In Business: How Hackensack’s ‘Back to Hack’ Celebration Impacts Local Businesses

Back to Hack in Hackensack is an annual event we usually cover on Lakeland News, where we typically discuss the activities that take place during the winter celebration that draws in hundreds from the surrounding area. But this time around, we took a look at how an event like this helps local businesses through the winter season.

Back to Hack is always held held in the middle of winter when it’s always cold and features a number of winterized events, like ice fishing contests, snow golfing, and even a plunge into Birch Lake.

“[It’s been held] since the ’60s,” said Doug Toth, Rendezvous Brewing’s head brewer. “It started as a snowmobile event when snowmobiles were brand new to get people to come to town.”

This year’s plunge, however, was moved indoors due to the extreme low temperatures, which only brought more business to the area. It’s very much needed in the month of January, especially in a small town like Hackensack.

“It’s huge for this town, especially with the last two years of no snow,” said Linda McNamara, owner of Birchwood Char House & Bar. “It brings in some needed income this time of year.”

“When you have a small town like we do, you have to really work hard to attract people to come in the middle of the winter,” added Sue Toth, owner of Rendezvous Brewing.

Some businesses in the area do something special for these kinds of events. Rendezvous Brewing makes a special type of brew for each of the big events the town of Hackensack holds. This year’s brew is called Jump in the Lake.

“It’s a Hackensack pale ale. It’s kind of a lighter beer, just a little bit of bitterness to it – people love it,” explained Doug Toth. “Any reason to brew a beer, we’re going to jump on that.”

“We do music bingo. It’s kind of like the kickoff, everybody has such a good time,” McNamara said. “They all sing along to the songs. We just pack ’em in. You don’t know who you’re going to sit by, but by the end of the night, everybody’s friends.”

This weekend in particular saw record numbers for a lot of the businesses involved.

“We had the most teams we’ve ever had for trivia,” said Sue Toth. “We had 18 teams here and almost 80 people playing trivia last night, so it was super fun.”

“We sold, gosh, almost a keg and a half last night, so we’re expecting to sell a lot more today, too, with the more people in town,” added Doug Toth.

“We had about 140 people. This town does know how to have a lot of fun,” added McNamara.

“There’s tons and tons of businesses in the area that just all contribute to make this event go off without a hitch every year, it’s really a wonderful cause,” said Joan Kane, Hackensack Chamber of Commerce Treasurer.

Every year, Back to Hack accepts donations for the Penguin Plunge event, which is then donated to non-profits in the Hackensack area. Last year’s event raised $2,800, which is impressive, but there must’ve been something about those negative temperatures this weekend, because this year’s event raised over $4,700.