There are music or food festivals in just about every part of the state.

Start at the Shore. More than a dozen bands play at the 33rd Annual Clearwater Festival Saturday and Sunday at Sunset Park in Asbury Park. Or indulge your sweet tooth in Beach Haven’s Long Beach Island Historical Museum at “All Things Chocolate,” with demonstrations and tastings of the good stuff, tonight 6-9 p.m.

In Wildwood, watch the Wildwoods Classic Cup XXIV Hobie Cat Races Saturday and Sunday. Or look for cool gifts: at the hand-made crafts show on the boardwalk, or at the Sport Card, Comic Book and Toy Expo at the Convention Center.

In South Jersey, more collectable toys — dolls, specifically. On Sunday more than 50 dealers will be at the Yellow Brick Road Doll & Toy Museum in Mullica Hill’s historic downtown filled with gift and antique stores.

Another old South Jersey town, Burlington, is celebrating its Festival of Lights on the Delaware River Promenade. Children’s rides, live music, food and a lighted boat competition with a fireworks finale.

Enn-Jay’s countryside is busy too. In the Warren County town of Delaware Knowlton Riverfest features more than a dozen bands from Friday through Sunday, plus family-oriented crafts, games, exhibits and food. Quaint Chester brings the Black River Music Festival on Saturday to its shopper-haven Main Street.

There are also Family Fun Days at Four Sisters Winery in Belvidere, Saturday and Sunday, with hayrides and a barefoot grape stomp for the kids, wine tastings and vineyard and cellar tours for you. And at Peaceful Valley Orchards in Pittstown on Saturday, parents can attend a tasting and cooking demos of Jersey Fresh produce while kids play in a maze of straw bales then sit down for story-time.

How about the great Northeast? The Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck hosts a jazz jam with local piano prodigy Alex Collins and his band (here’s a listen). At Broookdale Park in Montclair-Bloomfield, Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge play Friday at 7:30 p.m., part of the Essex County free summer concert series.

Wherever you are this weekend, there is plenty to keep you occupied — and fill up your “day-cation!

It’s a big weekend for food and wine lovers at the Jersey Fresh Food and Wine Festival, Saturday and Sunday at Hopewell Valley Vineyards in Pennington. Taste wines from the state’s vineyards, attend seminars by wine and food experts, and try food from Brothers Moon and Nomad Pizza Company in Hopewell, The Bent Spoon, Tre Piani Restaurant and Underground Café in Princeton, and High Street Grill in Mt. Holly.

Want more? There’s a tomato tasting Sunday at Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Whippany. Try different varieties of tomatoes, learn how to grow them, and attend cooking demonstrations sponsored by Slow Food NJ, an organization that promotes enjoyment of healthy, locally grown food.

Still more? The Anderson House Seafood Festival (they’re also having burgers, homemade ice cream, crafters, kid’s amusements) Saturday in Flemington benefits Anderson House, a residential program for women recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction.

Down the Shore, there’s a craft show Saturday and Sunday on the promenade in Cape May. Nearby in Historic Cold Spring Village you’ll find the 23rd Annual Antique Show and Sale, Saturday-Sunday too. And at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park Mike Marino, “New Jersey’s Bad Boy of Comedy,” does his Enn-Jay oriented standup Saturday night

Or how about baseball and a movie? Watch the Newark Bears at home against the Somerset Patriots at 6:05 p.m. Saturday, then after the game bring blankets and lawn chairs on the field for a showing of last summer’s blockbuster Transformers on a 32-foot screen.

Equine enthusiasts can check the out the Festival of Horses Sunday at Horse Park of New Jersey in Allentown for a hunter/jumper show, pony rides, and educational displays of the different horses bred in the Garden State.

Plus some old time fairs. Salem County’s runs through tonight in Woodstown. Middlesex County’s is on until Sunday in East Brunswick. There’s a Pine Barrens Festival in Tabernacle until Saturday. And the New Jersey State Fair will be at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta through the weekend.

There’s also a celebration of the new Nueva Jersey as the state’s Ecuadorians mark the independence of their homeland on Sunday. There’s a parade with floats and marching bands at noon on Bergenline Ave. from West New York to Union City followed by a festival with traditional crafts, food and music. There’s no official website, but Fiallo’s Records has a page in Spanish with more information.

The New Jersey State Fair kicks off tomorrow and runs through August 10 at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta. In the tradition of old fashioned American state fairs, the idea is to showcase agriculture with wholesome family events like livestock and garden exhibits, a tractor pull, one of the state’s largest horse shows, and lots of Jersey Fresh produce. 

Speaking of which, we are at the height of New Jersey peach season. Here at NJ My Way we are planning a peach story for Wednesday, our regular food day; meanwhile, on Saturday you can enjoy two peach festivals. The Peaches ‘N Cream Festival in Dutch Neck Village, just south of Bridgeton; and the Peach Festival and Country Auction in Chester, sponsored by the Community Presbyterian Church.

From rural to urban (ah, where else but in Enn-Jay can you do that so fast), Liberty Science Center will fill with the best and the brightest fifth graders on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. for a game to promote Fox’s Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader in its new time period, Friday at 8 p.m. starting August 8 on Fox 5. Each contestant will take a 20-question quiz and highest score win prizes.

Sunday At Duke Island Park in Bridgewater it’s the 12th Annual Bayou Fest featuring Zydeco-A-Go-Go with its blend of Cajun two-steps, New Orleans rhythm & blues, and Louisiana rock. Party rolls at 5: 30 p.m.

It’s the first weekend in August, and if you are feeling the summer fly away you can still grab it at Asbury Park’s 2008 Kite Festival on Saturday and Sunday, sponsored by Madison Marquette, which is redeveloping the Asbury oceanfront. Kite flyers from around all over the United States will fly their creations.

Plus, Saturday is a good day to be in downtown Asbury anyway, because it’s the monthly First Saturday celebration, when the hip stores stay open late and the new dining  restaurant scene hops into the night. You can look at a list of shops and restaurants.

More shopping can be had at the Wildwood Convention Center, hosting a warehouse sale of Delia’s designer clothing for teens. It started yesterday and ends August 7.

Plenty to do, and we still have a whole month of Jersey Shore in front of us!

The Boss is back home this weekend, as Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band wrap up their European tour and play Giants Stadium Sunday, Monday and Thursday. Level 2 seats still available at of last night.

And Fox 5’s Good Day New York is live from Jenkinson’s Boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach Friday 6-9 a.m. for a pre-concert “Big Bruce Springsteen Bash.” (full disclosure: the founder of NJ My Way is Fox 5’s News Director).

Still in Bruce territory, trendy Red Bank is having its  54th Annual Sidewalk Sale Friday through Sunday. Check out the huge number of upscale shops and antique stores that will bring their clearance items to sales tables outside, while you enjoy free live music by StreetLife.  Stay in town and dine in one of the terrific eateries downtown; a star is Restaurant Nicholas, one of the most critically acclaimed restaurants in New Jersey.

More Shore: some 180 artists and crafts people will display their work at the Long Beach Island Foundation headquarters in Loveladies, Saturday and Sunday.   

Up north, the 26th annual Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning takes off all Friday through Sunday at Solberg Airport in Readington. There will be amusement rides, a live concerts with Kenny Loggins, hands-on exhibits from NASA with New Jersey astronaut Garrett Reisman, arts and crafts exhibits, and five mass ascensions with up to 125 hot air balloons.

About a half hour west on I-78, historic Phillipsburg is celebrating its Olde Towne Festival with bands, food, amusements and crafters. It starts Friday at 6 p.m. with a local talent show and continues Saturday and Sunday from noon to  9 p.m.

Newark, too is having a party. It’s the 3rd Annual Lincoln Park Music Festival, with jazz, gospel, old school hip hop, arts and crafts, and an organic farmer’s market. It’s part of an effort by the Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District to transform a low-income neighborhood into an arts and culture urban eco-village.

And if you missed yesterday’s NJ My Way, you might not know about the upcoming Farm to Fork Week in South Jersey and Hudson Restaurant Week, mostly in Jersey City and Hoboken. Participating eateries will have special prix fixe dinners, and those in South Jersey also feature products fresh off New Jersey farms.