As of this morning, it looks like summertime has finally left the Jersey Shore region and fall has arrived. The ocean temps are still high, but the weather forecast calls for crisp and cool temps this weekend.
What to do this first real fall weekend? Go get a pumpkin. Or check out a couple cool festivals taking place in the area.
First, in Atlantic City on Saturday (noon-4pm), there's an Oktoberfest party at Gardner's Basin, which will feature a Steel Pier Reunion with Ed Hurst and music by Jim Craine and his five-piece band.
That same day in Smithville, there's an Irish Festival with live music, plus a Celtic Market and Irish dancers. It takes place from 10am-5pm. Wait to do the raking; have some fun this weekend.

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You can’t beat a chance to have some good eats outdoors while Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes are playing some tasty licks. Thanks to the efforts of Tony Sbarra, the Atlantic City Seafood Festival continued under a new organizational umbrella this year. The venue moved from Gardner’s Basin to the parking area at Bernie Robbins Stadium. So, while the bayside ambiance was gone, the good food and good music continued.

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As if you needed another reason to attend this weekend's Atlantic City Seafood Festival, right? Well, fans of the Jersey Shore sound will be coming from all over for Saturday night's performance by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. This is Southside Johnny's only A.C. show scheduled for 2007. It's just $5 to get into the fest - quite a good price to hear this legendary band. (Photo: Matt Hagy; southsidejohnny.com)

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One of my favorite Jersey Fresh events during the fall is the annual Chatsworth Cranberry Festival http://www.cranfest.org in the heart of the Pinelands the third weekend in October. This area in central Burlington County is listed as having a population of 2,000 but at least 10x that many people show up for the Cran Fest to sample cranberry wine, cranberry sticky buns, cranberry bread and enjoy numerous food choices from the extensive food court. One of the best parts about going to the festival is the drive up. You can go the fast way up the Garden State Parkway (Exit 67) or you can drive to Egg Harbor City, turn right on Route 50/563 and follow that road all the way. The latter is a spectacular drive on a country road where you can enjoy the wonderful fall foliage and even see cranberry bogs along the way. I buy a crate of crannberries and freeze them to use for Thanksgiving and beyond. I even won a blue ribbon one year for my low fat/low suger cranberry-butternut squash bread.
Later

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I checked out the South Jersey Pumpkin Festival in Millville Friday night (Oct. 13) to see the giant pumpkins on display. I was a bit bummed out that I traveled all that way (70 miles round trip) to see the single pumpkin that was entered in the biggest pumpkin contest. This great white pumpkin (pictured below) weighed in at 357 lbs., quite a bit smaller than last year’s 817 lb. winner. The pumpkin was grown from a seed from last year’s winner but obviously didn’t quite live up to its predecessor. Oh well, I will be checking out a few more Halloween events before the season is over. I am definitely going to visit Ocean City to play some haunted golf at the Congo Falls’ indoor Lost City course, which is dressing up for Halloween. The Skullville Haunted Hayride is another fun holiday event.

I know I won’t be disappointed when I go see Bonnie Raitt tonight (Monday, Oct. 16) at the House of Blues. Bonnie was in town last year for a taping of the VHI Classics Legends show, which was great (Norah Jones, Ben Harper were on the bill) but they had to keep stopping and re-doing songs two and three times. I’m looking forward to hearing Bonnie and her band with no interruptions tonight. Naturally I’ll check back with a review and set list.

Later

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For those of you who think a film critic spends most of his or her time in dark movie houses, think again. Only a few hours a week are devoted to movies; the rest of the time is filled with family, friends and good times out and about. For example as a big fan of Halloween, I'm headed to Millville this evening to enjoy the South Jersey Pumpkin Show. Thanks to my colleague Steve Angelucci's Calendar of Events listing for this week I found out about the show in Millville, so it's time for a road trip. I'm particularly interested in tonight’s (Oct. 13) giant pumpkin weigh-in. I’m a big fan of jumbo pumpkins and have had a 200 lb. jack-o-lantern myself for Halloween. It was a monster to carve, but worth the effort and the acclaim from neighbors. I’m planning to take pics of the jumbo pumpkins to post on this site Monday.

I was very sorry to hear that Johnny Callison has passed away. I had been a Yankees fan in the early 1960s but switched to the Phillies in 1964 at age 11 (great timing wasn’t it?). Despite the famous collapse of 1964, I was very fond of that team – Tony Taylor, Tony Gonzalez, Cookie Rojas, Bobby Wine, Dick Allen, Johnny Briggs, Jim Bunning, Clayton Dalrymple, Art Mahaffey, Rick Wise, Ruben Amaro and of course Callison. He was their best player and best clutch hitter. I remember feeling the pain of that late-season collapse for several decades afterwards, even when the details had long since slipped away. No doubt the Phillies class of ’64 will be reunited to give Callison a Phabulous send-off at his funeral.

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