Holiday Happenings

By Brianne Harrison

The holidays are here, and there are plenty of ways to get into the spirit this weekend. Here are some of our favorites:

Jingle All the Way Holiday Run, 12/3: Jog off some of your holiday indulgence and raise money for Special Olympics New Jersey. Dress up in your most festive running gear (prizes for the best outfits!), bring some friends or family members, and join the fun!

Festival of Trees, 12/2-1/10/10: Morven Museum & Garden in Princeton is dressing up for the holidays. Trees decorated by area businesses and organizations will be gracing the museum’s galleries—stop by and be inspired!

Holiday Light Show, 12/3-1/3/10: Be amazed as over 100 Christmas trees, floating on Lake Meone, light up to music in an orchestrated show. There will also be a Christmas Train, a Magical Talking Tree, and Story Time with Mrs. Claus every weekend in December.

“A Dickens of a Weekend,” 12/4-5: Catch a trolley in Spring Lake and enjoy costumed carolers, a scavenger hunt honoring Dickens’ Mr. Fezziwig, a Dickens-themed cocktail party, and a performance of “Scrooge”.

Cape May’s 36th Annual Christmas Candlelight House Tours, 12/5, 12/12, and 12/19: What better way to see Victorian Cape May than by candlelight? Explore at least 14 homes, inns, hotels, and churches decorated for the holidays while listening to carolers and strolling musicians.

Model Train Exhibit and Tree Lighting Ceremony, 12/4-29: The Barron Arts Center turns on their lights at their annual Tree Lighting Ceremony this weekend. There will also be collections for the Mayor’s Food Bank and for Angel PAWS, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding homes for stray, homeless, and abandoned animals.

Sister’s Christmas Catechism, 12/5: CSI meets Bethlehem as the Sister of Late Nite Catechism takes on The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold.

Messiah-A Sacred Oratorio by George Frideric Handel, 12/6: The New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra partners with the State Theatre to perform one of Handel’s most celebrated works.

Elementary, My Dear New Jerseyans!

By Brianne Harrison

Whip out your violin and deerstalker—it’s time for Cape May’s Sherlock Holmes Weekend! Slip into character (and period garb) as you take on a case involving a medical investigation, a case of mistaken identity, a dangerous villain, and, of course, a dark secret. Track down clues that’ll lead to a $250 grand prize and other valuable gifts.

The weekend kicks off Friday evening as you gather for desserts and coffee and meet Dr. Watson, who’ll fill you in on his past with Holmes and get the mystery started. On Saturday afternoon you’ll visit some of Cape May’s loveliest Victorian locales in a search for clues and compare notes with Holmes and Watson to see how you’re doing. Sunday morning, Holmes will unlock the mystery at a hearty brunch with all the characters and participants.

Full weekend packages are available for $180 per couple or $95 per person. Packages include the welcome reception, tour, lunch, and all performances. Overnight packages run $270 per person, based on double occupancy, and include a room for two nights in one of Cape May’s cozy bed and breakfasts, beachfront hotels, historic hotels, or Victorian suites, as well as breakfast, a $75 dinner gift certificate (per couple), and all the Sherlock Holmes Weekend activities. Call 800.275.4278, x 185 for more information or to reserve your overnight package.

Halloween Happenings

By Brianne Harrison

The countdown to Halloween 2009 is on, and New Jersey is getting right into the—er—spirit of things, starting this weekend.

Never one to miss out when there’s a holiday to be celebrated, Victorian Cape May will host two weeks of specially themed tours and events, including Historic Haunts tours, Ghostwriter Trolley Rides, Miss Parmentier’s Psychic Teas, and Phantoms of Physick Estate. For more information, visit capemaymac.org.

Few things say “Halloween” or, at least, “fall” than pumpkins, which get their very own celebrations this weekend. The 18th Annual Pumpkin Festival at Cape May’s Cold Spring Village will feature a craft show, music, games, pumpkin painting and, in honor of the season, a haunted hayride and a Halloween parade.

Speaking of pumpkins, have you ever wondered how far a catapult can launch one? Find out at the second annual Flying Pumpkin Festival on Saturday. Representatives from NJ Hurl will use medieval war machines to send pumpkins flying about 500 feet. You can also build and race your own cars out of ears of corn, participate in a cake walk or miniature pumpkin launching challenge, and pick your own pumpkin. The event benefits America’s Grow-A-Row (americasgrowarow.org), which provides fresh produce to feed the hungry through volunteer efforts of growing, gleaning, picking, and delivering.

Also on Saturday is the Gardner’s Basin Oktoberfest and Steel Pier Reunion. The event, which runs from noon to 4 p.m., will have live music, food, fun, and appearances from some of the luminaries from Atlantic City’s famous Steel Pier. Meet Ed Hurst, host of the popular ‘Summertime at the Pier’ television show, one of the ‘high diving horse’ girls, and some of Tony’ Grant’s ‘Stars of Tomorrow’. (While you’re in the neighborhood, why not stay over to Sunday and run off some of the bratwurst in the Annual Atlantic City Marathon?)

Busy this weekend? Tuckerton Seaport’s hosting its Haunted Seaport Halloween celebration on October 23 and 24. See the seaport come alive with spirits who haunt the waterways and woods. Visitors can stroll the boardwalk and search for the Jersey Devil or long-lost pirates. For more information, visit tuckertonseaport.org.

Finally, on Halloween proper, go trick or treating at the Emlen Physick Estate in Cape May or, for the grownups, swing by CoolVines in Princeton and Westfield to taste some Candy for Adults—wines to pair and serve with dessert.

Happy Haunting!

Harvest Treats for Food and Wine Lovers

By Brianne Harrison

It’s just about harvest time in New Jersey, and food and wine lovers will have plenty of opportunities to celebrate autumnal abundance this weekend.

Starting on Saturday, Sept. 19 and running through the 27 is the 13^th Annual Cape May Food & Wine Festival. This week-long foodie’s delight will feature a Gourmet Marketplace at the Cape May Winery, a chef’s cook-off, People’s Choice Chowder Contest, a beer-tasting dinner, cooking lessons, and, of course, meals and special offers at the area’s best restaurants. While you’re in the area, you can swing by the Carriage House Tearoom & Café at the Emlen Physick Estate for the Cape May Harvest Food & Wine Tasting on Saturday. The café will be serving a sampling dinner inspired by local products, co-sponsored by the Seaside Cheese Company and Cape May Winery. Representatives from both companies will be available to discuss their offerings and appropriate pairings. The four-course dinner will start with hors d’oeuvers and will be paired with wines from Cape May Winery.

If you like to have a little entertainment with your wine, Valenzano Winery is hosting WineFest, the state’s largest blues, jazz, and wine festival this Saturday and Sunday. Enjoy live entertainment, wine and cheese tastings, and helicopter rides over the pine barrens. Some of the top crafters from around the state will also be there, so you can get a nice head start on your holiday shopping. For more information, visit localwineevents.com or call 609.268.6731.

Love a good craft beer? Trump Marina invites beer lovers to toast the end of summer at their Craft Beer Fest on Saturday. A $25 ticket allows you to sample featured beers like Jack’s Pumpkin Spice, Victory Fest Beir, Magic Hat #9, and offerings from 25 micro-brews. Send the summer of ’09 off in style as you enjoy live music, good beer, and delicious food.

Those looking to give back as they dine out have three upcoming events to choose from. From September 20 to the 26, The Bernards Inn will participate in the Great American Dine Out. A portion of the inn’s proceeds from this period will go to Share Our Strength, an organization committed to ending childhood hunger in America.

Head to the Renaissance Plaza in Flemington on September 21 for The Culinary Affair, an evening of wine, beer, entertainment, and delicious food from restaurants in Hunterdon, Somerset, and Warren counties. This event benefits the Hunterdon Hospice and Visiting Health and Supportive services.

Finally, the Women on the Move luncheon will take place September 22 at Dogwood Hills Farm in Locust. This luncheon raises money for the New Jersey Chapter of the National MS Society. To learn more, call 732.660.1005 or visit nationalMSSociety.org/NJM.

What Were They Thinking?

By Brianne Harrison

We’ve all been there: seen someone walking down the street, in a movie, or--dare we admit it?—looked at old pictures of ourselves and cringed, wondering what on earth made that outfit seem appealing at the time. When it comes to fashions of the past, that reaction becomes very common indeed. What made the giant shoulderpads of the 1980’s or the torturously corseted bodies of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries seem like a good idea?

That’s the question “What Were They Thinking? 160 Years of Bad Taste” sets out to explore. The show, currently on at the Carriage House Gallery at the Emlen Physick Estate in Cape May, leaps nimbly through fashion history, touching on the hoopskirts of the mid-19^th century to the crinolines and beehives of the 50’s to 90’s bling and millennial pocket dogs. See how fashion evolved with the times, becoming looser or more rigid as society dictated.

If you’re in the mood for more history after seeing this exhibit, stop by “HERstory”, a new tour at the estate that explores the changing roles of women in the Victorian era, a time when, even though a woman ruled the largest and most powerful empire in the world, her contemporaries were told to stay in their parlors and be pretty and quiet. Not all of them were content with that. Learn about both the ideal Victorian ladies and the tough women who fought against their traditional roles and created the first Women’s Movement.