Summer fun does not have to
end with August: September brings a boatload of activities to the
Cape May shoreline, and with less traffic and no more heat waves, it
may even be a better, more relaxing experience! From tomato
festivals to watercolor workshops, wine tastings to the famous
Jackson Street Oktoberfest, Cape May has a slew of activities to
keep you active and entertained even when the leaves start to turn.
Labor Day weekend usually marks the end of summer, and Cape
May starts off September with a nod to this landmark holiday. The
Summer Send-Off Craft Show will be a beehive of local, hand-made
arts and crafts on the Boardwalk for the entire weekend. But as much
as the craft show will be saying good-bye to summer, it
will be
saying hello to all the great fall-themed activities in Cape May for
the rest of the month!
The Tomato Festival hosted at
West Cape
May Borough Hall on September 1st
will bring the taste of fall to the island. But before we jump straight into Halloween, don’t
forget to mark your calendars for September 29th because
Oktoberfest is back! Jackson Street, the oldest, highest, and most
haunted street in Cape May will block the road and host all sorts of
vendors,
food and craft alike, and never without the classic
beverage which Oktoberfests are known for. Other great arts and
crafts shows this month will include the Grandma’s Attic craft show
on the Boardwalk on September 8th from 10-5pm, the Cape
May County Art League Fine Art Craft Show at the
Washington Mall and
Rotary Park on September 8-9, and the Fall Sidewalk Sale on the
Washington Street Mall from September 13-16.
Fall is a goldmine season for artists. Technicolor leaves and
fluorescent trees are a staple that can make even the dingiest of
places look like paradise. The many art exhibits in September prove
that with Victorian houses as the landscape and the beach as the
background, Cape May in the summer may be the princess, but the fall
is the crown. The
Chalfonte Hotel will host Carole Clarke’s
Watercolor Exhibit from September 2nd through
mid-October. The opening reception on September 2nd will
occur from 2-4 p.m. Free, self-guided tours will be open to the
public from 11-4 p.m. everyday until mid-October. The Chalfonte
Hotel will also host a weekend watercolor workshop run by Marge Chavoosian from September 14-16, a noted New Jersey artist who has
received over 145 regional and national awards. Questions about fees
and enrollment for the workshop must be directed to the Hotel, phone
number 888-411-1998.
The Cape May arts scene is not just reachable through handy crafts
and artwork: the
East Lynne Theater Company and Savoy Opera Company
paint on the canvas of a stage as well, and do not disappoint. On
September 5th the Savoy Company will perform Gilbert &
Sullivan’s H.M.S Pinafore. The performance will be located in
the Magnolia Room of the
Chalfonte Hotel, with a buffet dinner
proceeding the show at 6 p.m. Tickets are $40 per adult, $18 per
child and include the price of dinner. Show only tickets are not
available. Reservations can be at 609-884-8409. If opera is not your
style, The East
Lynne Theater Company will be performing You and
I, a 1923 Broadway comedy about marriage and careers written by
Philip Barry beginning on September 19th and continuing
through October 13th. Performances will be hosted by the
First Presbyterian Church on Hughes and Decatur Streets.
Reservations can be made by contacting the theater company’s box
office at 609-884-5898.
Meanwhile over at the
Robert Shackelton
Playhouse of Cape May Stage Going to St. Ives is running
until September 22. Lee Blessing’s play is the story of two women
from different cultures brought together by the question of how to
deal with a brutal dictator – but what to do when he happens to be
your son. The Turn of the Screw by Jeffrey Hatcher opens at
Cape May State September 26 and runs through October 27. Based on
the provocative classic novel of Henry James, it is a haunting tale
about a young governess and her journey to an old English manor to
tend two orphaned children. She soon discovers ghosts haunting the
children and she must stop the fiends before it is too late. But
there is one question that is torturing the would-be heroine: are
these ghosts real or are they just part of her own wild imagination?
Though the attraction of less humidity and more beach space is
enough to want to stay in Cape May all September, the restaurants
keep visitors coming back even when there’s snow on the beach!
September pays homage to these beacons of refined taste with a
variety of wine tastings and friendly food competitions.
The Cape
May Food and Wine Festival from September 16-20th will
include workshops hosted by local chefs and tours around the
kitchens of some of the most well-known restaurants in the
business
– and don’t forget the People’s Choice Chowder Contest! Hosted by
the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, more information can be found
by contacting them at 609-884-5404 or 800-275-4278 or by looking at
their website,
www.capemaymac.org. The more refined taste of wine will be
accommodated in the following weekends by the Spirited Cape May
Weekend on September 28-30, beginning on Friday with a four-course
dinner at the
Washington Inn and ending with a Wine School Class on
Sunday. The weekend will include tours of the local Cape May Winery.
Hosted as well by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, more
information can be found by contacting the same phone numbers as the Food and Wine Festival.
There is no reason to fear the cold just yet: Cape May has enough
activities for you to enjoy in September to keep you and the family
well-fed and well-entertained for the chilly months ahead! |