Summer’s Not Over Yet; Not at the Jersey Shore, Where September Festival Season Is Packed

ASBURY PARK, N.J. – The beach chairs may be headed back to the garage, but the Jersey Shore isn’t shutting down for the season. September is shaping up as another busy month from Monmouth County to Cape May, only with concerts, car shows and festivals replacing some of the traditional summer beach crowds.

The post-Labor Day calendar is especially packed over the next three weekends. Asbury Park has one of the Shore’s biggest music festivals on the way, while Seaside Heights, Wildwood, Ocean City and Cape May are filling September with events designed to keep people coming back after summer vacation ends.

Sea.Hear.Now Brings a Huge September Weekend to Asbury Park

September’s biggest Shore crowd could arrive in Asbury Park for Sea.Hear.Now on Sept. 19 and 20.

Mumford & Sons, The Offspring, Chaka Khan, The War on Drugs and Shaggy are among the acts advertised for Saturday. Music, surfing and art combine along the oceanfront for a festival that has become one of Asbury Park’s signature weekends.

The party actually starts a day earlier.

A free Cookman Avenue kickoff is scheduled from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18. That gives downtown restaurants, bars and shops an extra night of festival traffic before the beachfront event begins.

It’s a much different September than the Shore of decades ago, when Labor Day meant many businesses started thinking about locking the doors until spring.

Seaside Heights Keeps the Boardwalk Busy

The September calendar is also crowded in Seaside Heights, beginning with Wine on the Beach this Saturday.

The festival runs from noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 12, with a concert scheduled for 2:30 p.m. A Sunday rain date is available if the weather doesn’t cooperate.

One week later, runners take over the boardwalk for the Seaside Semper Five 5K at 9 a.m. Sept. 19.

Then the dogs get their turn.

Dog Royalty Days returns Sept. 27, allowing dogs back onto the boardwalk promenade for a late-September event that couldn’t look much more different from a packed Saturday afternoon in July.

That’s increasingly how the Shore’s shoulder season works. Instead of trying to duplicate summer, towns give visitors new reasons to make the trip.

Wildwood Goes From Food Festival to Oktoberfest to Irish Weekend

Few Shore destinations make the transition to fall quite like Wildwood.

The free Wildwoods Food & Music Festival is scheduled Saturday, Sept. 12, bringing food vendors, live entertainment and family activities downtown.

The following weekend takes on a distinctly fall flavor. MudHen Oktoberfest runs Sept. 18-20, with Morey’s Boardwalk Bier Run scheduled Sept. 19.

And then comes one of the Wildwoods’ biggest September traditions.

The Irish Fall Festival runs Sept. 25-27 in North Wildwood, with music, dancing, vendors, food and the annual parade along Surf Avenue.

By the time that crowd arrives, Labor Day will have been gone for nearly three weeks. North Wildwood won’t look closed for the season.

Ocean City Has Cars on the Boards and Planes Over the Beach

Ocean City may have the most visually packed September schedule of them all.

The 50th anniversary Fall Cruisin’ The Boards Car Show rolls onto the boardwalk Saturday, Sept. 12. Pre-1990 classic cars will be displayed between Sixth and 14th streets from noon to 5 p.m.

On Sunday, the boardwalk changes again when more than 400 Corvettes are advertised for the city’s annual Corvette Show.

Then Ocean City looks to the sky.

The Ocean City Airport Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 19 with World War II aircraft, classics and warbirds on display. Team Fastrax is also scheduled for a parachute jump.

That night, parachutists return for an 8 p.m. pyrotechnic show over the beach and boardwalk.

At 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, the Boardwalk Aerobatic Airshow brings stunt pilots, aerobatic performers and military demonstrations over the ocean.

Ocean City isn’t done after that. The MS City to Shore Ride arrives Sept. 26-27, with the city’s tourism calendar saying about 7,000 cyclists are expected.

Cape May Is Ready to Lean Into Fall

September doesn’t have to pretend to be summer in Cape May.

The city can simply lean into autumn.

Harvest Brew Fest is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Emlen Physick Estate. The free festival features South Jersey breweries, food vendors, artisans and live music.

It’s the kind of event that illustrates how the Shore tourism season has evolved.

People may not be coming primarily for a full week on the beach anymore, but a festival can still fill restaurants, put customers into downtown shops and create demand for hotel rooms on a September weekend.

One September Weekend Shows How Much the Shore Has Changed

If there’s a weekend that makes the point, circle Sept. 18-20.

Sea.Hear.Now will fill the Asbury Park oceanfront. Wildwood will be celebrating Oktoberfest. Cape May has Harvest Brew Fest.

Ocean City, meanwhile, will have airplanes at the airport Saturday morning, parachutists carrying pyrotechnics over the beach Saturday night and an aerobatic airshow Sunday afternoon.

Those aren’t leftovers from summer.

They are destinations in their own right, and they help explain why Labor Day doesn’t carry quite the same finality it once did for Jersey Shore businesses.

The summer vacation season may be over. September at the Shore clearly isn’t.

September has become a major Jersey Shore event month.
Music festivals, food events, car shows, aviation displays and fall celebrations are scheduled throughout the month.

Sept. 18-20 could be the Shore’s biggest post-Labor Day weekend.
Sea.Hear.Now, Wildwood’s Oktoberfest activities, Ocean City’s aviation weekend and Cape May’s Harvest Brew Fest overlap.

Major events continue through the end of September.
The Irish Fall Festival, Dog Royalty Days and MS City to Shore Ride keep the calendar moving after the month’s biggest festival weekend.

Sources: Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce; Seaside Heights Events Calendar; Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority; Ocean City Events Calendar; Cape May MAC