Jessica Norton The Jersey Shore is often thought of as a summer destination, but some of its best traditions, festivals, and community events actually take place well beyond the warm-weather months. From holiday tree lightings and spring flea markets to fall witch festivals, there are so many things happening in every season, keeping our calendars full year-round. And these events span the entire Jersey Shore, from Red Bank down to Wildwood. Read on to learn more about annual events all Jersey Shore residents should know.
Winter
Asbury Park Holiday Bazaar | Asbury Park
The Asbury Park Holiday Bazaar is a weekend pop-up market that takes over Convention Hall on weekends from late November through December. The bazaar is a curated mix of local makers, indie brands, and small businesses with handmade jewelry, cozy winter gifts, vintage treasures, and art pieces. There’s usually live music, family-friendly activities, as well as festive drinks and snacks.
Asbury Park St. Patrick’s Day Parade | Asbury Park
The Asbury Park St. Patrick’s Day Parade is typically held in early March, most often on the first Saturday of the month. The celebration brings a lively mix of marching bands, bagpipers, Irish step dancers, and local community groups making their way down Cookman Avenue. Alongside the parade, local bars, restaurants, and venues across Asbury Park lean into the holiday with themed specials, events, and live music.
Asbury Park Santa Run | Asbury Park
The Asbury Park Santa Run is a festive holiday-themed fun run that takes place in early December. Participants dress in Santa suits or other holiday costumes, and along the way, there is holiday music and cheering spectators. It often wraps up with an after-party and concert at The Stone Pony. Registration includes a donation to Lunch Break, a Santa suit, race entry, a closed course in Asbury Park, access to after parties (21+), and chip-timed results.
Asbury Park Valentine’s Bazaar | Asbury Park
The Asbury Park Valentine’s Bazaar is a seasonal market that typically takes place in mid-February, usually around Valentine’s Day weekend. The bazaar brings together local makers, artists, and small businesses for a pop-up shopping experience centered on gifts, treats, and handmade goods inside of Convention Hall. Visitors can expect everything from jewelry and art to sweets, florals, and themed Valentine’s items, along with live music and entertainment.
Belmar St. Patrick’s Day Parade | Belmar
The Belmar St. Patrick’s Day Parade is one of the biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations at the Jersey Shore, typically taking place on the Sunday before St. Patrick’s Day in mid-March. It runs along Main Street and 10th Avenue, with crowds lining the route early to catch all the action. The parade features marching bands, Irish step dancers, fire companies, local organizations, and plenty of floats decked out in green. Bagpipers, festive costumes, and a strong community turnout give it a lively, classic Irish-American parade feel that spills over into nearby bars and restaurants afterward.
Historic Smithville Holiday Light Show on the Lake | Smithville
The Light Show on the Lake at Historic Smithville runs every year from Thanksgiving through January. In the center of the village, Lake Meone is filled with more than 120 floating Christmas trees made from over 50,000 lights. After dark, the lights are set to music and move in a coordinated show across the water. The display can be seen from both sides of the village and from the bridge.
Jenkinson’s Sea of Lights | Point Pleasant
Jenkinson’s Boardwalk’s Sea of Lights is an annual indoor holiday lights spectacular that transforms the aquarium into a winter wonderland. The event typically takes place on select weekend dates throughout December. Jenkinson’s Aquarium is completely reimagined with an ocean-themed holiday glow, blending marine life exhibits with seasonal light displays. A standout tradition is the “Diving Santa,” where Santa Claus appears in scuba gear and swims through the large fish tanks to spread holiday cheer underwater.
Ocean Grove Victorian House Tours | Ocean Grove
In Ocean Grove, private historic Victorian homes are open for guided viewing, and during the holiday season, a special version of the tour is held in December to showcase the homes decorated with elaborate festive decor, wreaths, and vintage-style Christmas displays. The experience highlights Ocean Grove’s unique 19th-century architecture, with ornate gingerbread trim, colorful facades, and preserved historic interiors that reflect the town’s seaside camp meeting heritage. The holiday festivities are centered around the annual tree lighting ceremony in Auditorium Square Park, where a large community Christmas tree is illuminated and includes carol singing and local performances.
Read More: A Guide to Celebrating the Holidays in Ocean Grove
Polar Bear Plunge | Seaside Heights
Every February or March, thousands of brave participants run into the icy Atlantic Ocean during the annual Polar Bear Plunge in Seaside Heights. The event raises money for Special Olympics New Jersey and draws huge crowds of spectators and costumed plungers. It’s a fun and memorable winter Shore tradition even for those who choose not to take the plunge.
Ocean County St. Patrick’s Day Parade | Seaside Heights
The Ocean County St. Patrick’s Day Parade is typically held in mid-March and brings together a lively mix of marching bands, Irish step dancers, bagpipers, and decorated floats representing local towns, schools, and community organizations. Fire departments, police units, and civic groups from across the county also take part, adding to the traditional parade atmosphere. The event is lined with spectators along the boardwalk and streets.
Spring Lake Christmas Train Village | Spring Lake
The Spring Lake Christmas Train Village is a free holiday display typically held from late November through December 31. It features an elaborate miniature train setup that winds through a detailed recreation of Spring Lake, complete with tiny buildings, lights, and festive holiday scenes.
Tuckerton Seaport Fire + Ice Festival | Tuckerton
The Tuckerton Seaport Fire + Ice Festival takes place every January or February and turns the seaport into a full winter wonderland. Visitors can watch live ice carving demos, catch fire performers throughout the day, browse craft vendors, and grab bites from local food trucks. There’s also live entertainment and plenty of seasonal activities spread across the village, making it an easy, family-friendly way to spend a (likely) cold winter day at the Jersey Shore.
Spring
Asbury Park Vegan Food Festival | Asbury Park
The Asbury Park Vegan Food Festival is a two-day festival held in Bradley Park, usually in May. The festival brings together top vegan and plant-based offerings from local chefs, restaurants, food trucks, and product makers from the tri-state area. Beyond the food, the festival includes vegan lifestyle goods, cruelty-free fashion, live music, and an outdoor bar serving vegan cocktails and mocktails. Visitors can expect everything from jackfruit tacos to indulgent desserts designed to impress even the most committed cheese-lover.
Atlantic City Beer + Music Festival | Atlantic City
The Atlantic City Beer + Music Festival typically takes place in April at the Atlantic City Convention Center, bringing together hundreds of craft breweries from the tri-state area for tasting sessions. Alongside the beer, the festival includes live music, food vendors, and interactive experiences like brewing demos and themed lounges. Alternatively, pop-punk acts like Senses Fail, Goldfinger, Knuckle Puck, The Early November, Saves the Day, and Hot Mulligan have performed on past lineups.
New Jersey Seafood Festival | Belmar
Belmar hosts the annual New Jersey Seafood Festival in early May each year at Ferruggiaro Park at Silver Lake. The event brings together a wide range of local and regional seafood vendors serving everything from crab cakes and lobster rolls to fried shrimp, chowders, and Jersey Shore classics. In addition to food, the festival usually includes live music, craft and artisan vendors, and family-friendly activities that line the streets near the ocean.
Garden State Film Festival | Asbury Park
The Garden State Film Festival is held each spring in Asbury Park, typically over four days in late March. It features hundreds of screenings spanning feature films, shorts, documentaries, student projects, and premieres, along with Q+As, panels, and networking events with filmmakers. Screenings and events are spread across multiple local venues, including the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel, Asbury Lanes, and The Asbury Hotel.
Jersey Shore Greek Festival | Ocean
The Jersey Shore Greek Festival is typically held in late May at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Ocean Township. The event brings a lively celebration of Greek culture, featuring traditional music, spirited dancing, and an energetic community atmosphere. A wide selection of authentic Greek food is available throughout the festival, with favorites like gyros, souvlaki, spanakopita, and freshly baked pastries filling the air with rich aromas. Alongside the food and entertainment, there are also games, large-prize raffles, and a vibrant marketplace showcasing cultural goods and vendors.
Ocean City Block Party + Food Festival | Ocean City
The Ocean City Block Party + Food Festival is typically held twice a year, in the spring (usually early May) and fall (usually mid-October), as an all-day Saturday event. The festival transforms downtown Ocean City’s Asbury Avenue into a pedestrian marketplace stretching roughly from 5th Street to 14th Street. It features hundreds of crafters and vendors, local food stands, live music, and family-friendly entertainment spread throughout the corridor. Downtown shops along Asbury Avenue also open their doors with specials and sidewalk sales
Ocean Grove Spring Market | Ocean Grove
Ocean Grove Spring Market is a seasonal outdoor market that typically takes place in May. The market runs from The Great Auditorium to the ocean and features a wide mix of vendors offering handmade crafts, antiques, home décor, artwork, and local specialty goods.
Record Store Day
Record Store Day takes place annually on the third Saturday of April. Record shops across our shore towns like Asbury Park, Red Bank, and Point Pleasant open early and often see lines forming before sunrise from collectors and music fans. The day is marked by exclusive vinyl releases, limited-edition pressings, and reissues that are only available in-store on that date. Many participating stores also host live in-store performances, DJ sets, and special events.
Wildwood Kite Festival | Wildwood
The Wildwoods International Kite Festival is a long-running event held on the beach at Rio Grande Avenue in Wildwood and inside the Wildwoods Convention Center, typically during Memorial Day weekend. It is known as one of the largest kite festivals in North America, filling the shoreline and sky with massive inflatable kites, stunt kite demonstrations, and colorful displays created by flyers from around the world. The event usually includes both beach and indoor activities, such as team flying exhibitions, family games, kite workshops, and auctions featuring unique kites and memorabilia.
Summer
Barefoot Country Music Festival | Wildwood
The Barefoot Country Music Festival takes place every June on the beaches of Wildwood. It turns the shoreline into a massive concert venue with multiple stages, and the lineup typically features some of the biggest names in the country music genre, including artists like Jason Aldean, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll, Rascal Flatts, Miranda Lambert, Eric Church, and Kelsea Ballerini in recent years. Alongside the headliners, dozens of rising acts, food vendors, beach bars, and pop-up experiences fill out the festival atmosphere.
Irish Festival at Monmouth Park | Oceanport
The annual New Jersey Irish Festival at Monmouth Park is typically held in June and brings a full day of Irish celebration to the racetrack. The event features a traditional Irish mass along with live horse racing, Irish food vendors, craft stalls, music, dancing, and cultural performances throughout the grounds. A major highlight is the annual Human Horse Race, a crowd favorite that also raises money for a charitable cause. Free family activities run in the picnic area and include clowns, face painters, pony rides, and a bounce house.
Manasquan Fireman’s Fair | Manasquan
The Manasquan Firemen’s Fair is a long-running summer tradition in Monmouth County, typically kicking off on the last weekend in July and running into early August for about a week. It takes place at the Manasquan Volunteer Fire Company grounds and serves as a major fundraiser for the local fire department. The fair features a full lineup of classic carnival rides, games, and attractions, along with boardwalk-style favorites like fried dough, sausage sandwiches, and ice cream.
Monmouth County Fair | Freehold
The Monmouth County Fair is an annual summer tradition typically held in late July at the East Freehold Showgrounds in Freehold Township. It features a mix of classic fair attractions, including carnival rides, games, and live entertainment spread across several days. Agricultural exhibits and 4-H showcases highlight local livestock, crafts, and community projects.
New Jersey Sandcastle Contest | Belmar
The New Jersey Sandcastle Contest in Belmar is typically held in July and brings individuals and teams together along the beach to build elaborate sand sculptures, ranging from simple castles to highly detailed, creative designs. Judges usually evaluate entries based on creativity, craftsmanship, and overall presentation, with prizes awarded in different categories.
North 2 Shore | Asbury Park + Atlantic City
North 2 Shore is a three-city arts and entertainment festival in New Jersey that typically runs for about three weeks in June, stretching across Atlantic City, Asbury Park, and Newark. It features a mix of live music, comedy, film, and cultural events spread across both major venues and smaller local spaces in each city. In Asbury Park, events often take place at spots like the Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Lanes, Convention Hall, and the Paramount Theatre, while Atlantic City shows are hosted at venues such as Boardwalk Hall, the Hard Rock, the Ocean Casino Resort, Caesars, and the Tropicana. The festival is designed so each city has its own concentrated week of programming, turning the Jersey Shore into a rotating lineup of performances and events throughout the month.
Ocean County Fair | Berkeley Township
The Ocean County Fair is typically held in mid-July and runs for about five days. It takes place at Robert J. Miller Airpark in Berkeley Township, which is transformed into a full fairground with midway rides, live entertainment stages, and vendor areas. The fair features 4-H agricultural exhibits and animal displays, along with food stands, games, and nightly performances with music to family-friendly shows.
Surf + Turf Seafood Festival at Monmouth Park | Oceanport
The Surf + Turf Seafood Festival at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport is held in August and features more than a dozen local seafood vendors serving dishes like lobster rolls, crab cakes, shrimp, and other Jersey Shore favorites. Alongside the food, there is live music, food trucks, and family-friendly activities such as bounce houses and face painting.
Fall
Asbury Park PorchFest | Asbury Park
Image courtesy of Asbury Park Porchfest.
Asbury Park Porchfest is a free, walkable music festival that typically takes place in late September, when neighborhood porches across the city turn into small performance stages. Local musicians of all genres, from acoustic sets to indie rock and jazz, perform throughout residential streets, creating a rotating schedule of live music. Residents host performers on their porches, lawns, and driveways while visitors move from house to house following a map of scheduled sets, often discovering new bands along the way.
Asbury Park Zombie Walk | Asbury Park
The Asbury Park Zombie Walk is an annual fall tradition that typically takes place in early October, when the downtown streets fill with thousands of costumed participants dressed as zombies, monsters, and other horror-inspired characters. The event began as a small gathering and has grown into one of the largest zombie walks in the country, drawing crowds for its mix of community spectacle and playful chaos. Live music, street performances, and pop-up vendors line the boardwalk and nearby streets, adding to the festival-like atmosphere. The walk usually concludes with a group procession along the boardwalk and beach area, creating a dramatic invasion” of the shore.
Bond Street Block Party | Asbury Park
The Bond Street Block Party is an annual street festival outside of Bond Street bar on Bond Street Bar in Asbury Park. It takes place in mid-September. block is partially closed off for the event, which features live local bands, food, and drinks. The block party is free and open to the public.
Bradley Beach Turkey Trot | Bradley Beach
The Bradley Beach Turkey Trot in Bradley Beach, New Jersey is a Thanksgiving morning tradition that takes place as a relaxed 2-mile run/walk along the local streets. It’s designed as a fun run, with Turkey and Thanksgiving-themed costumes strongly encouraged. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Mercy Center to help feed the homeless during the holiday season. Families, strollers, and walkers are all part of the mix.
Chowderfest | Beach Haven
Chowderfest on Long Beach Island is typically held in early October in Beach Haven and is one of the island’s biggest fall gatherings. Local restaurants and vendors offer unlimited tastings and compete for bragging rights in categories like best clam chowder, bisque, and chowder-style specialties. The event also features live music, craft vendors, and family-friendly activities. It’s widely known as a kickoff to the quieter, off-season at the Jersey Shore.
Festival of the Sea | Point Pleasant
The Festival of the Sea in Point Pleasant Beach is held each September and serves as a celebration marking the end of the summer season at the Jersey Shore. The event features fresh seafood offerings from local restaurants, along with a dedicated Beer + Wine Garden. A variety of craft vendors participate, showcasing handmade goods, artwork, and coastal-inspired merchandise. Live music performances and family-friendly activities are scheduled throughout the day, and admission is free.
Sea. Hear. Now. | Asbury Park
Sea.Hear.Now is an annual music, art, and surf festival held in Asbury Park, typically taking place in mid-September. The event is set right along the beach and boardwalk, combining live performances on multiple stages with professional surf competitions. Alongside the music and surfing, there are art installations and food vendors. Past performers have included Bruce Springsteen + the E Street Band, Foo Fighters, The Killers, Stevie Nicks, and Green Day.
Six Flags Fright Fest | Jackson
Six Flags Great Adventure Fright Fest is an annual Halloween-themed event with spooky entertainment and nighttime thrills. It typically runs from late September through October on select days. The event features haunted mazes, scare zones, and roaming scare actors that take over different areas of the park after dark. Many of the park’s roller coasters and rides remain open at night. Special shows, themed food offerings, and seasonal decorations round out the experience, creating a full Halloween atmosphere across the grounds.
Small Business Saturday
Small Business Saturday at the Jersey Shore is held the Saturday after Thanksgiving as part of the national shopping weekend kickoff to the holiday season. Downtowns and main streets in towns such as Asbury Park, Red Bank, Point Pleasant Beach, and Belmar highlight locally owned shops and boutiques. The day is centered around encouraging residents and visitors to support small businesses, often featuring special discounts, pop-up markets, and seasonal promotions.
Witches Day Out at Historic Smithville | Smithville
Witches Day Out at Historic Smithville is a popular annual event that transforms Smithville into a festive, witch-themed celebration. Typically held in late October, it draws visitors who dress in witch attire to take part in a full day of themed shopping, entertainment, and activities. The event features a scavenger hunt, raffles, and a lively witch hat contest, along with a parade and costume judging. Throughout the village, more than 50 shoppes and eateries offer special discounts and promotions for participants in costume.
See More: 25+ Annual Bergen County Events That Every Resident Should Know
Follow @thejerseyshoregirl_ on Instagram for the latest Jersey Shore updates, sign up for our weekly newsletter here that shares everything you missed each week, and check out our events calendar, which has over 40+ events weekly to peruse.
