Historic Smithville is built for contrast. The village has brick paths, old-fashioned storefronts, Lake Meone, a carousel, a train ride and more than 50 specialty shops arranged to reward a slow walk. On Saturday, Oct. 24, The Underground plans to interrupt that postcard with monsters.
Monster Bash returns to Historic Smithville Village from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., bringing local artists, vendors, live music and horror culture into the Village Greene for the annual Halloween-season takeover. The event is organized by The Underground, Smithville’s punk, horror and counterculture shop, which has turned the gathering into an annual meeting point for people who would prefer their October a little louder, stranger and less polished.
This year’s currently announced programming includes horror performer and filmmaker Genoveva Rossi signing autographs throughout the day, vendor activity from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., live music with the band schedule still to be announced, and a pumpkin carving and painting contest whose winner is scheduled to be announced at 4 p.m. A costume contest is also planned, with free registration through The Underground and a $100 cash prize; Historic Smithville currently lists the contest time as approximately 4 p.m. and notes that the timing remains tentative.
The setting is part of why Monster Bash works. Smithville is not a convention center or a blank festival field. It remains a functioning shopping and dining village throughout the event, with its stores, restaurants, carousel, train and other attractions surrounding the programming. That means the crowd is not simply arriving at a horror show. Horror is being inserted into an existing place, and the collision between the Village Greene’s old-fashioned charm and a day of monsters, costumes and underground culture becomes part of the spectacle.
The Underground’s own description of Monster Bash emphasizes local creators, music and special guests, which gives the event a different scale from a major horror convention. This is less about creating a sealed celebrity marketplace than letting a regional scene occupy public space for a day. The artists, vendors, costumes and regular Smithville visitors all end up sharing the same paths.
Monster Bash is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, at Historic Smithville Village, 615 E. Moss Mill Road in Smithville. The organizer lists event hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Historic Smithville lists a rain date of Nov. 1, while The Underground’s current event page lists Oct. 31 as the rain date; because the two official pages differ, attendees should check the event page and Monster Bash social channels before traveling if weather becomes an issue.
New Jersey Monthly’s current event listing also advertises a 6 p.m. Zombie Walk and on-site makeup artists. That element is not presently detailed on The Underground’s or Historic Smithville’s main 2026 event pages, so it is worth treating the published walk information as something to confirm closer to the event rather than building the day around it yet.
Historic Smithville’s fall shop hours run until 7 p.m. on Saturdays, and restaurants may keep extended hours, making the event easy to build into a longer day in the village even after the main Monster Bash programming winds down.
The practical draw is easy enough: costumes, horror art, vendors, music and a village full of things to do around them. The better story will be how the event changes the place for a day. Historic Smithville already feels like a preserved little world. Monster Bash gives that world permission to become something else.
That is what we will be looking for in October: not simply who wins the costume contest or what turns up at the vendor tables, but what happens when a regional underground scene gets an entire quaint village to play with.
Event Details
| What | Monster Bash at Historic Smithville |
|---|---|
| When | Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. |
| Where | Historic Smithville Village, 615 E. Moss Mill Road, Smithville |
| Also | Vendors 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Genoveva Rossi signing; pumpkin and costume contests (~4 p.m., tentative); rain date differs between organizer pages — confirm closer to the date |
| Calendar | Add event to calendar |
SOURCE NOTES
• The Original Underground — Monster Bash 2026 event page
• Historic Smithville — Monster Bash 2026 event details
• Historic Smithville — village information
Official information and listings verified against public pages on September 4, 2026. Observational passages are based on the reporter's advance dispatch. Event details are subject to change; check organizers before travel.