Things To Do This Weekend in NJ October 22-24 – NJ Family
Fall is in full swing and there are so many fun activities to try with the family this weekend. From spooky ghost towns to Diggerland’s fall event, Diggerfest, it’s time to get out there in the crisp, autumn weather. Don’t miss Monster Bash in Historic Smithville and if you’ve got a little one, Blippi is appearing at Imagine That!!! It’s enough excitement to make anyone sleep in Sunday morning!
ALL WEEKEND
Haunted Wild West City Fest
50 Lackawanna Dr., Stanhope
Saturday – Sunday
The Haunted Wild West Fest is back for both day and night events. Hit the trail to the ghost town, enjoy nonstop western entertainment all day Saturday and Sunday in October with a Halloween Twist. Take part in a fun and spooky interactive western experience like none other for kids of all ages. Children can participate in the Wild West Fest costume contest and win fun prizes.
Ghoul Spring Village
720 US 9, Cape May
Friday – Saturday
Historic Cold Spring Village is offering a family-friendly haunted walk-thru for young and old alike. Proceeds will benefit the Historic Cold Spring Village Foundation.
Nickelodeon Boo-niverse
American Dream, 1 American Dream Way, East Rutherford
All weekend, various hours
This spooky season, Nickelodeon Universe Theme Park transforms into Boo-niverse with
Family Fall Fun at Argos Farm
Argos Farm, Forked River
Friday – Sunday
Activities for all ages including the Hay Mountain, Cow Train, Double Hay Slide, and Pedal Carts. Enjoy a scenic ride on a tractor drawn wagons or test your navigational skills in the 2-acre corn maze.
Halloween Light Show
Demarest Farms, Hillsdale
Friday – Sunday
Take your vehicle on a guided tour through 32 acres of brilliant Halloween light displays, warm up by the fire pit and enjoy hot cocoa and treats in the retail farm market. This experience is appropriate for all ages.
Harvest Moon Nights
Alstede Farms, Chester
Friday – Saturday
This event offers something for everyone, from delightful harvest moon hayrides to nighttime corn maze fun. Pick your own pumpkin, enjoy live entertainment, sip fresh-pressed cider, all while creating the perfect family memories around a campfire.
Snyder’s Farm Fall Festival
586 South Middlebush Rd., Somerset
Saturday – Sunday
Hayrides, food and drink, pumpkin picking, a corn maze, music and more. This is a cash only location.
Great Pumpkin Festival 2021
Heaven Hill Farm, Vernon
Thursday – Sunday
This event dubs itself the “Largest Fall Festival in Northern New Jersey,” and has over 40 different activities each day. Kids will love the hay crawl, pig races, pedal carts and more. Heaven Hill Farm also offers seven different food stands.
Diggerfest
Diggerland, West Berlin
Saturday – Sunday
It’s the time of year all of the pumpkins sprout up to drive, ride and operate all of the amazing machines. Enjoy live music, specialty food, hayrides and plenty of fun and games at this fun fall festival.
Sunflower Festival at Holland Ridge Farms
86 Rues Rd., Cream Ridge
Friday – Sunday
You can pick sunflowers at this popular festival and choose from eight different varieties including yellow, white and red. Tickets must be purchased in advance.
Jack-O-Lantern Experience
Skylands Stadium, Augusta
Friday – Sunday
This October, Skylands Stadium is transformed with over 6,000 Jack-O-Lanterns throughout the stadium, and surrounding cornfields. Sussex County’s Family Entertainment Destination will be set ablaze with spectacular visuals and a thrilling Fall Festival.
Fall Family Fun Weekends
Terhune Orchards, Princeton
Saturday – Sunday
Visit the barnyard of animals, adventure barn, hay bale & corn mazes, pony rides, pumpkin picking & painting, pedal tractors and enjoy fresh, open air. Have fun at the hippity-hop corral and duck races. Explore the hands-on fun in our discovery barn, little tots farm store and junior mechanics shop.
DiDonato’s Trick-or-Treat Train
DiDonato Family Fun Center, Hammonton
Saturday – Sunday
This little goblin-friendly Halloween outdoor train ride will leave the whole family laughing and gasping for more. Tricks, treats, and surprises are included for kids and grownups. Admission includes a train ride through Halloween Town, Halloween Hay Maze, pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and more.
Laurita Oktoberfest
Laurita Winery, New Egypt
Saturday – Sunday
This fun festival will feature food trucks, live bands, vineyard wagon tours, country line dance lessons and more.
Brick-or-Treat
Legoland Discovery Center, East Rutherford
Friday- Sunday
Celebrate the scariest time of the year at LEGOLAND Discovery Center. Brick-or-Treat Activities include spooky scenes in the MINILAND scavenger hunt, Spooktacular Costume Contests held on Sunday, October 24 at 1 pm, Wednesday, October 27 at 1 pm and Sunday, October 31 at 1 pm and Halloween-themed Creative Workshop builds.
Livingston Avenue School Family-Friendly Haunted House
75 Livingston Ave., Cranford
Friday- Saturday
Livingston Avenue School will be transformed into “THE CRANFORD BIG-TOP CIRCUS”. This event will support the PTA which works directly with Livingston Avenue School to provide everything that students need to be successful. The family-fun will take place from 5:30 pm – 9:30 pm and cost is $5 per person.
FRIDAY
East Lynne Theater Company Presents Nosferatu
First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, Cape May
At 7 pm, East Lynne Theater Company presents the 1922 silent film cult classic, Nosferatu, at 500 Hughes St., Cape May, where ELTC is in residence. Providing his own original musical accompaniment on the organ is Wayne Zimmerman, who has been playing for ELTC’s silent film series since 2011.
Allaire Night of Frights
The Historic Village at Allaire, 4263 Atlantic Ave., Wall
See the Village at night where everything that goes bump in the night comes out to play. Enjoy the village grounds and historic buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries…visit with the ghosts, ghouls and monsters. Enjoy storytelling at the chapel, a special night out at the Blacksmith Shop and visit the Manager’s House for fortune-telling. Don’t forget treats at the Bakery plus a Haunted Food Truck!
ABBA The Concert
State Theatre New Jersey, New Brunswick
Audiences agree “this is the closest to ABBA you’ll ever get.” ABBA The Concert brings one of the greatest pop phenomena back to life and continues to be the top ABBA tribute group in the world. This amazing concert features ABBA’s most iconic hits including “Mamma Mia,” “S.O.S,” “Money, Money, Money,” “The Winner Takes All,” “Dancing Queen” and more!
90’s All Star Dance Concert
NJPAC, Newark
Come dance the night away to hip hop, R&B, house, freestyle, dancehall, Latin, and pop. Robin S. (“Show Me Love”), CeCe Peniston (“Finally”) and Black Sheep (“Flavor of the Month”) are only the beginning of this epic lineup.
SATURDAY
Monster Bash
Historic Smithville, Smithville
This is sponsored by Underground, one of the 60+ stores at Historic Smithville. Come spend a day and night in the Village and take part in the area’s largest Zombie Walk! Vendors and music throughout the day and the “walk” begins at 6:00. Show up ready in full costume and make up or we will have makeup artists on site. The rain date for this event is October 30th, 2020.
Fall Harvest Festival Trick-or-Treating
Tice’s Corner Marketplace, Woodcliff Lake
This year’s Festival will be modified to offer a fun and safe celebration including the famous Trick O’ Treating activity for all families to enjoy — plus a few other surprises. Their annual Facebook Costume photo challenge will go live following the event.
City Green’s Pumpkin Patch
The Learning Garden at Eastside Park, Paterson
Stop by City Green’s Learning Garden in Eastside Park and pick your own pumpkin. Also pick up pumpkin painting kits, fun nature crafts, daffodil bulbs for our Community Beautification Programs and visit the farm stand for farm fresh finds.
Pumpkin Painting and Alpacas
Hidden Brook Ranch, Blairstown
It’s Painting Pumpkins with ‘Pacas in the pastures! There’s no better way to celebrate Halloween then with these unique and calm alpacass. $15 per person includes admission, pumpkin, paint materials and chilling with the Alpacas.
Franklin School’s Design Expo
100 Town Square Pl., Jersey City
This visionary private high school designed to engage students actively in their own learning and educate young innovators will host a free Design Expo to give parents and their kids the opportunity to experience the types of hands-on learning that Franklin School is passionate about. Families will get a feel for the high school through a range of engaging design and engineering challenges in air rocketry, car design, zipline robots and more.
Blippi Sings and Performs
Imagine That!!!, Florham Park
Blippi is back by popular demand! He will sing and perform and stick around for pictures with the children. This event is included with general admission.
Fall Festival in Collingswood
Knight Park, Collingswood
Collingswood Elementary PTA is hosting the annual Fall Festival in Knight Park. There will be hayrides, games and more from 12 pm to 4 pm.
Howl-O-Ween Family Fest at Marty’s Place
Marty’s Place, Upper Freehold
Highlights of this dog-friendly festival will include canine costume contests, a fun leisurely walk, hay rides, pet photo booth, K-9 police dog demonstrations, sanctuary tours, live music from the SunDog Band, vendors, food trucks, basket and 50/50 cash raffles and other fall-inspired games, challenges and activities for children, adults and canines.
McDonald’s Community Day Event
783 Springfield Ave., Irvington
Local McDonald’s owner/operator Jessica Quintana will be hosting a Community Day event this Saturday to raise money for three different organizations – Ronald McDonald House (Northern & Central New Jersey), Golden Knights of Irvington, and Bridge of Irvington. The event has a $2 entrance fee, and will include free cheeseburgers, a bounce house, face paint, a petting zoo and much more for kids ages 3-12.
Haunted Somerville
Downtown Somerville
Take a stroll down Main Street Somerville and learn about the Prohibition era, whiskey bandits, haunted Hotel Somerset, dance legend Ruth St. Denis, the Hall – Mills trial of the century and much more. Appropriate for all ages and just creepy enough to have you looking over your shoulder on the way home.
SUNDAY
Running with the Devils 5K Run/Walk
South Mountain Recreation Complex, West Orange
RWJBarnabas Health, in collaboration with the New Jersey Devils, will host the 5th annual RWJBarnabas Health “Running with the Devils 5K Run and Wellness Walk” offering both live and virtual formats. The Live Run will take place on Sunday, October 24th at Essex County’s South Mountain Recreation Complex in West Orange, while the Live Wellness Walk will be held at Essex County Turtle Back Zoo. One hundred percent of proceeds from the event will be used to support Healthcare Heroes in their efforts to protect and build healthier communities.
New Providence Street Fair
1260 Springfield Ave., New Providence
The New Providence Street Fair will be in downtown New Providence held on Springfield Avenue, between South Street and Livingston Avenue, from 10 am – 4 pm. The streets will be filled with various exhibits, vendors and activities, plus mechanical kiddie rides, climbing wall, pony rides, petting zoo, face painting, sand art, temporary tattoos & so much more!
Weekend Wonders: Glam Gardener
Staten Island Children’s Museum, Staten Island
Aly Stoffo, the Glam Gardner will host a free, fun, informal workshop on poisonous plants and how to avoid them and help families learn how to create their own herbal potions from wild forged plants. The workshop will take place in front of the Staten Island Children’s Museum.
Witches Day
Historic Smithville, Smithville
Come treat yourself to a good time at the Smithville Village where you can wear your witch’s hat and enter a hat contest — registration is from 12 pm-2 pm at the Smithville Inn. Parade and judging will take place between 3:30 and 4:30 pm and winners announced thereafter at the Smithville Inn. Food and drinks specials will be offered.