Top 5 New Jersey Festivals for 2024

I love the idea of an all-day New Jersey festival or weekend festival in New Jersey enjoying food, drink, and entertainment on a beautiful day.

There’s something about just walking around and taking in the vibe and atmosphere of a New Jersey Festival that makes you feel great and enjoy the day.

According to VisitNJ.org, there are well over a hundred or more New Jersey festivals every year. I wish I could say that I’ve been to all of them, however, I can’t even say that I’ve heard of all of them.

According to a new study by Betway, they found which New Jersey festivals are the best in the state. Of course, “best” is subjective, but they based it on Google searches over the past year. They discovered which New Jersey festivals we seeking more information about.

One of the absolute favorite New Jersey Festivals is the Rock, Ribs, and Ridges Festival at Sussex County Fairgrounds. It’s in its fourteenth year and coming up again at the end of June. It runs for three days and features some of the best barbeque you’ll ever taste. This year’s bands include Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes and Molly Hatchet.

Another amazing New Jersey Festival in June is the Barefoot Country Music Fest in Wildwood. It has over forty artists on five different stages. This year the lineup lists American Idol Judge Luke Bryan, former American Idol judge Keith Urban, Kane Brown, Old Dominion, The Beach Boys, and Jersey’s own John Eddie.

Right here at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, you’ll find the New Jersey Film Festival. The 29th is dedicated, ”to exhibiting independent, classic, international, and experimental films.” It’s happening from late May through early June and you can get a ticket for as low as 15 dollars.

Beardfest happens in Hammonton, New Jersey mid-June and is a “three-day celebration of creative expression.” The website says, “Beardfest curates ample opportunities for attendees to learn, network, and participate so that we all go home feeling empowered, connected, and alive. The schedule is packed with self-sufficiency workshops, discussion groups, movement classes, music lessons, spirituality circles, and more.”

Any festival with “wine and food” in the title has to be fun. The New Jersey Wine and Food Festival at Crystal Springs Resort happens this weekend in Hamburg, NJ in North Jersey. It’s an opportunity to sample some delicious wine and tasty dishes created by some of the best chefs and winemakers.

This year the New Jersey festival features around forty chefs including Chef David Burke, Bravo Top Chefs David Vianna and Karen Akunowicz, and Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto.

Tickets for the festival events range from about 32 dollars to 375 dollars.

If you’re wondering which of these festivals garnered the most searches it was the Barefoot Country Music Fest. That was followed by the New Jersey Film Festival, Beardfest, the New Jersey Wine and Food Festival, and the Rock, Ribs and Ridges Festival.

While the theme of each of these New Jersey festivals varies, they all promise a great experience depending on your taste.

Enjoy!

Coachella 2024's first weekend came and went with a bang. The famous California Music & Arts Festival had us in shock and awe with amazing special guests throughout the weekend.

During weekend one, big names like Bebe Rexha, Tems, Victoria Monet, Renee Rapp, Tyler, the Creator, Lana Del Rey, Ice Spice, Sublime, Vampire Weekend, Doja Cat, J Balvin, Jhene Aiko, No Doubt, Coi Leray, Grimes, 21 Savage, Lauryn Hill, Taking Back Sunday, Lil Yachty, and many more.

As always, famous faces were in attendance, watching their friends perform and letting loose with the rest of the crowd. Notably, Justin Bieber showed up without his wife, Hailey Bieber, adding to the rumors that their marriage isn't doing well. Meanwhile, love birds Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce hit up multiple stages, watching from the pit and getting super affectionate.

While folks were expecting perfect shows and wild special guests brought on stage during performances, there were some artists who dropped the ball during their set. Grimes kept fumbling with her mixes during her set. She told the crowd that there has never been a show of hers without a "technical difficulty," and as she tried to explain to the Coachella crowd, she said, "Don't blame me because it's not my fault! Well, it's partially my fault, but it's not entirely my fault." In the "classic Grimes fashion," the musician added that her songs had been set to a double tempo and had to do "a lot of internal math" to try to get it sorted to play for the patiently waiting crowd.

On social media, however, fans were making fun of her meltdown at the technical difficulties, with users pointing out that this isn't the first time Grimes has done this at her concerts. Meanwhile, one fan said, "This could be the worst performance in the history of Coachella." She took to X (formerly Twitter) to issue a formal apology to fans. Adding that she "admittedly am not in the best mood atm," Grimes said her set next week "will be flawless."

Besides the mishaps, there were plenty of awe-inspiring, wild moments from Coachella's first weekend.

The lovebirds hit up Coachella attached at the hip. Swelce watched Ice Spice perform from the crowd, who gave Taylor a shoutout during her set. Then, the pair was spotted making out and dancing adorably together by fans who posted videos to social media. The couple even made it to DJ Dom Dolla's set, showing Kelce lift Swift up several times during the set, garnering fans online to wonder what she was desperately trying to see. Another fan showed how cute it was witnessing Taylor introduce Travis to everyone.

Lana bringing Billie on stage was definitely a surprise. The two sang Billie's "Ocean Eyes," and though the rendition was beautiful, it was Billie singing Lana's song, "Video Games," that had fans going absolutely bonkers. Billie's voice melds so well with Lana's, but her version of singing the song adds more layers to the 2012 track. One fan hilariously said that the two of them "mended the generational gap between millennials and Gen Z."

With all the rap beef going on currently between Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, and J. Cole, these two rappers performing together while having a blast was not what anyone expected. Tyler admitted during his set how much he used to "hate" Childish Gambino for years, until his 2013 song, "Urn," came out. He told the crowd: “You know what’s sick? I used to hate that n----. Seriously, I don’t know why, I gotta go to therapy to figure it out." He added that Gambino's song was so "undeniable," he was at conflict with himself. Now that the tables have turned, he jokes how Gambino barely returns his calls. He gave the artist props at the end, saying "Thank you for putting out s--- that exceeds expectations or the perception that n----s like us should make. I love you, thank you for existing, and thank you for coming out." The two performed Tyler's "Running Out of Time."

The Saltburn star has been following Carpenter for some of her Eras Tour dates, and now he was in the front row for her Coachella debut. Keoghan earned a peace sign and a flirty little wave from the "Nonsense" singer, who was taking a breather on the stage. As the camera panned to him, wearing a Burberry scarf to cover his mouth, he nervously paces in the crowd. Fans swooned over the couple, as they met up with Swelce to watch Ice Spice perform, holding hands walking around the festival grounds, and showing how big of a fan he is to watch his girlfriend perform, taking videos of her performance.

During Rapp's set, Kesha came out to perform "Tik Tok" together. While allegations against Diddy's [inlink id="creepy-diddy-with-justin-bieber" text="sexual assault and grooming stories"] have been surfacing, Kesha changed the original "Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy" lyrics. As soon as Kesha was introduced and began singing the song's intro, she walked up to the edge of the stage and belted: "Wake up in the morning, like f--- P. Diddy!" Renee joined her on the lyric change and fans went wild on calling out the rapper and producer.

No Doubt reuniting for the first time in over ten years was already iconic. Gwen posed with her ex, bandmate Tony Kanal while at Coachella, having fans be super nostalgic, plugging in lines from their song "Cool" and "Don't Speak." Just like Lana and Billie, No Doubt brought out a Gen Z-er to bridge the gap with their fans, bringing in new ones during their Coachella set. Olivia Rodrigo appeared at the band's soundcheck prior to their performance, later appearing for a performance of No Doubt's 2000 track, "Bathwater."