New Jersey events

Entertainment, activities, day trips, weekend getaways & event listings

Two Days for Oct. 4-5

by Star-Ledger Features

Friday October 03, 2008, 12:00 AM

Festival

The Whippany Railway Museum will celebrate fall with its pumpkin festival Sunday from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m., rain or shine.

Visitors can walk among pumpkins, corn shocks and scarecrows, enjoy a hay ride and visit the Pumpkin Market Place Crafts Fair. Vampira, the Queen of Halloween, will be on hand to give Halloween treats to children and take photos in front of Vampira's Haunted House.

The museum also will offer Pumpkinliner train rides featuring antique cabooses along the Whippanong Trail. Train tickets are $12; $8 for kids under 12. The museum is at 1 Railroad Plaza, Route 10 West and Whippany Road. Call (973) 887-8177 or visit whippanyrailwaymuseum.net.

-- Allison Freeman

Pirate fun

Seton Hall University is inviting the public to its campus Saturday for University Day, a celebration of everything that is Seton Hall.

The day will feature sporting events, including a 5K run, a women's volleyball game versus Rutgers at 2 p.m. and a men's soccer game versus Providence at 7 p.m. Families can dress up as pirates to cheer on the teams and win prizes for most spirited Pirate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A South Orange appreciation parade will start on South Orange Avenue at 11:30 a.m. and continue to the university green, with marching bands, clowns, dancers, cheerleaders and other special guests.

Family fun will include performances at 1 and 3 p.m. of "Charlotte's Web," a student production in the Theatre-in-the-Round in the University Center.

Kids also can check out Pirate Land on the university green and Galleon lawn from noon to 5 p.m. It will include arts and crafts, rides, games, pumpkin painting, scarecrow making and other kid-friendly activities.

Some other events include an organic food demonstration at 3:30 p.m. on the University Center's outdoor patio, lectures on investing and environmentalism, music and a used book and record sale at Walsh Library.

For a full schedule of events, visit universityday.shu.edu or call (973) 378-2600.

-- Allison Freeman

Learn about

For those of you who have dreamed of dancing the tango with your significant other but never had the time for a lesson, this could be your chance.

Teatro Si will present "A Taste of Tango & More," Saturday night from 7 to midnight in Leir Hall at the Montclair Art Museum, 3 S. Mountain Ave., Montclair. The evening begins with a Tango Argentine music concert, to be followed by a tango dance lesson and demonstrations by guest dancers and instructors.

The dance party continues with a "taste of salsa" dance lesson, followed by a Buenos Aires-style milonga (tango dance party) and Latin dance party until midnight. Beginners as well as advanced dancers are welcome, and a partner is not required.

Tickets are $25. Call (908) 301-9496 or visit teatrosi.com.

-- Allison Freeman

Outdoors

Northern Goshawk

Now that fall is here, hawks are in abundance in the sky: New Jersey is a major migration corridor for tens of thousands of hawks at this time of year.

The Raptor Trust, a nonprofit bird rehabilitation center in Millington, will celebrate hawks and its 25th anniversary Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with "Heads Up for Hawks!"

The event will feature educational activities, tours, food and music to introduce kids of all ages to 16 species of hawks, eagles and falcons. Visitors will meet live birds of prey, learn how to identify hawks in flight and participate in a mock hawk watch.

Raptor Trust Founder and Director Leonard Soucy will also band and release several hawks that have been rehabilitated in the center.

The event will take place at the trust's outdoor education center, 1452 White Bridge Road, Millington. Admission is $5, with all proceeds supporting the trust's 25th anniversary endowment fund. For information, call (908) 647-1091.

-- Allison Freeman

Family fun

Veona Thomas

The summer storytelling series at the Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck went so well that a new series has been scheduled for the fall.

It kicks off with Veona Thomas from noon to 1 p.m. Sunday. She and the others -- Lauren Hooker (Oct. 12) and Julie Della Torre and Jack McKeon (Oct. 19) -- will draw from myths, fables and folk tales from around the world.

Bring blankets and lawn chairs since the event will be held in the sculpture garden. If it rains, you'll move indoors.

The cost is $5 per family. For more information, call (201) 836-8923 or visit puffinculturalforum.org.

-- Claudia Perry

Out there

Warrior Woman - Carol Schwartz - Lifecycles3D @ the Beacon, 4 Beacon Way

There's art all over Jersey City, and the artists want to show it off.

The 118th annual Jersey City Artists Studio tour runs from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at a variety of locations in New Jersey's second largest city. In addition to artworks at galleries, museums, studios and other spaces, there will be, food, drinks, live music and performances all over town.

Best of all, the whole thing is free, unless, of course, you decide to buy some art. The Hudson Reporter will provide maps at the venues so you can find your way around. The maps also will be available at the Grove Street and Journal Square PATH stations.

For more information, visit proartsjc.org.

-- Claudia Perry

Plan ahead

Pianist David Schlossberg

We love opera, but the moths flying out of our empty wallets have put a lot of performances out of reach.

Well, the Friends of the East Brunswick Public Library are allowing opera fans to get a free fix of their favorite art. The library will play host to pianist Dave Schlossberg and singer Julie Stevens at 7 p.m. Oct. 11 for an evening of arias and art songs.

The library is at 2 Jean Walling Civic Center. For information, call (732) 390-6767 or visit ebpl.org.

-- Claudia Perry

Eat

Ocean County chefs will compete for the title of "King of the Clams" at the 20th annual Chowderfest in Beach Haven.

Last year's winners -- Bistro 14 of Beach Haven, for Manhattan clam chowder, and Panzone's Pizza and Pasta of Beach Haven, for New England-style -- will be back to defend their titles.

The event will include the Merchants' Mart, with more than 90 vendors, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday under tents at the Ninth Street and Taylor Avenue ballfield. Sunday's highlight is the cook-off from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., offering chowder tasting, rain or shine, under the festival's tents.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children 4 to 12. The festival is produced by the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce. For more information, go online at chowderfest.com.

-- Joe Bakes

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Two Days for Sept. 27-28

by Star-Ledger Features

Friday September 26, 2008, 12:00 AM

Foreign exchange

COEEF Mesgana Dancers dancing in celebration for Ababa Yosh (Ethiopian New Year) at the Ethiopian New Year's Festival in Oakland, California.

The South Orange Performing Arts Center will host the Children of Ethiopia Education Fund Mesgana Dancers at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday.

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Two Days for Sept. 20-21

by Star-Ledger Features

Friday September 19, 2008, 12:00 AM

For the kids

KAREN BLEIER/GETTY IMAGES

The moon shines brighter in East Asia in late September, when the crops are harvested. China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam and other countries mark the occasion with the Autumn Moon Festival and honor the moon goddess, Chang'e.

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Two Days for Sept. 13-14

by Star-Ledger Features

Friday September 12, 2008, 12:00 AM

Listen:

EUGENE GOLOGURSKY/GETTY IMAGESAretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, will perform in an appropriately regal setting this weekend.

She is co-headlining the Liberty R&B and Jazz Festival at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop.

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Two Days for Sept. 6-7

by Star-Ledger Features

Friday September 05, 2008, 12:00 AM

Learn about:

The Military Transport Association of North Jersey will display a variety of classic, restored U.S. military vehicles starting at 1 p.m. Sunday on the great lawn of the Whippany station at the Whippany Railroad Museum.

In honor of Military Transport Day, visitors will see vintage locomotives and rail cars, highlighted by the MTA's 1941-vintage Plymouth Industrial Switching Locomotive.

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Two Days Plus for Aug. 30-Sept. 1

by Star-Ledger Features

Friday August 29, 2008, 12:00 AM

For the kids:

Six Flags Great Adventure new glow in park nighttime parade.

This weekend is your last chance to check out the "Glow in the Dark" nighttime parade at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson.

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Day 86: Queens County Farm Museum

by Jersey Journal

Monday August 25, 2008, 4:33 PM

Queens County Farm Museum
There is nature in New York! Visit the largest remaining tract of undisturbed farmland and the only working historical farm in New York City -- the Queens County Farm Museum. Located in the Floral Parks section, the farm encompasses a 47-acre parcel that is the longest continuously farmed site in New York State with historic farm buildings, a greenhouse complex, livestock, planting fields and much more. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information, call 718-347-3276 or visit www.queensfarm.org.

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Day 85: Edgar Allan Poe Cottage

by Jersey Journal

Monday August 25, 2008, 4:31 PM

Edgar Allan Poe Cottage
Visit the place where the great American poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe wrote some of his most famous literary works. Immerse yourself in the humble abode where he lived his last years. From his 19th-century stove to his creaky rocking chair, everything in the Bronx five-room cottage was left exactly the way it was before he died. Poe's wife, Virginia, died from tuberculosis in this very cottage in 1849 -- so you can imagine the history behind these walls. For more information, visit www.historichousetrust.org.

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