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Emily Knapton

Mark7aml718_2025-07-18-07-21-00

Well, we made it to Friday time now for Main Street, Connecticut, a chance to showcase our local towns and cities and all they have to offer. Today we're in Bridgeport. Let's get to News 12. Connecticut's Mark Sudall. He's a special guest to preview, Connecticut. Pizza and Brew Fest. That sounds fun, Mark. Oh yeah, that's gonna be a good time, Becky. Yeah, we are at the Connoisseur Media building in Milford for a radio not like me. We got all these stations. Look at PLR WeB, ICC, of course, 99.999.9. And speaking of the star, we have a star to talk to us this morning, Kevin Begley. Afternoon Drive. You may remember his voice as you hear him here. Thank you so much for being. Yeah, thanks for being here. Yeah, yeah, so, uh, we're talking pizza, which is what we love, and we got the big Connecticut pizza and brew Fest coming up at, uh, the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater this Sunday. What do we need to know? Yeah, so tickets, get tickets, they're only $10. Yeah, that's cheap. Yeah, you can get them at CT pizzarofest.com and yeah, it starts at 1 o'clock on Sunday, 1 to 4. We have 12 pizza trucks. From all over Connecticut, pizza places, some of the biggest ones in the state. Frank Pepe, Colony Grill, Zoo parties. We got Big Green Truck Pizza who people see driving all over the state, and a whole bunch more. And then we have a lot of local breweries, seltzers, things like that. So it's a pizza fest and a brew fest just celebrating Connecticut's best food pizza. Yeah, yeah. So now what about the musical acts you have? Oh yeah, we, so this year, so this is the 3rd year we've done it and we've got all different. Fans this year we decided to go yacht rock so we we have the yacht lobsters who are gonna perform after my own heart. So yeah, I know, right? So it's like summertime. You got yacht rock, you're having pizza, having a couple of drinks. It's gonna be awesome. It's gonna be a great time. Now it's interesting you have like a little podcast where you talk about pizza, right? Yeah. So Frank, who owns the New Haven Pizza School, he and I started this podcast show Frank called Charred. Yeah, well, Frank. He's the best. Yes, no pineapple. So yeah, so we have a podcast called Charred, a New Haven Pizza show where twice a month we put out episodes where we go to local pizzerias throughout the state of Connecticut. And kind of support them and interview them and give them some some spotlight and then this pizza fest kind of acted as a companion to the podcast. So um so yeah, it's been really fun the past couple of years doing all this. Well, let me ask you this now. We recently were down in New York City for these Connecticut tours and billboards about right. I mean talk about on the other guy's turf, but I mean I think they were great. What do you think of these? Yeah, it's funny I think. Anything that shows that Connecticut has the best pizza and that brings attention to our state, I think is always a positive thing. Um, you know, I know a lot of the pizzerias in the state, they like to let their pizza do the talking, they always say, um, but you know, I get it. Like we're trying to have it be fun, you know, with the other with the tri-state area. A little competition is not bad. It's like sports, you know. That's right. Yeah. Hey, so we got some dough we're going to flip here. Is that the deal? Yeah, so I, I first met Frank taking his class. Like 3 or 4 years ago, not really you got to twist the twist it, right? That's what I've learned. I'll grab this other one, Frank, I'll grab the small, you know what you're doing twist it like that. See look at a nice little look at Kevin. He knows how to there you go. See, you got it. Oh, there you go. That was better, Becky. I'll work on this. I promise I'll get this right at some point. I try it again. Yeah, you're getting a lot better. Just don't eat the rubber dough. That's right guys. Thanks so much.

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Mark8aml718_2025-07-18-08-20-02

Well, we made it to Friday. Time for Main Street, Connecticut, a chance to showcase our local towns and cities and all they have to offer. Today we're in Bridgeport. News 12 Connecticut's Mark Sudall is talking about the 17th annual Caribbean Jerk Festival. All right, let's learn more about that, Mark. Hey Becky, yeah, it's gonna be going on tomorrow 12 to 8 right here at Seaside Park. You're expecting like 6000 people here tomorrow. It's gonna be fantastic. Our good friend Carolyn Vermont is joining us this morning with the West Indian American Association. Thank you so much for being with us. And tell me, what do we need to know about the big day tomorrow. Oh, tomorrow is an exciting, exciting day. Our 17th annual Caribbean jerk Fest. We will have lots of reggae music, West Indian food. We have the Children's Corner. It's going to be a family fun day for all. So we're we're excited about this. We bring all different cultures together and everyone, everyone have a great time and it's a way for us to show our culture and for everyone to embrace it. So we're excited for our 17th annual Caribbean jerk Fest tomorrow, Saturday. The 19th and we're hoping that you all come out and join us. Well, I hope that they will, of course, when you're talking about great music and great food, I mean, look. I, I love food. Tell me, tell me a little bit more detail about some absolutely we will have jerk chicken, curry goat, jerk pork, rice and peas, steamed cabbage, you name it, we will have it all tomorrow. So in, in the past, of course, you've had people with their chairs and you get some people that get up there and uh groove their thing. Absolutely, absolutely, everybody loves. So some of them, they're on their feet. Some of them, they're on their chairs, excited and just enjoying it and you know we have all the food vendors. We also have merchandise vendors selling their goods, clothing, soaps, jewelry, so you know we have vendors for everyone also. Wow. So I mean, as being a part of this for so long, what are, what are some of the memories you have or other folks that they talk about? I think some of it is the fact that we attract people tri-state it's not just the greater Bridgeport but people come from Hartford, from New York, from New Jersey sometimes we even have folks come from the southern states come up for jerk fest so we attract quite a bit of people and so that has been exciting that folks really love jerk fest and so from the beginning. We started out small and then each year it just would double and then the following year doubled and then the following year doubled. So even tomorrow, you know, we're expecting thousands of people over 5000 people. Wow, Carolyn, thank you so much. You continue to do wonderful things in the community here in Bridgeport. I thank you for everything that you do, Becky. It's going to be a great time. Just imagine this place is going to be packed with people, food, music, and fun. Oh, it sounds terrific. All right, Mark, thank you.

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News 12's Mark Sudol shares a preview of the Connecticut Pizza & Brew Fest and the Caribbean Jerky Fest.

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