Berkeley Heights, NJ Indoor Activities

As a living landmark to the performing arts and cornerstone of the Rahway Arts District, the Union County Performing Arts Center has endured history and earned its way onto the National and State Registers of Historic Places. Recently restored to its 1928 luster, the former Rahway Theatre retains the charm and grandeur of its vaudeville theater origins while encouraging new forms of entertainment. From its 1,300 seats––where crowds once gathered to watch RKO movies and WWII newsreels––audiences can marvel at the theater’s opulent, gold-crested ceilings and ponder how many dresses can be made from its rich red drapes. One of the theater’s proudest treasures is its original Wurlitzer organ, which is small in stature, but emits massive sound out of its 500 pipes.

During Hollywood's Golden Age, The Community Theatre was the crowning achievement of Walter Reade's chain of New Jersey movie palaces. By the 1980s, after five decades of movie screenings and catastrophic popcorn wars, the theater sat in disrepair. Concerned citizens banded together in 1994 to save the historic building from a sad end, and in May 2011, after a series of renovations, the theater officially changed its name to the Mayo Performing Arts Center. The venue currently hosts more than 200 performances a year, occasional art showings, and performance-arts education classes for adults and children.

This newly renovated, family-friendly pin farm features 42 lanes with automatic scoring and automatic bumpers for those still on their training pins. The original 1960s vintage psychedelic color scheme remains, perfectly framing your quest to become the highest-scoring roller in the whole neon universe. Refurbishments include a brand-new snack bar for refreshments and a freshly shined up cocktail bar for adult fruit juices. The entire facility is non-smoking, preserving precious, performance-enhancing air. See here for lane hours.

Inflated structures, slides, and games fill the climate-controlled environs of the numerous BounceU locations that speckle the nation. At each site, staff members closely monitor all activities as little ones traverse obstacle courses or pull on oversized inflatable boxing gloves. The crew also invites parents to join in on the fun, letting them bounce alongside their kids or make sweeping edicts from atop a bouncy-castle throne.

In addition to open sessions, the indoor-play haven sets the stage for the Preschool Playdate program, where instructors lead games and activities. Special events include family-bounce night, which lets parents join in the bouncing or relax in the party room and do grownup things, such as eat marshmallows with a knife and fork.

While working with players ranging from toddlers to high-schoolers, the professional coaches at U.K. Elite Soccer, Inc. incorporate individual training and team-focused programs to create well-rounded athletes both on and off the pitch. Their game-based approach to teaching helps younger students learn motor skills, social skills, and coordination, and gives older students the chance to learn how to dribble in Morse code. The instructors also incorporate methods from football clubs around the world, borrowing tricks from footballers in England, Brazil, the USA, Holland, France, Italy, and Germany to augment training courses. Programs run throughout the year, allowing players and coaches to focus on continual development no matter the season.

Housed inside the Indiana State Museum, the six-story IMAX screen transports audiences to worlds they may have only imagined—shrinking them to insect size or inviting them along on migratory birds’ annual sojourn. Besides panoramic, nationally recognized documentaries, the theater screens IMAX-mastered blockbusters, films of local significance, the occasional cinema festival, and the projectionists’ vacation slideshows.