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Tenafly is coming alive with the warm weather. The Spring Fling took place in May and included food and craft vendors, kids’ activities, dance performances and a fashion show! Hundreds of residents celebrated spring with a day of art, food, drinks and more. Another significant event in town was the dedication of the Elizabeth Cady Stanton house—a true state and national treasure.
In this issue of Tenafly magazine, we profile Tenafly resident, business owner and basketball mentor Chad Mekles as well as Rich DeMarco, an announcer for Army football and basketball teams at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the academy’s associate athletic director.
Step inside and immerse yourself in the stories that celebrate the essence of our community. We eagerly invite you to share your ideas for future issues by reaching out to me at hello@tenaflymagazine.com.
Let’s continue to make Tenafly’s story one worth sharing!
Gina Palmieri Publisher
Publisher Gina Palmieri
Local Editor
Jenna Demmer
Art Director
Sue Park
Writers
D. Flynn
Christiana Maimone
Julie Marallo
Elisabeth Sydor
Mark Zinna
Photographers
Alyson Barrow
Damian Castillo
Chris Marksbury
WAINSCOT MEDIA
Chairman
Carroll V. Dowden
President and CEO
Mark Dowden
VP, Group Publisher, Regional
Thomas Flannery
VP, Content Strategy
Maria Regan
Creative Director
Kijoo Kim
Advertising Services Director
Jacquelynn Fischer
Operations Director
Catherine Rosario
Production Designer
Chris Ferrante
Print Production Manager
Fern Meshulam
Advertising Production Associate
Griff Dowden
Tenafly magazine is published by Wainscot Media. Serving residents of Tenafly, the magazine is distributed monthly via U.S. mail. Articles and advertisements contained herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publishers. Copyright 2024 by Wainscot Media LLC. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without written consent.
Tenafly’s mayor highlights happenings in our local community.
BY MARK ZINNA
The Tenakill Swim Club is open! Join in for a summer of fun and adventure for the whole family. If you haven’t had an opportunity, please visit the pool on Grove Street and learn about membership opportunities. It is a wonderful way to cool down and enjoy the water.
Now is a great time to experience the growing number of dining experiences in Tenafly. We have everything from outdoor dining to light-fare lunches and
fabulous dinners with friends and family. Thank you to all the patrons and restauranteurs who enjoy and help create our vibrant community.
Grab your chair and blanket—the Tenafly Summer Concert Series begins Tuesday, July 9, at 7 p.m. in Huyler Park. Enjoy concerts every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the summer. Watch the borough website for the Summer Concert Series schedule, www.tenaflynj.org.
Head up Hudson Street to the Tenafly Nature Center to enjoy some outdoor hiking! TNC is requesting your help to build another exciting new campfire pavilion. The pavilion spaces are enjoyed by thousands of schoolchildren, scouts, campers and residents annually. The new pavilion will allow students to more closely observe our forest and wetland habitats while providing inclement-weather protection for participants in year-round, all-season programming. Visit the Nature Center in person or visit its website to learn more, www.tenaflynaturecenter.org.
Even though it’s summer, we are still thinking about Tenafly Public Schools and planning for the future. After much research and consideration, the Tenafly Board of Education is moving forward with a bond referendum on September 17. Tenafly is such a special place, and the strength and the value of our schools are integral to the quality of life here.
To preserve and safeguard that quality, the board purposefully focused on improvements and student experiences that include something for everyone. A dedicated website, tenaflyschools.org/vote, breaks down the plan to repair, renovate and renew the district’s facilities. Please take the opportunity to learn more about this important vote.
Welcome to summertime—and see you around Tenafly!
Tenafly’s Spring Fling community event took place on May 4 and included scores of food and craft vendors, food trucks, kids’ activities and dance performances. Thousands of local residents celebrated spring with a day of art, bites, sips and more.
Needing a career change, Michele Hausch found a new passion for giving back to people in their golden years.
BY CHRISTIANA MAIMONE
When you truly love what you do, you never work a day in your life. This saying rings especially true for Michele Hausch, director of the Tenafly Senior Center, which has been around for over 30 years.
The center is located on South Summit Street in Tenafly and serves residents ages 55 and older, offering a variety of enriching classes, activities and even travel excursions. The center welcomes people from surrounding towns as well.
Hausch lives with her husband in Hillsdale, where they raised their two sons. She transitioned from the corporate world to giving back to the seniors, first as assistant director in 2016 and then as director in 2019. We chatted with her to learn more.
We have exercise classes, art classes, book clubs, educational talks, luncheons and live music. We go on overnight trips. We have the Tenafly senior bus that takes people not just to the center but to doctor’s appointments.
It’s $25 a year to join, which includes all our educational talks and a lot of our workshops, and then it’s $65 every three months for unlimited exercise classes.
The members stay physically and socially active. They like to party. It’s actually very good for their mental and physical health. For some of these seniors, their younger spousehas passed, and they feel isolated. And this place just brings everybody together.
What do you love about working at the center?
Our members are amazing. I have one woman—she’s 89 years old. She’s been all over the world, but not to Morocco. So I said to her the other day, ‘What’s your next trip?’ And she looked at me and she said, ‘We’re going to Morocco.’ I know a woman who’s 94 years old. She walked in doubled out like she could not stand up straight. She started coming to classes. Now she’s doing Zumba. They’re such inspirational people that it actually makes the process of aging a lot easier and more comfortable for me. This job has helped me more in my life than I ever thought of, just being around these people. People come in and say this place saved their life. It’s like a home away from home.
Are there volunteer opportunities or other ways to get involved?
A lot of kids from Tenafly High School have been contacting us. We do a lot of community events, which turned out to be fundraisers for the Senior Center. We do a huge rummage sale in August. We do pancake breakfasts and we do a health and wellness fair, which is for the community. People get to come in and see what we’re doing, and these kids that come, if they want, can volunteer.
To learn more about the Senior Center or volunteer opportunities, email Michele Hausch at mhausch@tenafly.net or check out the center’s Facebook page, “Tenafly Senior Center.”
Longtime Tenafly resident Natalie Kavanagh helped create one of the most popular LGBTQ+ events in Bergen County.BY CHRISTIANA MAIMONE
June comes with warmth, sunshine and a whole lot of fun. For LGBTQ+ folks, June is Pride month, an annual celebration of pride and visibility for a community that is often marginalized and silenced.
Pride month has been celebrated annually since 1970, a year after the famous riots took place at the Stonewall Inn, one of New York City’s most historic gay bars. The month is full of parades and other community events for LGBTQ+ people
and anyone who wants to show support.
Tenafly resident and chair of the Tenafly Pride Committee Natalie Kavanagh is part of the reason why Tenafly has one of the largest pride events in Bergen County.
In 2018, Tenafly councilwoman Lauren Dayton proposed to the borough council and mayor that Tenafly should recognize LGBTQ+ pride during the month of June. The council voted on a resolution decreeing June as Pride month in Tenafly, which passed. That first year, Dayton was able to
bring together a group for a small gathering.
In 2019, Dayton passed off the event planning to others, and Kavanagh became very involved. Along with other Tenafly residents, Kavanagh worked to make Tenafly Pride a larger, more recognizable event by inviting businesses and community members into their circle. “It was a struggle, I have to tell you,” Kavanagh says. It took time to get things moving and garner support, but six years later, pride is still going strong in Tenafly.
Support for the LGBTQ+ community has come a long way throughout the decades, but there’s always work to be done. Many communities still fail to acknowledge Pride month, but Tenafly is an exception.
“There are very few rainbow families in Tenafly,” Kavanagh says. “Mine is one of them.” Kavanagh explains that it was hard to be LGBTQ+ in Tenafly for many years.
“I came out when [my daughter] was in elementary school, and we struggled with that feeling of being comfortable as an open family,” Kavanagh says. “At that time, my daughter kept my authenticity a secret for inherent safety reasons because kids were homophobic. There were no anti-bullying laws in place to protect us.”
But her family and community have come a long way, and working with the Pride Committee allows her to give back in a positive way.
The Tenafly Pride Committee hosts the community’s annual pride event during June, with about 300 people coming out to celebrate. This year, it took place on June 9. The committee is entirely self-funded and dependent on donors, sponsors and generous people in the community.
The event kicks off with the parade down Washington Avenue to Huyler Park. “In the park, we party,” says Kavanagh. Tables are set up for nonprofit organizations to give out information and show solidarity. “If they can help people by giving the correct information, then that’s just a wonderful way to make an event important not just for the fun but for the substance,” she says.
Tenafly Pride welcomes people from other towns to join in. “We welcome anyone who feels marginalized in their own town to come to our event and hold their signs, say what town they’re from and just be visible,” Kavanagh says. “It’s important to be visible.”
Year-Round Effort
Kavanagh is busy with the committee throughout the year. October, for instance, is celebrated as LGBTQ+ history month. The committee sponsors a royal princess story hour at the Tenafly Library for families of young children, with the goal of embracing fantasy and fun.
The Pride Committee prints lawn signs for families to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community during Pride month. The first year, there were incidents of signs being stolen from people’s lawns.
“But they did us a favor,” Kavanagh says, “because when we started telling people what was happening, we got more and more people involved who said, ‘That’s not right—I want a sign,’ and donated money. We were able to replace them, so each year, that grows as well.”
Some families have written Kavanagh beautiful letters thanking her for her efforts. “Three families have given me their personal stories stating that if it wasn’t for the pride lawn signs, they would never have bought in Tenafly,” Kavanagh says. The signs assured the families that children would feel comfortable here. “And that’s what we want,” Kavanagh says—“for everyone to feel comfortable here.”
The committee also donates money to Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) clubs at schools so they can host their own community events. Committee members do their best to be present at other community events, setting up tables at Spring Fling as well as the Tenafly TEF Education Fun Run. The goal is to have enough funding to be able to have more events throughout the year.
Tenafly Pride Committee would like to express its gratitude to the Tenafly borough council for passing the resolution that allowed pride events to happen. Kavanagh wants to thank her daughter Dori for always pushing her to do better for the LGBTQ+ community and extends a heartfelt “thank you” to her committee. If you or anyone you know wants to get involved with the Pride Committee or attend one of their events, you can check them out on their Facebook page, “Tenafly Pride.” You can also email Kavanagh directly at gnat524@ optonline.net. They’re always looking for volunteers as well as generous donations and sponsorships to help continue the important work they do.
Tenafly resident Rich DeMarco is the voice of athletics for Army teams at West Point.
BY D. FLYNNThere are 134 Division One football teams in America, and each one has a voice. At the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, that voice comes from Tenafly. Associate Athletics Director of Broadcasting and Licensing Rich DeMarco says that, in town, you never know the backstory of the next person you’ll meet. Here’s a little of his. DeMarco, who currently announces for the Army football and men’s basketball teams, grew up in Leonia and
says he always knew he wanted to live in a place like Tenafly. Tenafly had the neat downtown. Tenafly had the Charlie Brown’s. Tenafly had the Friendly’s where he and a high school friend once ran into baseball player Tino Martinez.
After attending college at Rutgers, DeMarco worked an assortment of broadcast jobs. He was hired by a New Brunswick radio station to work as a news anchor. He did the play-by-play for Rutgers and nearby high school ball
teams. He worked on a talk show. But in 2001, he heard about an open job at West Point. He entered the running when the administration was already finalizing its decision on another candidate, but administrators liked his interview and asked him to stay in touch. When the position became open again in 2004, DeMarco made contact and went out for it again. He celebrated 20 years at the academy on May 8.
In 2008, Rich and Kate DeMarco, then newly married, drew up a list of places where they might like to buy a house and raise a family—somewhere with a good downtown and strong schools.
DeMarco remembered Tenafly from his childhood in the Bergen County school system. They rounded out the town’s reputation with school rankings from The Star Ledger and The Record and made Tenafly a priority. In 2013, they had twins, both of whom currently attend Tenafly schools.
DeMarco and his wife both work at West Point, so their two kids often
come to the academy for games and other events. His contribution to the academy also includes some work in administration.
In between calling plays, he occasionally interviews cadet-athletes.
DeMarco cites this as one of the best things about his job, his voice warm with admiration for the players: “Kids who come here for a higher purpose— to serve their country, to represent their country—also happen to be playing college sports.” Everyone at West Point, DeMarco says, works to give attendees the best experience possible.
This year, sports fans will have a
new way to listen to DeMarco in between Army games: He is the voice of the public announcer in EA Sports’ next iteration of its popular College Football video game.
“When you follow college football teams, the radio announcer is many times synonymous with the program,” DeMarco explains. “The voice is tied to the great moments, the great plays. To be a part of a college football program that I believe is one of the top programs in the nation—not only for the history but what the cadets and the programs represent—is one of the greatest jobs in the country.”
The Next Generation
Would DeMarco want his own children to attend West Point? “I’d be proud whatever their decisions are,” he says, “but my wife and I could not hide the fact that if either of them wanted to go to West Point, we’d be so, so proud.”
DeMarco says the industry has changed a lot since he hosted the news from New Brunswick. He cites the rise of the Internet, podcasting and a greater transition away from full-time traditional workplaces to increased reliance on freelancers.
“Young kids have to figure out how to piece it all together … in hours or salary,” he says. “The freelance aperture has widened a lot.” He advises aspiring announcers to “be well-rounded and versatile. It’s tough to find a job in radio where you only do one thing. News, talk shows, sportscasting—be able to do many different things that can fill out full-time duties in radio.”
While DeMarco clearly still has a soft spot for Friendly’s, he’s eager to talk up Tenafly’s homegrown cuisine: Pizza Nova for the hot stuff, and Celebrity Bagels on the weekend. “I would put [these two] next to anything in their categories as being great,” he says.
D. Flynn is a writer who lives in Bergen County.
In his youth basketball program, Chad Mekles sees the sport exploding—thanks to surging interest among girls.
BY D. FLYNN
“The community at large loves basketball,” Chad Mekles says of Tenafly. “We fill a need.”
“We” refers to CMEK, pronounced “seemeck,” which originally stood for Chad Mekles, Expert with Kids. It currently refers to a youth basketball coaching program that trains about 500 students each year in the confidence, motivation, excellence and knowledge relevant to the court.
“There are dozens of players in our program who excelled at Tenafly High School and went on to play college basketball,” Mekles says. “I think that’s important.” Still, he stresses that youth players at all levels can benefit from CMEK programs.
“I know how important each child is,” he says. “I take a personal approach to make sure that each player joins a group where they can be comfortable among their peers, learn and
improve.”
When pressed on what this means, it becomes clear that he’s talking about the gym-class effect: Children can end up on the same court because they’re the same age or size but turn out to have disparate ballgames, leaving one team so badly beaten that kids are discouraged from continuing in the sport.
Instead, CMEK matches players by skill level. The fair playing field, Mekles stresses, creates a challenging but not impossible level of competition. This allows young players to enjoy training and, in time, develop a lasting love for the game.
Mekles points to an example of advanced talent. Former CMEK player Kyle Filipowski is currently an All American at Duke University. This June, he enters the NBA draft and is expected to be picked in the first round.
The CMEK basketball program, which operates in Tenafly out of the St. John the Theologian basketball courts, offers skill training, one-on-one and smallgroup lessons, and both summer and school break camps. CMEK has some overlap with Tenafly’s winter basketball program, which hires CMEK coaches.
When asked how he got started, Mekles cites the most communityminded and sophisticated of reasons: a teenager’s desire for four wheels and an internal combustion engine.
“My mom told me that if I wanted a car, I needed a job,” Mekles says. A junior in high school at the time, he started working as a scorekeeper at the JCC. In time, people began to approach him for private lessons.
Mekles grew up in Cresskill and later moved to Closter before settling in
Tenafly with his wife, Erica, in 2016. Spending his childhood so close to town, he always had friends in Tenafly. He says he found the kids in the town “were well-mannered and able to solve problems, and were very diverse in terms of their talents.”
As a high school senior, Mekles captained the Dwight-Englewood basketball squad, which was named Bergen County Team of the Year by The Record. He graduated from the University of Delaware, coached for various town programs and worked with basketball players in New England, Florida and the Southwest.
Mekles says he inherited an entrepreneurial spirit from both his parents. His mother, Ellen Mekles, founded the Party Girl store. If you’ve
been to a local bat mitzvah or sweet 16, you’ve probably seen a Party Girl dress. His father, Allan Mekles, cofounded SportsWorld Indoor Amusement Park.
Mekles notes that basketball is the fastestgrowing sport in the world, and cites a clear reason: women’s sports, specifically Caitlin Clark. “I felt the excitement and energy of girls’ basketball,” he says.
This year was the first time that the women’s basketball championship drew in more viewers than the men’s, and the WNBA’s popularity has seen a swift and steady rise.
Women’s basketball and soccer leagues are easy to find on social media and on television, and there is a strong tradition of girls’ teams in most towns and schools.
“Every state pretty much now is offering basketball at the very young, grassroots ages,” says Mekles. Social media is further driving popularity. He says that CMEK trains girls and boys in roughly equal numbers.
Mekles’ three children have also shown an interest in basketball. The oldest, Sylvie, played on the only undefeated team in last year’s winter league—Tenafly’s fourthgraders ended the season with 16 wins. He says his middle daughter, Harley, is looking forward to travel ball. The youngest is 4 years old and learning to dribble at the JCC. Mekles says she will start at CMEK this fall.
At Tavlin, kosher meets Mediterranean to provide classic favorites with a contemporary edge.
Looking for a kosher dining spot with diverse meat and vegetarian options? Tavlin—which, since 2013, has offered fresh, homemade Mediterranean-Israeli kosher cuisine that showcases much-loved Mediterranean specialties and inventive salads—is the answer.
Owner Eric Erlich fell into restaurant work while studying for his master’s degree in sports management at Adelphi University. By the time he graduated, he was making good money, so he stuck with his new culinary path.
For 30 years, he was a partner in a “a kosher McDonald’s” in New York City, serving burgers, fried chicken, Chinese and Israeli fare—until he lost the lease. He and his family were living in nearby Cresskill. “When the chance to open in Tenafly came up, I jumped at it,” Erlich says.
A Varied Menu
At Tavlin (which means “spice” in Hebrew), falafel is king and hummus takes center stage, in bowls paired with steak, mushrooms or shawarma—razor thin slices of roasted meat.
Items like shakshouka—poached eggs over a Mediterranean-style salsa—highlight the brunch menu of creative omelettes and meat and vegetable sandwiches.
Kebobs abound but so do American burgers in specialty versions. There are tacos and classics like pesto chicken and chicken cutlet. Salads galore include the iconic Israeli medley of diced tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onions in a splash of lemon and olive oil served with quinoa—a minimalist feat evoking summer’s bounty.
During the pandemic, Tavlin had to make cuts but pulled through. “I started working on a lot of takeouts,” Erlich says. Takeouts remain a fixture of the menu in addition to lunch, dinner and brunch.
He credits the restaurant’s survival to the support of the local kosher community—as well as the many Korean residents and members of the Indian community of Tenafly, who are big fans of Tavlin’s vegetarian offerings.
“I’m a schmoozer; I like people,” Erlich says. He appreciates how the charms and values of Tenafly contribute to his restaurant’s comfortable milieu and its success.
“The people here are nice,” he says. “They’re different from the city crowd—not affected so much by what’s happening in the big world,” he says.
“It’s all good.”
Tavlin is open 12 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Sunday; Friday 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; closed Saturday. It is a Mediterranean kosher restaurant under the supervision of the RCBC.
Elisabeth Sydor is a writer and editor who once spent hours in the back of a truck transporting Mediterranean treats. Mediterranean food is still her favorite.
These selections from the Tenafly Public Library can help you scratch your travel itch.
As summer approaches, our thoughts turn to travel. If you can’t wait for your summer vacation, why not start indulging your wanderlust now? Here are some books that will set you off on a journey without leaving your home.
In her humorous memoir, Hollywood sitcom writer Newman writes about traveling the world after losing friends to husbands and babies. Dodging traditional expectations of marriage and motherhood, Newman lives a life of adventure, meeting new people all over the world.
“TEN
Kepnes’s life changed in 2005 while on vacation in Thailand. He decided he could not go back to his life in the United States, working every day and eagerly anticipating a two-week annual vacation. Despite the disapproval of family and friends, he decided to make traveling his full-time job, blogging about his experiences while living as cheaply as
BY JULIE MARALLOpossible. Today he is one of the highestearning travel bloggers, with two New York Times best sellers. As exciting as his stories are, he is honest about his loneliness and financial struggles while traveling.
“LANDS
As a child, Harris dreamt of becoming an explorer. While studying at Oxford, she teamed up with friend Melissa Yule and made her dream a reality by riding her bike on the historical Silk Road. Her memoir covers their many challenges with language barriers, finding food and navigating bureaucracy crossing international borders.
“ON
You can’t have a list of travel books without Theroux. Here, he explores Mexico, from the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border to Chiapas, at the border of Guatemala. Theroux shows readers Mexico through the people who live there—border residents, Zapatistas,
contemporary Mexican artists and expats—and through vegetation and wildlife, including, of course, snakes.
“LOLA LEVINE AND THE VACATION DREAM”
By Monica BrownThis novel for new independent readers will fuel their interest in travel. Lola is going to Lima, Peru, to see her beloved aunt. Readers follow her adventures in a new city as she and her brother Ben try to stay out of trouble.
In this picture book series, Bella and Harry are brother and sister Chihuahuas that roam the world. There is a book for just about any city, and this series is sure to get the youngest readers excited about travel.
Julie Marallo is the director of the Tenafly Public Library and is proud to call Tenafly her home.
Unmatched in performance, the chef-inspired Professional Range is the crown jewel of Monogram’s Statement Collection. Monogram continues to be recognized for its luxury finishes and thoughtful engineering.
Isabel Preeshagul and her daughter get into the spirit of festivities at Tenafly’s annual Spring Fling, dancing as part of the Ave Lumi fashion show, where enjoyment was (as the song says) only a motion away. For more Spring Fling photos, see page 8. Have
