Closter NJ Fall Events 2026: Your October and November Guide

On Saturday afternoon, October 24, cars will line Hickory Lane again. Behind the gate at MacBain Farm, volunteers will have pumpkins out for picking and decorating, s'mores going at the fire pit, a scavenger hunt and a fall photo "booth." At 3 p.m. they will stop to dedicate a plot called "Farmer John's Garden."

The next morning, the Closter Recreation Halloween Parade steps off at 10:45 and marches to Tenakill School. Harrington Avenue will be closed for a car show, and a PTO festival will spread across Tenakill Field and Memorial Park.

Closter's fall runs on a different map than its summer. From mid-October to mid-November, nearly every dated event in the borough's September 2026 newsletter takes place on a borough farm, a school field, a park, a library or a nature preserve, and volunteers run most of it. The Saturday dedication shows that most clearly.

The farm one man kept planted

"Farmer John" was John Patrick McCaffrey, a lifelong Closter resident. In 1978 he and his brother Bob started Alpine Gardens, a landscape design firm. In 1999 he took over stewardship of MacBain Farm Park. His obituary, published by Moritz Funeral Home, calls it Bergen County's only community farm open to residents to pick vegetables and volunteer in the gardens. For more than 20 years he grew rows of vegetables and fields of flowers there.

The Borough's February 2026 newsletter described him as central to establishing and growing MacBain Farm Park. It also explained how the farm works now: a volunteer committee plans, prepares, plants, weeds and manages the fields so Closter residents can get vegetables, herbs and flowers.

The farm hasn't paused for the season, either. As of late September, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, basil, parsley, cilantro, kale and mint were ready to pick.

How picking works this season

• Closter residents register with ID and proof of residency.
• Picking is once a week, on Wednesdays, Saturdays or Sundays, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• On non-picking days, ripe produce is left on a table outside the gate.
• Parking for both picking and the festival is on Hickory Lane.

As picking winds down, the Farm Committee is looking for volunteers to help get the farm ready for winter. You can reach them at [email protected]. Families are welcome, and children 16 and younger need to come with an adult.

Sunday moves the weekend to Harrington Avenue

Saturday is quiet and centered on the farm. Sunday is louder and fills most of the blocks around Tenakill School. Three events overlap that day: the parade, the Tunnel to Towers car show and the PTO Fall Festival Extravaganza. The Borough promotes them as one day with "something for everyone."

A community listing on Car Show Logic adds details the newsletter leaves out. The car show runs 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with free admission for spectators and a $20 fee to enter a vehicle, and proceeds go to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. The listing also mentions trophies, a DJ, food trucks, vendors, door prizes and a 50/50. It says there is no online registration, so drivers who want to show a car need to contact the organizer directly. The listing comes from a third party, so check it against Closter Recreation before you count on the hours.

If Saturday is rained out, the farm festival moves to Sunday afternoon, 2 to 4 p.m., on the same day as the parade and the Tenakill events. On a wet weekend, all three volunteer-run events could land on one Sunday. Families who plan to go to both should check the forecast Friday night.

The weeks around it run the same way

The busy weekend sits inside a longer run of borough and volunteer programming. Here is the order:

1. Saturday, October 17, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Closter Public Library holds its Fall Book Sale.
2. Through Sunday, October 25. The Belskie Museum of Art & Science shows "Salute to Women in the Arts," with work by 34 members in painting, mixed media, assemblage and ceramics. It's open weekends from 2 to 4 p.m. at 280 High Street, next to the library, and admission is free.
3. Thursday, October 22, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The NJ Motor Vehicle Commission's Mobile Vehicle Inspection Team sets up in the Memorial Field parking lot on Old Closter Dock Road, near the band shell. It's first come, first served, and cars can be inspected up to two months before they're due.
4. October 12 through November 13. The Closter Shade Tree Commission's 2026 Fall Foliage Photo Contest is open to residents. Each photo has to show a tree in the borough this fall and name where it was taken. Three winners get Visa gift cards, and the finalists' photos will hang in the Closter Library. Winners will be announced the weekend of November 28, and each entrant can submit one photo.
5. October 1 through December 7. Curbside leaf pickup is running. Leaf piles have to stay at least 14 feet from a storm drain under NJ DEP rules. Crews will skip piles mixed with branches or debris, and piles blocked by parked cars.

These items connect. The foliage contest asks residents to photograph a tree anywhere in Closter, and the finalists' photos end up in the same library that hosts the book sale. The museum next door returned to weekend hours this month. Most of this happens within a short walk of High Street.

November 7 puts two events on Ruckman Road

The next big Saturday is November 7, and two events share one road that day.

At 154 Ruckman Road, the Closter Nature Center holds its third annual Hike-A-Thon from 10 a.m. to noon, with November 8 as the rain date. It works as a peer-to-peer fundraiser for the Center. Fundraising runs from October 1 through November 7, and you register and donate through the Center's RallyUp page. The day includes a community hike on more than three miles of trails, with refreshments, giveaways and prizes. The Center says it dates to 1962 and covers a 136-acre reserve.

Hikers will likely see a familiar guide. Naturalist Marc Gussen has worked at the Center since 2001, and his 25th-anniversary celebration was on October 4. The Center has said plainly that the event honored his service and did not mark a retirement.

Down the road at the DPW, 130 Ruckman Road, the Residents Only Shredding Event runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. that same morning. If you're doing both, drop off your shredding at 9 and you can be at the trailhead by 10. Expect more traffic than usual on Ruckman Road that morning.

The dining news is still mostly a wait

The biggest restaurant story in town hasn't reached a menu yet. The Hill, which Chef Ben Pollinger opened at 252 Schraalenburgh Road in 2018, closed earlier this year. Boozy Burbs reported on July 23 that the team behind Verana in Norwood and Mykos Estiatorio in Northvale, led by Chef/Owner Giuseppe Agostino, had taken over the space. In an email quoted by Boozy Burbs, the new owners wrote, "There is much more to come in Closter, and we cannot wait to share what we are building." As of that report there was no name, concept or opening timeline, and no later announcement turned up in our research.

One opening has already happened. Closter Mart, a kosher Israeli-style mini-market and deli near Closter Plaza, held its grand opening on June 11, according to the Northern Valley Regional High School Northern Star. At the Plaza itself, the owner's directory now lists [solidcore] and J.Crew Factory among its tenants.

For the next few weekends, though, the dated events on the calendar happen at MacBain Farm, Tenakill, Memorial Park, the library on High Street and the trails off Ruckman Road. The borough hasn't announced a 2026 holiday tree lighting yet, so the November 7 hike is the last confirmed date for now.

If the foliage on your street has you thinking about what your Closter home might be worth, or what a move in the Northern Valley would take, Bobbie can talk it through on your schedule, after the parade and before the leaves go to the curb. Bobbie Procida offers a calm, step-by-step consultation whenever you're ready. Schedule a Consultation.