Things To Do In Ocean Acres

For more than half a century, Harvey Cedars Marina has hoisted sails and sent adventurers skimming across the waves of the Barnegat and Manahawkin Bays. Today, the business’s aquatic experts have traded in the folded-newspaper sailboats of yore for modernized Hobie Wave catamarans and LaserPerformance Sunfish. It also maintains a fleet of standup paddleboards and Hobie kayaks that cruise to islands, where paddlers gaze on osprey and cormorants or cast their lines for fluke and bluefish. In addition to renting vessels and teaching how to maneuver them, the staff runs a shop to equip mariners with their own Hobie cats and kayaks or outfit them with water skis, wakeboards, and inflatable tubes to mail to annoying cousins who live in the desert.

Held in conjunction with the Fall Harvest Festival, the Stafford Township Wine Festival showcases the samplings of local wineries, as well as food vendors, crafters, and artists. Now in its seventh year, the annual fest is held at Manahawkin Lake Park, running each day from 11a.m. to 5p.m. Admission includes a commemorative wine glass for visitors to take home, and all are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy live music and entertainment.

Barbershop quartet Forever Plaid delighted audiences in an off-Broadway show that mixed the gents' '50s-style harmonies with madcap comedy skits. In a holiday-themed sequel to the original show, the guy group aims to lend harmony to a discordant world with more a cappella melodies and holiday cheer than a chain gang dressed in Santa outfits. During screwball skits, the troupe stages an abbreviated version of The Ed Sullivan Show, inviting the Chipmunks and chorus girls to the variety show. A Caribbean-themed Christmas segment fills the stage and blends Yuletide greetings with island style.