Saturday in Collingswood, authors and readers come together for the area’s largest literary event, The Collingswood Book Festival. There are poetry readings, workshops with authors, and you can select from thousands of new and used books.  (www.collingswoodbookfestival.com). 

Tonight, kick the weekend off at Bergenfest (www.bergenfest2008.com) in River Vale.
Tastings from the area’s best restaurants, combined with wine, beer and live music—plus a special corner for the kids.

Beginning this month, you can shop for a great cause at the Mall at Short Hills (www.shopshorthills.com. The whole place will be decked out in pink for breast cancer awareness month,and for every Mall gift card purchased, they’ll make a $5 donation to the North Jersey chapter of Susan G. Komen For the Cure (www.komennorthjersey.org).

You can walk your best friend at the annual Monmouth County SPCA Dog Walk and Pet Fair,  at Brookdale Community College.  (www.mcspcadogwalk.org/) Special appearance by Elwood, the winner of 2007 Ugliest Dog Contest. The walk benefits homeless animals.

You’ve got a few days left to catch Tennessee Williams’ classic A Streetcar Named Desire  at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in Madison (www.shakespearenj.org). 

Also in Madison,  the county tourism folks are offering a walkthrough at the historic Gibbons Barn and its surrounding property on Saturday afternoon. You’ll need to register on-line at www.morristourism.org.

In AC, Brooks and Dunn are at Trump’s Taj Mahal (www.trumptaj.com) tomorrow night. Enrique Iglesias and Aventura are at the Izod Center (www.meadowlands.com) on Sunday.

Finally, the leaves are beginning to turn in parts of northwestern New Jersey. For a different view, consider a hot air balloon ride over scenic Hunterdon County. (www.hunterdonballooning.com).  You’ll get a lovely perspective on our fair state.

Enjoy the flight!

From south to north, there’s plenty to do in En Jay as temperatures cool and leaves start to fall.

This weekend, a few hundred artisans are displaying their wares at the 25th annual Fine Art and Crafts Fair at Upper Montclair’s Anderson Park (www.rosesquared.com).

Way south,  it’s the  kickoff of the 12th annual Cape May Food & Wine festival (www.capemaymac.org). There are winery tours and tastings… a chowder contest and a gourmet marketplace.

Speaking of wine, the state’s newest winery opens this weekend. Laurita Winery (www.lauritawinery.com) in New Egypt is situated on 40 acres, and includes two wine tasting bars, a store and gift shop. It’s also eco-friendly; most of the winery’s structure and interior is made from recycled or reclaimed materials.

It’s also a great weekend to sample Somerville. Outdoor sales, tastings, antique appraisals, and special deals all day Saturday on the town’s Main Street. (www.findsomerville.com/pub/gen/event/35/fulltext ).

You can sing along with one of the most revered Motown groups of all time; The Temptations are at the Tropicana (www.tropicana.net) all weekend.

Or tap into your hidden poet when Rutherford honors the 125th birthday of its native poet son, William Carlos Williams. There’s a symposium all weekend at the center that bears his name (www.williamcarloswilliams.org).

Finally, pet lovers can celebrate their four legged friends—and take home a new pet at Puptoberfest 2008 at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta (www.members.petfinder.org/~NJ376/Home.htm).

Plenty to enjoy in En Jay!

Arts and crafts in Shore towns, and festivals up north.

Ocean Grove traditionally opens the summer season with a flea market on Memorial Day Weekend, and closes it with a Labor Day craft show; it’s on Saturday. Another Saturday craft show, with 130 artisans, is at Seaside Park.

Seaside Park is the quiet residential town between the honky-tonk boardwalk of Seaside Heights and the unspoiled natural setting of Island Beach State Park. So you can pick gifts at the craft show, and decide what kind of  “wild” to pursue next.

On Sunday, you can check the handicrafts at a show at Viking Village in Barnegat Light on LBI. At Tuckerton Seaport it’s Seafarers’ Weekend, with nautical music, pirate reenactments plus demonstrations on decoy carving and boat-making. And in Cape May it’s the Summer Send-Off Show with handcrafted items outside Convention Hall.

You don’t need to be at the Shore to find a celebration. There will be jazz and tastings of as many as 200 varieties of New Jersey wines at Jazz It Up, Saturday and Sunday at Allaire State Park in Farmingdale. Most of the state’s winemakers will be there.

Westfall Winery in Montague, however, is having a weekend-long party on its own vineyard. It’s a casual Labor Day barbecue with wines to match at a discount.

And in Budd Lake, there’s a Scandanavian Fest, celebrating the cultures of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. There will be Nordic food, crafts, demonstrating artisans, music, dancers in folk dress and historical reenactors.

Lots of ways to mark the final big weekend of  Summer 2008. Enjoy every last minute! 

There is a long and distinguished tradition of Irish tenors, and one of the best known trios of the kind — named The Irish Tenors, wouldn’t you know — is in concert Saturday at the Ocean Grove Auditorium, 8:00 p.m.

But did you ever hear of Amish comedy? Go laugh with Raymond the Amish Comic at Blairstown Theatre, Saturday evening at 8.

Rockingham Historic Site in Kingston served as General George Washington’s headquarters in 1783 when he received news Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, recognizing American independence. This weekend George returns with his entourage of dragoons. It’s a colonial reenactment marking the 225th anniversary of the day he originally arrived at Rockingham.

More history. At Cold Spring Village in Cape May, resident artisans show visiting families the crafts, trades, and entertainment in the life of a typical South Jersey town between 1790 and 1840. Activities include sheep shearing, wool dyeing, candle-making, farming and a dulcimer concert. All day Saturday-Sunday.

Still more history as Wharton celebrates Canal Day Festival on Saturday on the site of the Old Morris Canal at Hugh Force Canal Park. There will be food, music, arts and crafts, and rides on a mule-drawn boat like in the old days.

Meanwhile, Ringoes hosts the Hunterdon County 4-H & Agricultural Fair through Sunday at South County Park. It’s your traditional ag fair: pig races, K-9 exhibits, country music, sheep herding, plus something kind of new to Enn-Jay’s rural ways, an alpaca agility demo. Check the sked.

We even have ag in the city. The Hoboken Historical Museum presents its Seventh Annual Heirloom Tomato Festival, with free tasting of Jersey-fresh tomato varieties, Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.

And in Wildwood Saturday, there’s a block party on Ocean Ave. Games, crafts, food, plus classic ‘70s soul groups like the Blue Notes, Tavares and the Trammps.

Plenty to keep you busy as August heads for its finale, and September waits in the wings.