Fall Program Directory to be Released August 2!

Summer is still upon us, but autumn is slowly approaching. And this means the Park System's fall issue of the Program Directory is headed your way! We've pulled out all the stops this fall packing more than 450 exciting programs into this 88-page issue. From old favorites to new adventures, the Program Directory features arts & crafts, horticulture, nature, performing arts, sports & fitness, equestrian, and golf programs as well as plenty of fun special events.

If you're ready to try something different, this is the issue for you! With over 100 brand new programs, get ready to experience something new. Here is just a sampling of what you'll find in the fall issue of the Program Directory:

• Fold Forming Metal: What do you get when you combine traditional metalworking techniques with origami like folding? This class will introduce you to a three-dimensional forming technique that uses a heat source to fold, shape and texture metal to create a unique cuff bracelet and earrings.
• Investigating Paranormal Activity: Have you experienced unseen energies or odd events and don’t know how to explain their presence? Learn how to detect the signs of possible spirits and/or ghosts that might be inhabiting your home. You will be shown how to be free of these unwanted spirits to restore harmony in your life and home.
• Gifts From the Garden: It’s time to harvest those herbs and turn them into herbal products to lavish on yourself or give as gifts. In these hands-on classes learn the techniques and make some to take home.
• Ladies Geocaching Series: Join us for this great new way to experience your parks! Geocaching is the world-wide game of hiding and seeking hidden treasure while getting some exercise. We will use GPS (global positioning system) devices which receive signals from satellites that will guide us to hidden geocache treasures. GPS units will be supplied, but feel free to bring your own. Bring some trinkets to trade in the geocaches we find if you’d like. Bring a picnic lunch to enjoy after our hike.
• Fort Monmouth Dodgeball League/Recreation: Can your team dodge, duck, dip, and dive its way through the season to become dodgeball champions? Each team will play one match per night. Each match consists of best of 13 games and no single game can exceed five minutes. Each team will play a minimum of seven matches including playoffs. Program includes six weeks of regular season and two weeks of playoffs. No experience necessary. Team must have a minimum of six players on its roster and a minimum of two women on the court at all times. Top two teams at the end of the season will be recognized.
• Life on the Farm - Family Day: Enjoy the experience that will take you back in time to the 1890s with your family. Begin your day with morning chores including milking the cow, caring for the farm animals and tending to crops. Prepare your dinner on a wood-burning stove while younger children play old-fashioned games. Enjoy a wagon ride before you sit down to your home cooked meal.
• Eat the Alphabet: A fun and delicious way to learn the ABC’s. Create a healthy snack with ingredients that begin with that week’s letters. While we nosh, we’ll engage in activities that help us to learn and write them. Due to the nature of this program, special dietary requests cannot be accommodated.
• Making Magic!: Students become practicing magicians and learn to perform stunning stage feats and dazzling close-up innovations! Each trick is tailored to suit a young magician’s unique talents, because their abilities are as vast as their imaginations. All the tricks they learn are theirs to keep. A materials fee of $25 is payable to the instructor at first class. Taught by instructors from Hobby Quest of NJ.
• Focus on Fitness & Fun!: Students can have fun, get help with their homework and hang out with friends. We begin in the gym with exercise and fitness activities to help children focus and retain information. Then we break to work on homework and art activities.
• Messes & Masterpieces: Spark your child’s imagination while exploring colors, textures, paint, glitter, glue and more. Experience seasons and holidays together through stories, music and art. Please wear old clothes or bring a smock.
• Myrtle Beach & Charleston, SC & Savannah, GA: This Southern hospitality tour highlights sightseeing of Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Savannah. Points of interest include visits to Broadway at the Beach, Barefoot Landing, Waterfront Tour of Savannah, shopping excursions to Myrtle Beach Factory Shops and the restored Cotton Warehouses along the Savannah Riverfront, and one evening at Medieval Times. Price includes round-trip motorcoach transportation, 6 night accommodations, admission to tours/attractions, 6 breakfasts, 4 dinners, taxes, meal gratuities, and Park System volunteer leader. Please Note: There may be some free time for additional sightseeing and meals.
• Sherlock Holmes Weekend - Cape May, NJ: This Sherlock Holmes themed getaway is set in beautiful Victorian Cape May. Highlights include a chance to solve the mystery of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of Anima Oris, a coffee and dessert reception at the Rose Room at the Inn of Cape May, a meet and greet lunch with Dr. John Watson and Mr. Sherlock Holmes, a self-guided walking tour of area Bed & Breakfast Inns to find clues that will help in solving the mystery, and a performance of “Sherlock Holmes” at the East Lynne Theater Company in the evening. Price includes lodging, round-trip motorcoach transportation, 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch, 2 dinners, tours and attractions, meal gratuities and Park System volunteer leader.

This was just a very small taste of the programs the Park System is offering this fall. The Program Directory will be mailed out, available in most County parks, and posted on our website on Friday, August 2. If you are not currently on our mailing list, be sure to call 732-842-4000, ext. 4312, to receive your copy.