Jersey Mike- Losing A Man Who Only Gave

By: Avalon Lee

Talented, kind, genuine, a mentor; these are the words those closest to Mike Van Jura use to define him. Known to his blog followers as “Jersey Mike”, this Harrisburg man never left his New Jersey roots behind. Harrisburg, however, could not have asked for anything better the day Van Jura breezed into their small city.

It was in the early morning hours on November 18 that Van Jura passed away, just shortly after his successful Toys for Tots event which he had been raving about via Twitter. Just a few days earlier, he had also applied for a vacant position in the Harrisburg City Council. That being said, however, Van Jura had one major goal when he brought himself to Harrisburg: create the music scene in which Harrisburg had been lacking. In 2006, Greenbelt Events was launched into action.

Van Jura described his and Greenbelt’s sole purpose as being “rock and roll promoters”.  Their objective was and still is to consistently search for and find the next big thing in the music industry. He had a knack for knowing exactly which bands had the potential to make it big and he would scoop up their talent before the side affects of fame would cause them to overlook the small, mid-state city. Notable performances Van Jura was behind include Rusted Root, The Hold Steady and Jeffrey Gaines.

It was the early 2000’s in which Sara Bozich (SaraBozich.com) recalls meeting Mike Van Jura for the first time. They had both been Harrisburg bloggers, and it was customary for local bloggers to get in touch with one another and share ideas. Bozich recalls that Van Jura’s biggest goal was to make Harrisburg a cooler place to be, spotlighting good, live and local music.

Of his countless endeavors, Bozich tried to pinpoint merely one as his greatest accomplishment. “It would have to be the incredible Twitter community he built,” she confidently settles, “he held parties for his Twitter community at the bar where he also had shows. He impacted lives by bringing so many people together.”

Jarred Cannon of Hierosonic shared his cherished memories of Van Jura with me. Having met in 2004, Cannon was a 19-year-old just entering the music industry. Van Jura quickly became Cannon’s mentor, guiding him along his development as a musician. “He cared about what he did,” Cannon reiterated plenty of times during our talk, “it’s rare to come across someone as genuine as Mike was.”

Cannon went on to describe the memories of times his band would carelessly post an online update, and he would immediately get a concerned text reading “?” from Van Jura. He had even wanted to become Hiersonic’s tour manager and travel to Europe with the group he was bringing into full bloom. He was like a father figure to those he took under his wing. This title is particularly fitting for Van Jura, being that he was a father of two. It just came naturally.

Simply put, Van Jura knew what he was doing. He treated people with respect, and was given trust and loyalty in return. “He was the real deal,” Cannon explains, “as a person, promoter and business man.”

Before “Jersey Mike” Van Jura, Harrisburg had a difficult time getting people to come out to live performances. Whether it was the local attitude or the actual talent that was lacking is unclear, but Van Jura was able to bring both into the forefront. Jarred Cannon reminisces, “everywhere people were complaining. Jersey never complained. He never said why things can’t happen, he said why it CAN happen.”

Van Jura was able to put on spectacular performances “without compromising any of those he worked with. You don’t see that much anymore,” Cannon says. Most of these performances were held in the Harrisburg restaurant and brewery, The Abbey Bar at Appalachian Brewing Company. You came to expect that you would walk into the Abbey Bar and see Van Jura, beer in hand, attending the shows he diligently booked. Perhaps a piece of him still exists there, checking out the fresh talent and watching over his past successes.

On December 29, Greenbelt Events will be holding a Celebration of Mike’s Life at The Abbey Bar. “The event will be informal and of a celebratory nature. Somber is not how Jersey would’ve wanted it,” the event page on The Abbey Bar’s website reads.