Mountainside's fall comes from two schedules that nobody coordinates. Union County's parks staff set one for Trailside Nature & Science Center and the rest of the Watchung Reservation. The borough, its library and its volunteer fire and rescue squads set the other, centered on Constitution Plaza and Route 22. Each is easy to follow by itself. Read them together and they overlap on the same Friday nights, then pile up on one Saturday, October 17, when the parking lot at the library serves three different events between morning and dark.
The two schedules work differently, and that affects your planning more than the dates do. County events in the Reservation are advance-ticket only. Borough events are mostly walk-up. If you plan around one and forget the other, you end up with a sold-out hayride and a free evening you didn't know about.
The county side runs on advance tickets
Trailside's Hayrides & Campfires come first. The dates are Sunday, October 4, 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.; Friday, October 9, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.; Sunday, October 11, 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.; and Friday, October 16, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tickets cost $6 for Union County residents and $12 for non-residents. They have been on sale since September 1, and the county is clear that none will be sold at the event. Groups are capped at 15 people and there are no refunds or exchanges. You can buy online at ucnj.org/ticket or at the Trailside desk, 452 New Providence Road, Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Haunted Hayrides at the Deserted Village of Feltville follow the same rules with higher stakes. The dates are Friday, October 23 through Sunday, October 25, with a rain date of Monday, October 26. Wagons leave every half hour from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Sunday. A guide playing David Felt, the New York businessman who built Feltville in 1845, tells the stories as the wagon rolls through fields and forest into the village. The ride ends at the village cemetery, which dates to the 1700s. The program runs about an hour and includes a walk through the dark woods. It is recommended for ages 6 and up, strollers can't be accommodated, and the county suggests warm layers, sturdy shoes and a flashlight. Tickets are $8 for county residents and $16 for out-of-county guests, with a limit of eight per person. Each ticket is for a specific date and time, and nothing is sold on site. Feltville is inside the Reservation, but the county lists it as being in Berkeley Heights.
Away from the wagons, Trailside's fall flyer is a full weekly schedule:
- Forest bathing and tea ceremony, adults 18 and up, Saturdays October 10 and 24, 10 to 11:30 a.m., registration required
- Sound bowl meditation, Saturday, October 10, at 9 a.m.
- "What's New in Astronomy & Space Exploration," a talk by NASA Ambassador Paul Cirillo, October 10 at 1:30 p.m.
- Live animal presentations at 1:30 p.m.: "Remarkable Raptors" on October 24 and "Creatures of the Night" on November 14
- Senior nature walks for ages 55 and up, Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., including a Watchung Stable tour on October 16, a fall foliage walk on October 30, Watchung geology on November 6 and the beavers at Lake Surprise on November 13
- Toddler Time for adults with children 3 and under, Thursday or Saturday mornings at 10, with themes running from bear basics to an autumn scavenger hunt to Lenape culture
The Watchung Stable tour has extra weight this year. In May the county marked the stable's 100th anniversary and pointed to recent improvements to the indoor ring, plus an adaptive riding ring added in 2025.
The borough side mostly lets you walk in
The library is the biggest borough news this month. Mountainside Public Library closed on September 7 to begin its roof replacement project and is scheduled to reopen Monday, October 5. The October calendar picks up right away, with Pajama Story Time on Monday, October 19, at 6:30 p.m. and a Halloween escape room for middle schoolers on Wednesday, October 21, at 4 p.m. Some October entries on the library's calendar are marked as canceled, so check a program's status before you go.
The Mountainside Fire Department's annual Open House is Friday, October 9, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the firehouse, 210 New Providence Road. It falls during Fire Prevention Week, and you can see the equipment and meet the firefighters who serve the borough. Up the same road, Trailside's Friday hayride runs from 6:30 to 9:30 that night. A family with hayride tickets could stop at the firehouse first and still make the wagon.
The Recreation Department and Rotary have announced the annual pickleball tournament for October 10. The borough's post gives no time or venue yet.
October 17, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
On this Saturday the two schedules overlap most, and much of it happens within a short walk of the library.
- 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Electronic Recycling and Clean Communities Day is in the Borough Hall parking area. Clean Communities supplies are handed out at the old DPW garage beside the Rescue Squad.
- 10 a.m. to noon Trailside holds a nature-themed acrylic painting class on fall flowers. It costs $30 per person and materials are included.
- Noon to 5 p.m. Four Centuries in a Weekend opens more than 30 historic sites across Union County, most of them free. Mountainside's site is the Deacon Andrew Hetfield House on Constitution Plaza, off Birch Hill Road. It offers ongoing tours of the circa-1760 house, a talk on the Battle of Bunker Hill by local historian and model-maker John Sileo with his handmade diorama, and the restored circa-1818 Levi Cory House Village Shop. The house is entered by a two-step porch and is not fully wheelchair accessible. The county guide points visitors to the library's parking lot next door. At Feltville during the same hours, visitors can press apple cider, ride a hay wagon, roast marshmallows and meet Revolutionary War soldier John Willcocks.
- 6 to 9 p.m. The Mountainside Rescue Squad hosts its annual Haunted Trail at Mountainside EMS, 1399 Route 22 East. Admission is $5 and covers a haunted walk through the woods, food trucks, mini-pumpkin painting and family activities. Parking is at the Mountainside Library and the Community Pool.
The library lot handles visitors to a 266-year-old house in the afternoon and a volunteer EMS fundraiser after dark. The Four Centuries sites run again on Sunday, October 18, from noon to 5, so you can push the history half of the day to Sunday if Saturday gets crowded.
How the rest of the season lines up
| Week | Reservation (county) | Constitution Plaza and Route 22 (borough) |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 4 to 11 | Hayrides Oct 4, 9, 11; forest bathing, sound bowls and astronomy talk Oct 10 | Library reopens Oct 5; Fire Department Open House Oct 9; pickleball Oct 10 |
| Oct 12 to 18 | Hayride Oct 16; Stable tour Oct 16; painting Oct 17; Feltville history day Oct 17 to 18 | Recycling Day, Hetfield House and Haunted Trail Oct 17 |
| Oct 19 to 26 | Haunted Hayrides Oct 23 to 25; Raptors and forest bathing Oct 24 | Pajama Story Time Oct 19; escape room Oct 21 |
| Oct 27 to Nov 8 | Foliage walk Oct 30; Pumpkin Sail Nov 1; Mineral, Gem & Jewelry Show Nov 7 to 8 |
The busiest borough weeks are the first two, and county events take over after that. By late October the Reservation has the calendar to itself.
Echo Lake on November 1
On November 1 the county calendar moves to Echo Lake Park, 1028 Springfield Avenue. The Great Pumpkin Sail returns Sunday, November 1, in three sessions between 5:15 and 9:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale October 1, which is tomorrow, and the rain date is November 2. Like the hayrides, this is a county ticket, so buy it early.
A week later, Trailside's Mineral, Gem & Jewelry Show runs November 7 and 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free and no registration is needed.
One borough item to follow after the leaves come down: at a special meeting on September 29, the Borough Council voted unanimously to apply for up to $1 million in grant funding to renovate the Community Pool. The application was due October 1. The vote authorized an application, and no grant has been awarded.
Many of Mountainside's fall events depend on neighbors who volunteer their time, from the Rescue Squad on Route 22 to the historians at the Hetfield House. As a lifelong local, Jayne Bernstein knows how much that shapes daily life here. If a walk past Constitution Plaza this October gets you wondering what your own home might be worth, request your home valuation and Jayne will walk you through it.
