April brings the return of flower festivals, food trucks and music fests across the state, along with plenty of Earth Day fun. Our editors’ picks include Spring Spectacular at Holland Ridge Farms in Cream Ridge, where you can choose from 8 million tulips to pick and bring home; a variety of events during Newark’s month-long Cherry Blossom Festival at Essex County Branch Brook Park, including a 5K, Family Fun Day and BloomFest; the super quirky Montclair Flea; Shad Fest in Lambertville, which celebrates the fish that returns to the Delaware River each spring to spawn; and the final weeks of PEEPS in the Village, where the beloved Easter candy is transformed into colorful sculptures at Peddler’s Village in Pennsylvania.
NORTH JERSEY
Easter & Springtime Festival
Alstede Farms, Chester
April 1-4, 6
Your ticket includes scenic hay wagon rides, visits with baby farm animals, animal feeding, an Easter Egg Hunt and Bunny Trail Maze, photos with the Easter Bunny, access to the farm museum, an evergreen maze, and a giant hay pyramid.
Daffodil Days
Reeves-Reed Arboretum, Summit
April 1-15
Be part of this decades-old tradition, where you’ll get to see more than 50,000 beautiful bulbs in bloom. On April 12, will be spring-themed games and crafts, a story trail, food trucks, market vendors and their famous goats during the Daffodil Day Festival.
Easter EGG-stravaganza Festival
Heaven Hill Farm, Vernon
April 3-4, 11-12
Kick off the spring season at the farm with the popular Easter festival, featuring colorful egg hunts, games, and treats for kids.
Cherry Blossom Festival
Essex County Branch Brook Park, Newark
Select dates, April 4-19
For those who are active, April 4 is the Cherry Blossom Challenge Bike Race, April 12 is the Cherry Blossom 10K Run, and April 18 is the Essex County One-Mile Fun Run. Festivalgoers can stop by anytime during April 11 and 18 for the Essex County Cherry Blossom Festival. Essex County Family Day is on April 18, followed by the culminating BloomFest! festival on April 19, with a packed schedule of events on the Oval in the Northern Division, including Japanese cultural demonstrations, children’s activities, live music, a crafter’s marketplace, food and more.
Main Street Pops Artisan Markets
Pier A Walkway, Hoboken
April 12
The popular monthly market showcases a curated selection of unique, handmade treasures from local artisans.
Northeast Earth Coalition Earth Day Celebration
Montclair
April 18-26
Activities during the week include volunteer cleanup opportunities, movie night, a demo garden and an Earth Day festival (April 26).
Montclair Flea
Montclair Flea, Lackawanna Plaza, Montclair
April 25
There will be curated vendors selling everything from art to vintage finds indoors. Food trucks will be located outside.
Spring Festival
Powder Works Factory, Closter
April 25
There will be arts and crafts, vendor shopping, live music, painting with the kids, yoga flows, and food.
Hands-On History Traditional Crafts Festival
Red Mill Museum Village, Clinton
April 25
18th-century skills come to life through hands-on demos like blacksmithing, leatherwork, weaving, basketry, lace-making and violin-making. The event also features the Mill to Mill Peace Flag Project, where you can help create community art.
Pickle Palooza
Teaneck Armory, Teaneck
April 25
The mega pickle festival will have lots of salty and sweet treats to sample – even fried pickles, pickle tacos and pickle pizza – plus a brine drinking contest, competition for King & Queen Pickle, pickle toss and a Family Fun Zone.
Kezus Food Festival
West Englewood Avenue, Teaneck
April 25
This outdoor festival will feature 30+ of the areas top vendors, serving everything from street food favorites to over-the-top creations. It’s a full-day experience with live DJs, eating competitions, and interactive activities. Aqua Riserva will provide free water all day; there will also be a mist tent to stay cool.
Earth Day Celebration
Montclair
April 26
Activities during the week include volunteer cleanup opportunities, movie night, a demo garden – but the events culminate on April 26 with an Earth Day festival.
Earth Day Celebration & Music Festival
Monroe Plaza Center, Hoboken
April 26
Activities include public chalk art, crafts, fitness demonstrations, shopping at the Green Marketplace, where they can purchase sustainable goods from local makers, textile recycling, a bike valet, pebble painting, LEGO projects, a bird drawing class, upcycled sewing projects, a BollyHIIT class, and a walking tour of Northwest ResilienCity Park.
Stirling’s Community Street Fair & Food Truck Festival
Main Avenue, Stirling (Long Hill Twp.)
April 26
The giant block party will feature an arts & crafts section, live entertainment, dancing, a karate demo, kiddie rides and games, face painting, sand art, festival foods and food trucks, and local merchants and civic organizations passing out freebies.
Daffodil Festival & Earth Day Fair
Van Neste Square, Ridgewood
April 26
This year’s theme, “Sustainable Yards,” will highlight ways to create more environmentally-friendly outdoor spaces. In addition to educational displays, demos and a marketplace, the event will feature a recycling magician, the Daffy Dog Parade (beginning at 12:30 pm), a petting zoo, live music and a scavenger hunt.
CENTRAL JERSEY
Bunny Trail Spring Festival
Terhune Orchards, Princeton
April 4-5
Kids can follow a treasure hunt through the blooming farm, ending with a prize and an optional bunny craft activity. While on the farm, they can also play in the hippity hop corral or on the play tractors, take a pony ride, compete in the duckie races, and play old-fashioned games like hopscotch and hula hoops.
Dino Festival and Tulip Experience
Arrowhead Farmstead, Manalapan
Select Dates, April 9 – May 3
Thirty life-sized dinos will be hiding amongst 1 million tulips on 150 acres of farmland for this combo fest. Activities for the kids include fossil hunting, dino stage shows and science lessons on the prehistoric. You can order from the food trucks or lemonade stand.
Holland Ridge Farms U-Pick Tulips
Holland Ridge Farms, Cream Ridge
April 10 to May
Every April, the flower fields burst into bloom with millions of rainbow tulips. You can pick your own, take photos and feast on goodies from the bakery and food trucks.
FrancoFest
Hinds Plaza and Princeton Public Library, Princeton
April 11
The second annual Princeton Francophonie Festival celebrates French culture through vendor booths and artisan products, a literature festival, language discovery, cultural events for kids, music, food and community.
Kite Festival
Pier Village, Long Branch
April 11
Watch as kites fly high above the sand as you stroll through the village to shop, eat and play.
Steinert High School AfterProm Parent Association Spring Craft Market
Steinert High School, Hamilton Twp.
April 18
The craft fair fundraiser will include more than 70 sellers inside and outside.
Earth Day Festival in Hunterdon County
Echo Hill Park, Flemington
April 18
Earth Day events include live animals with Rizzo’s Wildlife World, a high-energy musical experience with recycled instruments with Bash the Trash, activities with local 4-H clubs, recycled crafts, critter-searching in the stream, and fishing.
Hungarian Artisan Market
American Hungarian Foundation, New Brunswick
April 18
There will be Hungarian food, products and merch to buy while celebrating the culture.
Holi Festival
New Brunswick Free Public Library, New Brunswick
April 18
The Indian holiday that welcomes spring will include a musical dance drama, performances, henna, face painting, sampling of Indian foods and Holi color play.
New Brunswick Spring Festival & Bazaar
New Brunswick City Center, New Brunswick
April 18
The ’90s-themed celebration coincides with the 30th anniversary of Harvest Moon Brewery & Cafe. It will be similar to Oktoberfest in the fall and Winter Wonderland in December. There will be local makers, artisans, live music/a deejay, food vendors, interactive games (like Giant Jenga and Connect Four), a ’90s-themed outfit contest, caricatures, henna, and an area exclusively for adults with a beer garden. Harvest Moon will honor 1990s beer pricing and other throwback deals. You can also catch the 1990s-themed live band Who Brought the Dog on stage.
Celebrate Earth Day
Pulda Farm, North Brunswick
April 18
Members of several environmentally-focused organizations – like the North Brunswick Gardening Club, NBTHS Environmental Committee, Rutgers Master Gardeners and Fresh Pond Farms – will be on site to talk about the earth. Hop on a free hayride around the preserved farm.
Von Thun Farms Tulip Festival
Von Thun Farms, Washington Twp.
April 18 – May 7
In November, farmers planted 250,000 tulip bulbs for the first time ever. Visit on any day to pick your own, or plan to come by on a festival weekend when there will be food trucks, kids’ activities, farm animals (like Hope the Highland cow) and market shopping.
Party Like It’s Your Earth Day
Morven Museum & Garden, Princeton
April 19
Sustainable Princeton and Morven reps worked together to create a day packed with yoga, capoeira dance, garden tours, musical and dance performances, a “trashion” show, food booths, craft tables, and a puzzle and book swap.
Rutgers Day
Rutgers University, New Brunswick and Piscataway
April 25
Rutgers fans wait all year for the mega festival that takes over various parts of campus. Rutgers Fest is along College Ave in New Brunswick; Ag Field Day and the New Jersey Folk Festival are on the Cook/Douglass campuses in New Brunswick; and activities are set up on Busch Campus in Piscataway. There will be environmental displays, live music, food trucks, book and plant sales, kids’ activities and meet-and-greets with the Scarlet Knight mascot.
Princeton Porchfest
Princeton
April 25
Multiple porches around town – 18, to be exact – will turn into mini concert stages so musicians can play throughout the day.
Bacon Fest
Laurita Winery, New Egypt
April 25-26
There will be wine for the adults, family-friendly activities, live music, food trucks selling lots of bacon-themed dishes, and vineyard tours.
Shad Fest
Lambertville
April 25-26
The American Shad is the largest fish in the herring family. Every spring, shad migrate from salt water to fresh water to reproduce. Fishermen call this the “annual spring shad run.” There will be food (seafood and not), shad fishing, vendor shopping, arts and crafts, live music, a Kids’ Bazaar, carnival rides, a beer garden and a huge craft market – all along the Delaware River.
Red Bank Street Fair & Craft Show
Red Bank
April 26
There will be arts and crafts, shopping, live music, kids’ games, food vendors and family-friendly fun.
Earth Day Festival & Greenway Walk
Bayonet Farm, Holmdel
April 26
Start the morning by taking a 2-mile walk around the loop, beginning at the Harding House. Visit the bake sale inside the Red Barn Deli. See exhibits, go inside the Nature on the Move Van, watch a show by Doodle Dude, take a tour of the Harding House, join a Mother Earth Drum Circle and grab a seat at the Eyes of the Wild Mammal Show.
SOUTH JERSEY
Tri State Tulip Festival
Dalton Farms, Swedesboro
April 2-24
Aside from 1 million tulips, there will be thousands of daffodils blooming during festival, which includes u-pick flowers on weekdays and a festival every weekend – featuring kids’ activities, a new playground, live music, paddle boats, and a beer garden.
Easter EggstravaganZOO
Cape May County Park & Zoo, Cape May Court House
April 3-5
The zoo will become a bunny wonderland over the weekend, with an Easter Bunny Hide and Seek game, scavenger hunt, HOPstacle Course, and entertainment from Let’s Party Events. The Easter Bunny will be ready for photos on Saturday only.
Historic Smithville’s Renaissance Faire
Historic Smithville, Galloway
April 11-12
Welcome to the Shire of Smithville, where there will be sword fighting, combat shows, music, dancing, singing, jesters, comedy acts, characters from the English Renaissance, drama, and storytelling.
Daffodil Day
Moorestown
April 18
Spring arrives with horse-drawn surrey rides, live music, artisan demos, family activities, and sales at local businesses.
From Dunes to Deep Blue
Cape May
April 18
Cape May County’s Earth Day celebration raises awareness of the entire coastal ecosystem through hands-on educational exhibits, children’s amusements, live entertainment, a variety of eco shops and a scavenger hunt.
Kids’ Art Bash
High Street, Burlington City
April 18
Different spots around town will have arts, history, storytelling, imaginative play and music geared toward kids. Fyütch, DJ Willy Wow!, circus artist Shelli Buttons, Nettie Nana and Friends puppeteers, magician Chad Juros and the Global Orchestra are among the performers. Hands-on art activities will include face painting, balloon artists, cookie decorating, crafts, a community mural project, karaoke, and dress up at the photo booth.
Family Fun Earth Day
Renault Winery & Resort, Egg Harbor City
April 19
Bring the family to the winery for pot painting and planting, sensory potting, a horticulture chat and nature face painting.
Spring Festival and Earth Day Celebration
Red Bank Battlefield, National Park
April 19
There will be Earth Day exhibits and presentations, Colonial craft demos, activities (like glass making, pottery, hearth cooking, spinning and weaving), farm animals, kids’ games, live music, craft vendors, food trucks, a magic show, and tours of the battlefield and Whitall House.
Earth Day Green Market
Historic Smithville, Galloway
April 24
Go Green Galloway is a preview of the summer market, but focusing on native plants. But more than a plant show, there will be crafts, artwork and food (like honey, fresh bread and pies). New this year is the Swap Stop, where you can bring items you no longer need or find treasures for free.
Art Goes to Town Juried Art Show & Craft Fair
The Village at Taunton Forge, Medford
April 25
This annual open-air gallery will be filled with original art, including a juried showcase of regional artists and makers, live art demonstrations, and performances. You can also meet the artists who created all the artwork and wares.
ACUA’s Earth Day Festival
ACUA Environmental Park, Egg Harbor Twp.
April 26
Join the Atlantic County Utilities Authority for South Jersey’s largest Earth Day Festival. There will be recycling center tours, wind/solar/wastewater facility tours, touch-a-truck, landfill hayrides, live animals, interactive shows, a recycled art display, a hay maze, a playground, crafts for kids, bounce houses, and 100+ local exhibitors.
PENNSYLVANIA
PEEPS in the Village
Peddler’s Village, Lahaska, PA
April 1-12
More than 100 dioramas made out of the Easter candy will line the walls of the Visitor and Event Center. There are dozens of shops and restaurants in the village to visit after you cast your vote for your favorite marshmallow masterpiece. Note: The Visitor Center is closed on Easter (Sunday, April 5).
Spring Blooms
Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA
Through May 7
There’s so much to see among the 1,100 acres of gardens, woodlands and meadows. Already growing are hardy bulbs, crocus, forsythia and cherry blossoms. By next week, more than 150,000 tulips and other spring bulbs are expected to reach peak bloom along the 600-foot-long Flower Garden Walk. Come a little later in the season for flowering magnolias and dogwoods.
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Read More:
Springtime Flower Festivals in and Around NJ
The Best Places to See Cherry Blossoms
Eat Your Way Through These NJ Food Festivals
The Best Street Fairs in NJ
