Agriculture. State officials note: “New Jersey is one of the top 10 producers of blue-
berries, cranberries, peaches, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, apples, spinach, squash, and asparagus.” For eight more weeks, through Sept. 25, area residents can find some of those goodies at the Bordentown Farmers Market on Sundays, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Carslake Community Center on Crosswicks Road. Baker Emily Gaston enjoys
Sunday mornings at the market; she loves the shady, intimate atmosphere and the customers who come weekly. A 2018 graduate of Hamilton’s Steinert high school, Gaston attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, where she earned a degree in baking and pastry arts. On her website she notes: “I am most proud of my internship at Walt See MARKET, Page 5
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Impresario Randy Now — AKA Randy Ellis — had something of a vision for Randy Now’s Man Cave when he opened the store’s first location on Farnsworth Avenue in Bordentown in 2012. With the move of his store to a space on West Ward Street in Hightstown that is three times the size of his old space, he has been able to broaden that vision. “I had no clue what I was doing, but yes, I had a vision,” Now says at his new quarters just off Route 33. Prior to opening Randy Now’s Man Cave in Bordentown, Now put Bordentown on the map, booking shows at The Record Collector. Years before that, he put a onceseedy neighborhood in Trenton on the map for the shows he booked in the 1980s and ’90s at City Gardens on Calhoun Street. Joe Zook and Blues Deluxe had a Tuesday night residency at the club, and Now arranged for See MAN CAVE, Page 8
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