Used to be you needed a long memory to think of Asbury Park as a happening town. But look at all the renovation of classic Asbury places like Convention Hall and Paramount Theater,  plus the restaurant scene, chic shopping, and like always, the beach. You see why it’s cool again. Or is it hot? Get both this weekend with the 20th annual Asbury Park Jazz Festival. Performers and schedule here.

Elsewhere down the Shore, the Ocean City Pops celebrate their 80th anniversary with a concert featuring Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. Sunday 8 p.m. at the Music Pier, Tickets $15/10. For information call 609-525-9248.

Music in Madison, too. The Concert on the Lawn at Giralda Farms features a program of light classics from the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Gates open for picnicking Sunday 4 p.m., concert at 6. $10 adults, $5 under 12.

Something else that looks like fun is the Slow Food & Wine Festival at Hopewell Valley Vineyards on Saturday and Sunday. Chefs from top restaurants including Tre Piani in Princeton,  Brother's Moon in  Hopewell, Pennington’s Za Restaurant, Christopher's in New Brunswick, and High Street Grill in Mount Holly prepare seasonal dishes with local vegetables, fruits, seafood, chicken and meats. Wines from the hosts and from other New Jersey wineries including Alba Vineyard, Unionville Vineyards, Cape May Winery, and Laurita Vineyards. Plus local artisanal cheeses and freshly baked goods. Cooking demonstrations and wine seminars, too. Tickets $25 at the website, $30 at the door.

More locally grown food at the Branch Brook Park Farmers Market in Newark, every Saturday until September 27 starting the day after tomorrow. New farmers including Running Free organic produce and eggs, Stony Hill Farms and Jaker’s Pickles join favorites such as Tindall
Farms.

And still more En-Jay food: We told you on Wednesday about the start of blueberry season. We go from blue state to red with Saturday’s Strawberry Festivalin Ramsey’strain station lot.  It’s a celebration of the Bergen County town’s history as the “Strawberry Capital of the Northeast” during the 1880s. They’ll also showcase artisan breads, herbs, honey, baked goods, cheeses, flowers and vegetables.

And, if you drive by Giants Stadium the next month or so, the commotion you see is the State Fair Meadowlands, running tonight through July 13. Rides, cheap eats, magic acts, fortune tellers, petting zoo. The stuff of carnival dreams—it’s the perfect backdrop to a summer night!