News

Bloomfield, NJ Downtown Bloomfield will be the place to be Saturday, October 6th (rain date is Sunday, October 7th) as the community comes together to celebrate the 26th annual Harvest Fest! Scheduled to run from 11 AM- 7 PM along Broad Street (between Bloomfield Avenue and Belleville Avenue), the event once again promises to bring something for everyone. Admission is free and free parking will be provided at all street meters and municipal lots located in and around Bloomfield Center Over a dozen food trucks, vendors, and local restaurants will be cooking up delicious foods of various kinds for the hungry crowds. The Harvest Beer and Wine Garden will provide a comfortable space where attendees can sit, eat, and enjoy a wide selection of refreshments. Live music will be played all day on a centrally located main stage where six different bands/performers are scheduled to entertain the crowds. Family fun in the form of amusement rides, a petting zoo, a childrens obstacle course, and other carnival attractions will all be located on the northern end of Broad Street (close to the high school). All along the event venue, hundreds of vendors, artisans, and nonprofit organizations will be on hand selling various products and distributing valuable and important information. "Harvest Fest is a great Bloomfield tradition because there is something for people of all ages to enjoy, and the day long festival helps sustain the strong sense of community we have here," said Bloomfield Mayor Michael Venezia. "Many Township employees work extremely hard to organize this event, and I would like to thank Ollyn Lettman of the BCA in particular for building a great program. I look forward to seeing many familiar and new faces this Saturday at Harvest Fest." For the last several years, the Bloomfield Center Alliance (BCA) the nonprofit entity that manages the townships downtown business improvement district has been bringing this event to the community. It provides yet another reason for local residents and out of town visitors to come, see, and experience the areas ongoing revitalization. Generous financial support comes from a number of entities/corporations including Official Sponsors Brookdale Shop Rite and Clara Maass Medical Center/RWJ Barnabas Health. Investors Foundation and Burgers Grilled Right (BGR) also stepped forward to be a big part of this community event with significant support. Each will have a major presence this Saturday taking advantage of the opportunity to engage the expected crowd of over 10,000 people! Lastly, with the cooperation of the Bloomfield Health Department, the event will provide an opportunity to see and learn about an interesting approach to creating new and dynamic living spaces. Thanks to a New Jersey Healthy Communities Grant from Partners for Health Foundation, an interactive modular parklet will be constructed that morning and on display all day. The goal is to educate attendees on how these structures can support community activities and encourage interaction. According to Maya Lordo of the Health Department, the demonstration parklet . . . represents the townships dedication to providing spaces for the community to engage in active living and social engagement. For more information on the event, please visit the Bloomfield Center Alliances website at www.bloomfieldcenter.com or follow the BCA on Facebook. Also visit the event website here.