October is the busiest month for craft and artisan fairs in New Jersey: seven of the nineteen have start dates then, three on October 3 and two each on October 10 and October 17. Four have September start dates, and the first has an April start date.
The nineteen range from juried craft shows such as the Haddonfield Crafts & Fine Art Festival and the Rose Squared Fall Chester Craft Show to county fairs, street festivals and a sand sculpting festival.
April to August: eight fairs
Lambertville Shad Festival (ShadFest) opened the season, listed for April 25 and 26 (unconfirmed), in Hunterdon County, with artisan and craft vendors, food, live music and shad-related exhibits across downtown Lambertville. May had two fairs, both on unconfirmed dates: Ocean City Spring Block Party on May 2 and Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival on May 17. June had one, the Red, White & Blueberry Festival in Hammonton, on June 28 (unconfirmed).
July had three: Wildwood Crest Sand Sculpting Festival on an unconfirmed July 10, the Haddonfield Crafts & Fine Art Festival on July 11 and 12, and the Gloucester County 4-H Fair, July 23 through 26. The Haddonfield festival was the 32nd annual, produced by Renaissance Craftables: a juried show of fine art and craft exhibitors in the Kings Highway shopping district, Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. August had one, the New Jersey Folk Festival on August 29 in South Brunswick.
Free admission and unpublished prices
Free admission at twelve of the nineteen: Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival, Wildwood Crest Sand Sculpting Festival, New Jersey Folk Festival, Bergen County 4-H Fair, All About Downtown Street Fair, Oktoberfest at Historic Smithville, Cranberry Festival of Fine Arts and Crafts on Farnsworth, Bottle Hill Day, Ocean City Fall Block Party, Westfield Street Fair & Craft Show (Fall), Downtown Toms River Harvest Arts Festival and Ocean City Spring Block Party.
No published price for the other seven: Lambertville Shad Festival, Haddonfield Crafts & Fine Art Festival, Gloucester County 4-H Fair, Rose Squared Fall Chester Craft Show, Point Pleasant Beach Festival of the Sea, Chatsworth Cranberry Festival and the Red, White & Blueberry Festival. An unpublished price is not the same as free.
Ocean City: two block parties
The Spring Block Party was listed for Saturday, May 2 (unconfirmed), along Asbury Avenue from 5th to 14th Streets, with craft, food and business vendors and free admission. The Fall Block Party, October 10, five months later: a free Saturday street festival along the same stretch of Asbury Avenue, with craft, food and business vendors.
Weekends with overlapping fairs
Eight pairs of fairs share dates, on four weekends: September 19, October 3, October 10 and October 17.
Three fairs fell on September 19: Bergen County 4-H Fair in Ridgefield Park, which ran September 18 through 20 (the New Jersey Department of Agriculture list gave September 19-20), Point Pleasant Beach Festival of the Sea and All About Downtown Street Fair in Jersey City. Ridgefield Park and Jersey City are in the northeast corner of the state, and Point Pleasant Beach is on the Ocean County coast.
On the first weekend of October, Oktoberfest at Historic Smithville in Galloway, the Cranberry Festival of Fine Arts and Crafts on Farnsworth in Bordentown and Bottle Hill Day in Madison all ran October 3. Smithville and Bordentown continued through October 4. The three are in Atlantic, Burlington and Morris counties.
Two fairs on October 10: Ocean City Fall Block Party in Cape May County and Westfield Street Fair & Craft Show (Fall) in Union County. The Westfield fair: South Avenue West and the Boulevard, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Two fairs on October 17: Chatsworth Cranberry Festival in the Pinelands and Downtown Toms River Harvest Arts Festival on Washington Street, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Counties with the most craft fairs
Cape May County accounts for three: Ocean City Spring Block Party, Wildwood Crest Sand Sculpting Festival and Ocean City Fall Block Party.
Five more counties account for two each: Morris, with the Rose Squared Fall Chester Craft Show and Bottle Hill Day in Madison; Hudson, with Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival and All About Downtown Street Fair; Burlington, with Cranberry Festival of Fine Arts and Crafts on Farnsworth and Chatsworth Cranberry Festival; Atlantic, with Red, White & Blueberry Festival and Oktoberfest at Historic Smithville; and Ocean, with Point Pleasant Beach Festival of the Sea and Downtown Toms River Harvest Arts Festival.
