The Week Ahead: South Jersey Dresses Up, and the Grown-Ups Get a Turn Too

This is my favorite stretch of the South Jersey calendar, and I will fight anyone who disagrees. The leaves finally mean it, the air has that smoke-and-cider snap to it, and for one glorious week the whole region gives itself permission to be a little theatrical. Everybody’s in costume. Everybody’s a performer. Here’s where to point your weekend as Halloween closes in.

Start close to home on Saturday, October 24, up Route 130 in Cinnaminson, where the Four Quarters free family trunk-or-treat runs from 3 to 6 p.m. If you’ve never done a small-town trunk-or-treat, understand that it is less about the candy than about the sight of neighbors decorating the backs of their cars like it’s a competitive sport. Registration is encouraged, so sign up ahead and bring the kids. It’s free, it’s warm, and it’s the kind of thing that makes you glad you live here.

Down the shore

If your weekend wants a little more horsepower, the shore is throwing open its doors for one last costumed hurrah. Storybook Land in Egg Harbor Township runs its Trick or Treat weekends Saturday and Sunday, with little ones collecting candy at a dozen stops across the park (tickets are sold online by date, so buy them in advance). Down in Atlantic City, Stockton University hosts a free Party in the Park at O’Donnell Park on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. — trick-or-treating, pumpkin painting, a petting zoo, live music, and food trucks, with a Sunday rain date in its back pocket. And because the shore never does anything halfway, Ocean City’s Dog Days and Howl-O-Ween Parade sends a boardwalk full of costumed pups down the boards, the parade stepping off Saturday at 3 p.m. There is nothing — nothing — that fixes a bad week like a corgi dressed as a hot dog.

There is nothing — nothing — that fixes a bad week like a corgi dressed as a hot dog.Jenna Joy

Over in Salem County, the Woodstown Central Railroad is running its Pumpkin Patch train Saturday and Sunday, with departures at 10, 12:30, and 3 (tickets start at $35 and come with a pumpkin), and for the braver among you, the Salem Ghost Train rolls out Saturday at 6:30 p.m. with live ghost stories waiting at Fenwick Grove (it’s sold out, but there’s a waitlist). I rode a ghost train once as a skeptic and came home a believer, so govern yourselves accordingly.

The grown-ups get a night

Now — a word for those of us whose idea of a good time does not involve a sugar-high seven-year-old. The grown-ups get their night, too. Thursday, October 29, the Adventure Aquarium in Camden hosts Boo Bash, a 21-and-over after-hours party from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. with candy stations, cocktails, and — this is the detail that sold me — underwater pumpkin carving performed by actual divers. Cocktails cost extra. Where else on earth can you watch a scuba diver gut a jack-o’-lantern in front of a tank of sharks? Camden, that’s where. Our Camden.

And for a reminder that culture around here isn’t all fog machines and candy corn, cast an eye toward Camden starting Friday, October 23, when Symphony in C partners with Rutgers–Camden Theater for a staging of the sunny old chestnut No, No, Nanette at the Walter K. Gordon Theater, running through Nov. 1. After a week of ghouls and ghost trains, there’s something perfect about ending it with a live orchestra and a show whose whole job is to make you smile. It’s the oldest trick in the theater, and it still works every time.

That’s the thing I love most about this region come late October. We contain multitudes. We’ll take the kids trick-or-treating in the afternoon, watch divers carve pumpkins at night, and still find our way to an orchestra by the weekend’s end — all without leaving the counties we call home. The costumes come off November 1st. Until then, South Jersey, the stage is yours. Go be dramatic.

Based on listings from PhillyVoice, Eventbrite, the City of Ocean City, Stockton University, Woodstown Central Railroad, and venue announcements. Please confirm dates, times and ticket details with each venue before heading out.