Atlantic City Beer & Music Festival opened the music season, listed for April 11 (unconfirmed), and Irish Fall Festival in North Wildwood closed it on September 27.
Twenty events made up the season, from a concert series and city street festivals with several stages to county fairs. Seven were free.
April and May: from beer to jazz
Atlantic City Beer & Music Festival was a 21-and-over craft beer festival with live music and ticketed sessions at the Atlantic City Convention Center.
Cape May Music Festival was a concert series at venues across Cape May, May 9 through June 21. The program spanned classical, jazz and brass, with performances by the New York Chamber Ensemble, New Jersey Symphony Chamber Players and Bay Atlantic Symphony, plus a George Mesterhazy tribute.
Three events fell between May 15 and 17, all on unconfirmed dates. Cape May Exit Zero Jazz Festival was a ticketed event across Cape May venues, separate from the concert series. The New Jersey Seafood Festival in Belmar was free, at Ferruggiaro Park at Silver Lake, with seafood vendors, craft vendors and live music. Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival was a free street festival on Washington Street, listed for Sunday, May 17 (unconfirmed), with multiple music stages.
June: North to Shore, Barefoot and L.E.A.D. Fest
North to Shore Festival was a statewide arts, music, comedy and ideas festival produced by NJPAC, listed for June 13 to 28 (unconfirmed). NJPAC stated that it ran across Newark and Asbury Park, with Atlantic City also taking part. Newark venues included the Prudential Center, NJPAC's Prudential Hall, the Victoria Theater and Chambers Plaza. Asbury Park venues included the Stone Pony Summer Stage and the Wonder Bar. NJPAC also stated that community events in both cities were free or affordably priced.
Barefoot Country Music Fest was a ticketed country music festival on the beach in Wildwood, listed for June 18 to 21 (unconfirmed). The festival site was at 3601 Boardwalk in Wildwood.
L.E.A.D. Fest State Fair in West Windsor was a carnival-style fair at the Mercer County Park Festival Grounds, listed for June 26 to July 5 (unconfirmed), with nightly entertainment and live music.
July: Oceanfest, a blues weekend and two fairs
Long Branch Oceanfest was listed for Saturday, July 4 (unconfirmed), along the Great Lawn and Promenade, with family activities, music, food trucks, games, sand sculptures and fireworks over the ocean at dusk. Admission was free.
New Jersey State BBQ Championship & Anglesea Blues Festival ran July 10 to 12 in North Wildwood, with competition barbecue teams, food vendors and blues acts around Olde New Jersey Avenue.
Summer in the Street in downtown Toms River was listed for Saturday, July 18 (unconfirmed), on Washington Street, and was free. Two fairs with music followed. Warren County Farmers' Fair was listed for July 25 to August 1 (unconfirmed), and the New Jersey State Fair and Sussex County Farm & Horse Show opened July 31 with performing-arts stages.
August 15: two jazz festivals on one Saturday
Montclair Jazz Festival Downtown Jamboree & Block Party in Essex County and Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival in Morris County both fell on Saturday, August 15.
Morristown filled the Morristown Green with about ten hours of free music beginning at noon. The 2026 program spanned big-band swing, Latin jazz, rock-infused horn arrangements and traditional blues, headlined by Grammy-winning guitarist Christone "Kingfish" Ingram. Downtown restaurants ran festival specials.
Montclair was the 17th annual festival, produced by the nonprofit Jazz House Kids, and ended in an all-day Downtown Jamboree and Block Party at the eight-acre Lackawanna Plaza. No admission price was stated.
The rest of August: two county fairs and a folk festival
Middlesex County Fair ran August 3 to 9 in East Brunswick, with live music alongside fireworks. Passaic County Fair ran August 13 to 16 in Woodland Park, so August 15 was a fair day there too. Admission was free, and the fair had a beer garden, live music and fireworks on Friday and Saturday nights.
New Jersey Folk Festival closed the month on Saturday, August 29, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Davidson's Mill Pond Park in South Brunswick, in its 51st year. It was free, with local musicians, crafters and folklorists, folklife demonstrations, a jam tent, children's activities and food vendors.
September 19: Sea.Hear.Now and four other events with live music
Sea.Hear.Now Festival was a two-day beachfront music and surf festival on the Asbury Park waterfront, using North Beach and Bradley Park. The 2026 edition ran September 19 and 20 with more than 25 bands on three stages (two on the beach, one in the park) and a team surf contest set up between the Surf Stage and the Sand Stage. The headliners included The Strokes, Mumford & Sons, and The Offspring with Goo Goo Dolls.
Four other events with live music fell on September 19: All About Downtown Street Fair in Jersey City (free, noon to 8 p.m., date inferred from the festival's usual pattern), the Comfort Food Festival in Toms River, the Festival of the Sea in Point Pleasant Beach and the Bergen County 4-H Fair in Ridgefield Park. The Bergen fair's dates differed by source: the state agriculture list gave September 19 to 20, and the county 4-H office described September 18 to 20.
Late September: the Irish Fall Festival
Irish Fall Festival in North Wildwood ran September 25 to 27. It marked its 34th year with Celtic music, dance, food and a Sunday parade.
Seven free events, five of them single days
Seven of the twenty had free admission: the New Jersey Seafood Festival, Hoboken Spring Arts & Music, Long Branch Oceanfest, Summer in the Street in Toms River, Passaic County Fair, Morristown Jazz & Blues and the New Jersey Folk Festival. Five were single days (Hoboken, Long Branch, Toms River, Morristown and South Brunswick). The Seafood Festival ran three days and Passaic County Fair four, and Passaic was the only county fair among the seven.
