September is turning out to be one of Montclair’s busiest festival month yet. Four weekends, 10 events, two of them sharing Anderson Park in the same month. Here is every festival happening in Montclair and Essex County this September, organized so you can plan around it.
Montclair’s September Festivals, Weekend by Weekend
Weekend of September 19-20
FAME Festival. South End Business District hosts its fourth annual FAME Festival on September 19, noon to 10 p.m., turning the South End commercial corridor at Orange Road and Washington Street into a day-long street festival. The event is built to draw people into the district’s shops and restaurants, with live music, an art walk, a fashion corner, a kids’ corner, a jazz experience and an outdoor film screening rounding out the afternoon. It’s free and open to the public.
Upper Montclair Sidewalk Sale. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. that same Saturday, the Upper Montclair Business Association is organizing its annual sidewalk sale. Shops and restaurants along Bellevue Avenue and Valley Road spill out onto the sidewalk, the day longtime residents build their fall shopping around.
Rose Squared Art Show. Anderson Park hosts the 42nd annual Rose Squared Art Show, known locally as the Friends of Anderson Park Fine Arts and Crafts Fair, for two full days. More than 130 artists and craftspeople set up Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., every one of them reviewed and selected by a panel before being invited to sell. Work ranges from ceramics and glass to apothecary goods and specialty foods. Essex County Parks partners on the show every year, and admission is free.
Montclair Town-Wide Yard Sale. Sunday closes the weekend with a yard sale scattered across the township, the fall edition of a tradition that turns Montclair’s driveways into pop-up shops for a day. Permits required if you want to take part.
Weekend of September 26-27
Uptown Sound Fest. Upper Montclair gets its first real music festival this year, and it lands in Anderson Park from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., featuring Mike’s own The Bard Band and with headliners Waterbury Road closing out the day. Frederic’s Fine Jewelers is the presenting sponsor. The festival started as an Instagram post from Dan Campeas and Dayanna Ordonez, the couple behind Farmhouse Fried Chicken and Dan and Day’s Burgers, who wanted uptown to stop losing out to downtown when it came to live music. “We want this to feel like a true community event,” Campeas told the Pod when the idea first went public. One Instagram post turned into a full nonprofit festival by the end of summer, building through a summer concert series on the St. James Episcopal Church lawn before landing in Anderson Park.
Fall Fest. The Montclair History Center and Montclair Community Farms run their fourth annual Fall Fest the same day, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 110 Orange Road. The lineup includes hands-on craft activities, farm animal meet-and-greets, museum tours and live hearth cooking demonstrations. Early bird tickets run $12 through September 15 and $15 after that, with children three and under free.
Montclair Dance Festival. The month closes out Sunday, September 27, when the Montclair Dance Festival returns, now at Wellmont Arts Plaza. Freespace Dance runs the free, all-ages program from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with VIP seating available for $25. The lineup moves well beyond professional companies alone, pulling in high school dance teams, local studios and solo performers alongside groups like Nimbus Dance and the Queens Ballet Collective.
Essex County Festivals Worth the Drive
BARKtoberfest. Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange hosts its 10th annual BARKtoberfest on September 19, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., a pet adoption event and marketplace held outside the zoo gates. Expect a costume contest, food trucks and rescue groups from across the region.
OSPAC Jazz Festival. West Orange doubles up that same day with the OSPAC Jazz Festival at the Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center, 1 to 8 p.m., featuring a full jazz lineup alongside a beer and wine garden.
Essex County Fall Family Festival. The Essex County Environmental Center in Roseland marks the autumnal equinox, the point in September when day and night are roughly equal length, with its 20th annual Fall Family Festival on September 20, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A pumpkin patch, a petting zoo and canoeing round out a nature-focused morning built for kids.
Image credit: Montclair Dance Festival
