Festivals
RMN dispatches tagged Festivals.
Route 66 Turns 100: The Remaining Centennial Events Across America
Reported Feature
A coast-to-coast guide to the concerts, car celebrations, art shows, community festivals, history talks, races and holiday events still ahead.
Laurita Winery’s Upcoming Events: Fall Festivals, Live Shows and Holiday Nights
Reported Feature
From an autumn finale and fireworks over the vines to holiday concerts, interactive mysteries and hands-on workshops, here is what is currently on Laurita’s special-event calendar through December.
NJ Wine Expo Returns to Holmdel Nov. 7 With More Than 130 Garden State Wines
Event Bell Works · Holmdel, New Jersey
The third annual gathering at Bell Works offers a chance to taste New Jersey wines, meet the people making them and plan a future trip through the state’s wine country.
The Addams Family Never Lived in Westfield. That Hasn't Stopped the Town From Celebrating Them.
Reported Feature
As AddamsFest returns for its ninth year, the New Jersey hometown of Charles Addams is turning a fictional family into a very real community tradition.
Lunar Faire Closes Its 2026 Season With Dark Carnival in Freehold and Halloweekend in Sussex County
Reported Feature
The traveling night market has two October dates remaining, with fire performances, unusual shopping, live entertainment and a seven-hour season finale.
Jacksonville & the First Coast
Reported Feature
The big events, fairs, cons, pop-ups, free activities and sensory-friendly experiences to know for late 2026 and 2027
The Dispensary Doesn't Want to Be a Store Anymore
Reported Feature
Collective Beleaf's Great Beleaf Fall Fest points toward a broader shift in New Jersey cannabis retail, where the next phase of normalization may be less about what happens at the register and more about what kind of place a dispensary becomes in its community.
Chestertown’s Dickens of a Christmas Returns Dec. 4-5 with a Victorian Weekend, 5K and a Downtown Full of Holiday Events
Event Downtown Chestertown · Chestertown, Maryland
The Eastern Shore festival turns historic Chestertown into a two-day holiday streetscape of bonfires, carriage rides, markets, family activities, live music, Victorian traditions and the annual Run Like the Dickens 5K.
New Jersey After Dark: Halloween Glows, Holiday Lights and Winter Spectacles Through December 2026
Reported Feature
A county-by-county guide to illuminated walks, drive-through displays, glowing attractions, seasonal villages and ceremonial lightings | Reporting cutoff: October 8, 2026
NJ Activities 10/10-10/12 – Broken out by county
Reported Feature
From fall festivals and pumpkin picking to family-friendly attractions, seasonal celebrations, and outdoor adventures, New Jersey offers plenty of ways to make the most of the long holiday weekend with activities for all ages.
Middle Township Packs Halloween Week With Decorated Homes, Harvest Fest and a Parade
Event Mechanic Street · Cape May Court House, New Jersey
Six days of fall festivities in Cape May Court House move from neighborhood displays to a full-day Harvest Fest before the township’s annual Halloween Parade closes out the run.
Bagpipes, Caber Tosses and Whiskey: South Jersey Celtic Festival Returns for Two Days in Burlington County
Event Burlington County Fairgrounds · Columbus, New Jersey
The fifth annual festival brings Highland Games, Celtic music and dance, Gaelic lessons, Irish stick fighting, hurling, food and a full slate of family activities to the Burlington County Fairgrounds Oct. 10 and 11.
Witches Bazaar Brings Fire, Costumes and a Little Magic to Mount Holly
Event Mill Race Village · Mount Holly, New Jersey
Mill Race Village will fill with fire twirlers, stilt walkers, dancing witches, tarot readers, live music, vendors and a crowd-judged costume contest on Oct. 17.
Avalon’s Arts & Seafood Festival Brings One More Big Day to the Beach
Event Surfside Park · Avalon, New Jersey
Fresh seafood, nearly 40 artisan vendors, live music, beach hayrides, children’s activities and an all-day football lounge fill Surfside Park on Oct. 10.
From Alebrijes to Ofrendas: New Jersey’s Cleverest Día de los Muertos Events for 2026
Reported Feature
Wildlife refuge crafts, a giant skeleton puppet parade, an oceanfront procession, a five-course Dinner of the Souls and even a Batman trunk-or-treat give the Garden State an unusually inventive Día de los Muertos calendar this fall.
Von Thun Farms Packs a South Brunswick Weekend With Mazes, Hayrides and More Than 30 Fall Activities
Event Von Thun Farms · South Brunswick, New Jersey
The Oct. 10-11 Fall Festival Weekend combines a Dogs & Dinos corn maze, pumpkin and apple picking, barnyard animals, all-day games and a hayride-access pumpkin patch at the longtime New Jersey farm.
AppleFest Brings Fall Traditions Back to Upper Township’s Gandy Farmstead
Event John Wesley Gandy Farmstead · Upper Township, New Jersey
The annual Historical Preservation Society gathering returns Oct. 10 with apples, pie, traditional crafts and a chance to spend a fall afternoon inside one of Cape May County’s preserved historic farmsteads.
Hawk Ridge Farm Brings Its Fall Festival Back to Lake Hopatcong Oct. 17
Event Hawk Ridge Farm · Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey
Free admission, cider pressing, pumpkin decorating, candle making, face painting and farm animals fill a five-hour autumn afternoon in Jefferson Township.
Pennsville Sets Two October Community Events With Arts in the Park and Halloween Hayride
Event Riverview Beach Park · Pennsville, New Jersey
The second annual Arts in the Park Fall Festival returns Oct. 17, followed by a residents-only Halloween costume contest, Trunk or Treat and hayride on Oct. 22.
Taste of Italy Festival Brings Food, Music and a Firefighter Benefit to Mine Hill
Event Mine Hill Fireman's Field · Mine Hill, New Jersey
Just Jersey Fest heads to Fireman's Field on Oct. 10 for an Italian-themed day of food, live entertainment and family activities benefiting local firefighters.
Burlington City’s 250th Folk Arts Festival Brings Living Traditions to the Riverfront
Event Burlington Riverfront Promenade · Burlington City, New Jersey
The free Oct. 10 celebration will fill Burlington’s waterfront with music, storytelling, crafts, foodways, street games and cultural traditions as the city closes out its Second Saturdays arts series.
New Jersey's Oktoberfest Season Isn't Over Yet
Reported Feature
21 celebrations still ahead in October, from Shore beer halls and rooftop breweries to farms, fundraisers and a Revolutionary War twist
Soups of the Shore Returns to Lavallette With Local Restaurants, Crafts and a Vote for the Best Bowl
Event Lavallette First Aid and Firehouse · Lavallette, New Jersey
The Oct. 17 festival turns a fall afternoon at the Jersey Shore into a $10 soup tasting, craft market and community fundraiser.
Lambertville Knows How to Do Halloween: ACME Screening Room Brings Its Film Festival Back for a Fifth Year
Event ACME Screening Room · Lambertville, New Jersey
The Lambertville Halloween Film Festival returns Oct. 16-18 with juried horror shorts, a full-scale Monster Bash and the New Jersey premiere of a new Vincent Price documentary - all built around one of the town's most distinctive cultural spaces.
NJ Horror Con Dispatch: Ketchup, Karma and the Filmmakers Sharing a Space
Reported Event Delta Hotels Woodbridge · Iselin, New Jersey
A conversation with John Theissen Jr. and Danielle Francis revealed something bigger than two genre films: a small independent filmmaking ecosystem where directors, actors, editors and makeup artists keep showing up for one another.
NJ HorrorCon Dispatch: Michael Jayne Is Growing Something Strange in Mays Landing
Reported Event Delta Hotels Woodbridge · Iselin, New Jersey
A conversation with the Big Damn Films filmmaker turned into one of the convention's most interesting discoveries: ARBOR DAY: The Root of Evil, a South Jersey horror project shaped by recovery, persistence and the urge to make something entirely his own.
NJ Horror Con: I Came for the Horror, Stayed for the People Making It
Reported Event Delta Hotels Woodbridge · Iselin, New Jersey
At the tail end of a nor'easter, the hardest part of the day was getting from the car to the door. Once inside, NJ Horror Con was a dense, strange, funny reminder that the best convention stories are often the ones you never planned to find.
The Rain Didn't Ruin Somerville Music Fest. It Changed the Scale of It.
Reported Event Downtown Somerville · Somerville, New Jersey
The streets were wet, the crowd was smaller, and somehow the distance between people felt shorter.
Super Jersey Spectacular Is Already Building Its Biggest Show Yet
Reported Event Iron Peak Sports & Events · Hillsborough, New Jersey
Early-bird tickets for the April 17-18, 2027 go on sale Oct. 1. Organizers are also planning more than 400 tables, expanded family programming, a new youth ticket and continued support for the National MS Society’s NJ Metro Chapter.
Christmas in July Missed July. South Plainfield Is Doing It Anyway.
Event South Plainfield, New Jersey
The long-running downtown celebration has moved to Sept. 27, putting tropical holiday spirit into the first week of fall.
For Five Days, Newark Becomes the Venue
Event Newark, New Jersey
The Newark Arts Festival returns Oct. 7-11 for its 25th anniversary with 74 artists, major headliners and programming spread across the city. At this point, the interesting question is not simply what is on the schedule. It is what an arts festival becomes after a quarter century of teaching people to experience Newark through its creative spaces.
Do Something Ridiculous Long Enough and It Becomes Tradition
Reported Feature
Cape May’s United States National Froth Blowing Competition begins with beer foam and a joke, then wanders into something much more durable: membership, ritual, memory and a row of mugs that still knows which way the ocean is.
Jamtoberfest Brings a Living Thread of the Allman Brothers Story to Flanders
Event Swim & Sport Club · Roxbury Township / Flanders, New Jersey
A Brother’s Revival is not simply revisiting a catalog. Its headliner carries direct musical connections to both the Allman Brothers Band and Dickey Betts & Great Southern.
Give the Shelter Dog a Red Carpet
Event Livingston Memorial Park & Oval · Livingston, New Jersey
Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter’s Pet Palooza returns to Livingston on Sept. 19 with food trucks, contests, adoptable animals and a new Shelter Pet Gala built around a simple idea: sometimes adoption is an attention problem.
The Night Downtown Somerville Turns the Holidays On
Event Downtown Somerville · Somerville, New Jersey
The annual Holiday Jubilee returns December 4 with the tree lighting, Santa, trolley rides, live entertainment and a downtown-wide evening built around being together before the season gets busy.
Somerville’s Holiday Lights Parade Is Already Taking Shape
Event Downtown Somerville · Somerville, New Jersey
The 2026 date has not been announced, but the parade’s recent first-Saturday pattern points to Dec. 5 — and Raccoon Media Network plans to dispatch live from the route.
Westfield Doesn’t Have to Borrow Halloween. It Has Charles Addams.
Event Westfield · Union County, New Jersey
AddamsFest returns for a ninth October with art, cemetery tours, storefronts, a floating family house, a 1991 movie night and a town using its own history as something more interesting than seasonal decoration.
The Giant Pumpkins Are Going Back to the Farm
Event Needle Creek Farm Brewery · Pennington, New Jersey
Hopewell Valley’s Amazing Pumpkin Carve is moving from Woolsey Park to Needle Creek Farm Brewery for its 12th year. The venue is new, but adaptation has been part of this oversized autumn tradition almost from the beginning.
The Dogs Come Back
Event Voorhees Town Center · Voorhees, New Jersey
At Animal Orphanage’s 30th Woofstock, the Alumni Parade turns pet adoption into a public homecoming, and gives a community one more reason to return to a place built around letting animals leave.
It’s Not About the Meat. It’s About Knowing What You Call It.
Event Iron Peak Sports & Events · Hillsborough, New Jersey
Hillsborough’s Pork Roll vs. Taylor Ham Food & Music Festival turns New Jersey’s favorite unserious argument into a full day of food, voting, dogs, music and professional wrestling, which may be exactly why the argument matters.
Philly Fringe Is Open, and the City Is Part of the Show
Event FringeArts · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
More than 370 shows across 100-plus venues turn Philadelphia into a three-week argument for wandering off the official path.
One More Day in the Field Before the Season Turns
Event Swim & Sport Club · Roxbury Township / Flanders, New Jersey
Jamtoberfest '26 brings Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead and Phish traditions into one outdoor Morris County gathering built around long jams, open space and the culture between the sets.
Halloween Works Better When the Whole Downtown Plays Along
Event Downtown Somerville · Somerville, New Jersey
Somerville’s Halloween Spooktacular returns October 29 with free pumpkin painting, trick-or-treating and a family-first reason to walk the downtown in costume.
The Ugly Pancake Comedy Festival Is Building a Jersey Shore Comedy Circuit
Event Wild Air Beerworks · Asbury Park, New Jersey
Ugly Pancake's fourth festival opens in Manhattan, then returns to Asbury Park for a first-timers showcase and a Tidal Wave collaboration that turns closing night into the next booking.
Pet Friendly, but Make Room
Event Working Dog Winery · Hightstown, New Jersey
A giant-breed gathering at Working Dog Winery is built around a simple idea many “pet-friendly” spaces never have to confront: some dogs change the geometry of the room.
Downtown Somerville Gets a Little Stranger After Dark
Event Downtown Somerville · Somerville, New Jersey
The Spooky Night Market brings oddities, gothic goods, horror-inspired art and costume-friendly nightlife to Division Street on October 8.
For One Sunday, Downtown Somerville Becomes the Venue
Event Downtown Somerville · Somerville, New Jersey
Music Fest spreads headliners, community performers, karaoke, vendors, food and family activities across Main and Division streets on September 20.
Montclair Film Festival Sets Its October Return as the 15th Edition Approaches
Event The Clairidge · Montclair, New Jersey
The lineup is still under wraps, but the dates are set, the ticket calendar is in place, and Montclair Film is preparing to turn the town into a ten-day movie destination once again.
XPoNential Music Festival Returns to Camden With a Weekend Built for Discovery
Event Wiggins Park · Camden, New Jersey
WXPN’s 33rd annual festival returns to Wiggins Park Sept. 18-20 with Dawes, Portugal. The Man, Little Feat and a lineup designed to reward the people who show up before the headliner.
Sea.Hear.Now Returns to Asbury Park for a Weekend Built Around the Shore
Event North Beach, Bradley Park and Atlantic Park · Asbury Park, New Jersey
Mumford & Sons and The Strokes headline Sept. 19–20, but music is only part of a festival that treats the beach, surf culture, art and the Asbury Park boardwalk as part of the bill.
Nerd Fest Brings the Small-Con Advantage Back to South Jersey
Event Holiday Inn Swedesboro · Swedesboro, New Jersey
The Jersey Shore Comic Book Show returns to Swedesboro Sept. 20 with comic artists, indie creators, collectibles, Star Wars cosplay and the kind of convention floor where there is still time to stop and talk.
Lunar Faire’s Final Five Nights Move Across Five Very Different New Jersey Grounds
Event Middlesex County Fairgrounds · East Brunswick, New Jersey
The traveling witchy night market closes its 2026 season with Elements, Zodiac, Vasquerade, Dark Carnival and Halloweekend, and the setting changes almost as much as the theme.
The New Jersey Film Festival Opens a Month-Long Window for Independent Film
Event Voorhees Hall · Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
The 45th bi-annual fall festival begins tonight at Rutgers and runs through Oct. 4, mixing in-person screenings, 24-hour streaming windows, filmmaker conversations, free workshops and an audio-visual concert.
DollyFest Will Bring Dolly Parton's Celebration Home to Tennessee in 2027
Event Nashville, Tennessee
The official two-continent festival is headed to Nashville and London. Our coverage plans are centered on Tennessee, with a separate return to Dollywood already taking shape.
For One Weekend, Wildwood Becomes New Jersey's Firehouse
Event Wildwoods Convention Center · Wildwood, New Jersey
The New Jersey State Firemen's Association convention brings the business of the fire service, the spectacle of apparatus and the quieter ritual of a statewide family reunion back to the Shore.
He's Not Really Going Into Fires, Is He?
Event Somerset County Emergency Services Training Academy · Hillsborough, New Jersey
At a Firefighter I, Firefighter II and EMT graduation, the ceremony is familiar to the Academy. For the families in the seats, and the people being sent back into their communities, nothing about it is routine.