Hammonton is not just blueberries. It’s also a perfect stop on the way to the Shore.

Hammonton’s not just blueberries.

Don’t misunderstand: the Atlantic County halfway-to-the-Shore hamlet is still widely known as the “Blueberry Capital of the World.”

The delicious, made-from-scratch blueberry pies at the Red Barn Farm, Cafe, & Pie Shop are still scrumptiously stuffed silly with blueberries. The homemade blueberry sundae at the Royale Crown Homemade Ice Cream and Grille is still a summer must. The blueberry cannoli at Cacia’s Bakery’s Hammonton location are still worth the 35-mile drive from Center City. And there’s no reason you can’t just have a Wet Snout Blueberry Pancake Stout for breakfast at Snouts and Stouts Brewing.

It’s just that Hammonton, which my colleague Craig LaBan recently labeled one of “the most delicious cities in South Jersey,” has so much else going on besides its famous berry.

As LaBan pointed out, it’s become a hub for great Mexican cuisine to go along with its enduring collection of Italian businesses. The annual Hammonton Food Truck Fest, with its nearly three dozen food trucks, draws 15,000 visitors each summer.

Main Street — which technically has three names, none of them Main Street — is thriving, with three breweries, a distillery, a wine bar, one of the best antiquing and vintage scenes around, a vibrant Arts District, a homey history museum, and a beautification effort that has provided a fresh shine while retaining the old charm.

“Main Street in Hammonton has really expanded and grown to the point where we have businesses who want their roots to be in Hammonton,” said Ty Wilson, executive director of Main Street Hammonton. “That was never the case 10 years ago.”

The result is that Hammonton — just a quick jump off the Atlantic City Expressway, its historic train station just an hour’s ride on NJ Transit from 30th Street Station — is no longer just a pit stop on the way to the Shore.

It’s a destination all its own.

Tradition looms large in Hammonton.

Incorporated in 1866, it boasts one of the largest Italian American populations per capita in the United States (nearly 46% of its roughly 15,000 residents claim Italian ancestry).

The beating heart of that tradition is the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Festival, which runs July 14-19. Believed to be the oldest Italian festival in the United States, it celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.

What started in 1875, when the town’s growing Sicilian population processed through the blueberry fields with a portrait of the Blessed Mother, has grown into a weeklong extravaganza with rides, fireworks, nightly entertainment, and tons of food. More than 100,000 visitors attend each year, said Louis J. Pantalone, president of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society.

“It’s honoring the commitment of our ancestors and we’re proud to continue that legacy,” said Pantalone.

All year long, a website maintains a running countdown to feast day. But that’s not to say anyone ever in Hammonton ever wants for delicious Italian food.

Bruni’s Pizzeria has been a Hammonton institution since 1956. Current owner Enrico Collini still makes the thin-crust, old-school pies from the same recipes perfected by Americo Bruni back in the day.

“We just keep everything the same,” he said with a laugh. “We don’t mess with it. That’s why it’s so consistent.”

He knows if he did change something, like when he replaced the shop’s ancient black-and-white TV some years ago, he’d hear about it.

“Everybody asked, ‘Where’s the old TV?’” he said.

Bagliani’s Market is another mid-century time capsule. And the family-owned specialty grocer isn’t just a Hammonton gem but one of the best Italian import stores in the entire Philly region, LaBan said.

Bagliani’s shelves burst with Sicilian cheeses, salumi, olives, and dried pasta. You can get the shop’s fresh-made Italian sausage served up hot on a roll or buy links by the pound for the grill.

And you can’t go wrong with any of the cannoli at Cacia’s or Mannino’s Cannoli Express. LaBan, who tends to be a ricotta-only purist when it comes to cannoli, tried Mannino’s blueberry flavor, and declared it his favorite cannoli anywhere outside of Isgro’s in the Italian Market.

But new traditions are also taking hold in Hammonton.

“We are famous for our Italian festival and heritage,” said chief of police Kevin Friel, a proud Hammonton lifer and booster. “But we’ve also had a very big demographic shift with Hispanic culture, and we’ve assimilated a lot of the culture and customs they have. Our community is evolving and changing.”

Hundreds turn out for the annual Our Lady of Guadalupe procession each December, and the town brims with the flavors and sounds of Mexico.

At El Nuevo Mariachi Loco, housed in an eye-catching Victorian downtown storefront, chef Robert Diaz plays tribute to his Poblano roots with chicken enchiladas in mole sauce and electric salsas.

El Mariachi makes all its tortillas in-house, including thicker huaraches and quesadillas folded around huitlacoche (corn fungus) and Oaxaca cheese, or orange- and Coke-braised carnitas. A weekend DJ sets the scene with Mexi-music.

Located in a one-time diner, the Marquez Mexican Grill recently expanded to two other locations in Hammonton, with more seating for diners to enjoy tacos and burritos, and a new butcher’s counter.

Many old-school Hammonton spots shine anew. Like the Antique Marketplace, a two-floor antique and collectible wonderland housed in an old 1950s furniture shop.

With its mid-century clock still ticking, and over three dozen vendors, it’s easy to get lost in the marketplace. But longtime vendor Denise Baranowski remembers how, when she arrived 15 years ago, most vendors just heaped their wares down on tarps.

“It had no real organization,” she said, sitting beneath a bursting shelf of vintage Marvel action figures

These days vendors set up their shops with inviting displays.

“You can find anything in here,” she said.

Hammonton just held its annual Antique Week, but the town’s half-dozen antique shops — and its more modern Toy Market — offer tons of great finds for children and collectors alike all year.

The iconic Eagle Theatre, a restored silent movie house, which first opened in 1914, has fast evolved into a vibrant South Jersey professional theater hub since it was upgraded in 2012. The theater also offers a summer conservancy for young performers.

With many families stretching back generations, Hammontonians can seem pretty tight-knit, locals admit.

“My kids tell me they’re Hammontonians, but I’m not,” joked Jewel Demsak, who moved to Hammonton more than 20 years ago and works as a manager at Rocco’s Town House, a popular bar and restaurant, which has been an operating tavern since 1949.

“You see how close everybody is,” she said during a recent shift, the bar filling with regulars. “These people went to school together, they went to kindergarten together, and got married to the first kid they sat next to. It’s very cool.”

It used to be that only locals knew that “Everybody Meets at the Town House!” as the sign above the dining room reads, she said.

But with more people coming to check out Hammonton, Demsak now greets more fresh faces than ever.

“We get at least 10 people a week who say it’s the first time ever coming here,” she said. “They come in and they love it.”