Piscataway, NJ Outdoor Activities

Attracting more than 170,000 art enthusiasts to its events in 2011, the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival showcases original work from hundreds of artisans showcasing everything from handcrafted pottery, sculpture, and metalwork to jewelry, fashion, décor, and photography. Audiences can witness art being made live during educational demonstrations as artisans sculpt clay, whittle wood, forge metals, and imbue baskets with the power of speech. Hungry crafters can also sniff out specialty food items to sample or purchase while dancing across the sprawling venue to the tunes of live music.

Twenty-eight armed soldiers swarm between two stories, ducking and weaving to avoid the sharp eyes of their opponents. Or so the story often unfolds during laser-tag sessions in FunTime America’s state-of-the-art laser-tag arena. Though it may be the most adrenaline-pumping portion of the family-friendly play place, it's but an introduction to the variety of attractions that unfolds before visitors. It's hard to ignore the four-story Kiddy City structure, where kids scoot down slides, climb ropes, and play without fear due to its ubiquitous safety padding. As little ones give chase around the structure, bigger kids helm bumper cars, take a journey in the El Paso train ride, or race to scale the 20-foot climbing wall, whose foothold arrangements offer four difficulty levels from easy to easy for people with wings. Once playtime comes to a simmer, the video-game arcade really shines with its air-hockey tables and sit-down games that take imaginations on the road to their pixilated lands. The adjacent casino-theme Winners Cafe, whose walls brim with massive playing cards and decorative roulette wheels, feeds spent small-time heroes with pizza, pretzels, and other fare to boost energy before another go around the center beckons.

As one of the charter members of the Atlantic League in 1998, the Somerset Patriots are the most successful franchise in the league’s history, but such good fortune didn't come immediately. In fact, it had to play its entire first season on the road while construction crews finished constructing TD Bank Ballpark from billions of sunflower-seed shells. In 2001, however, the Patriots' began a decade-long run that included five championships—including back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009—plus several awards for the 6,100-seat ballpark (completed in 1999), which was named "Ballpark of the Year" by Baseball America in 2007

BAM Social Sports assembles co-ed teams of athletes aged 21 and older for regular battle in recreational games throughout northern and central New Jersey. The network's friendship-fueled leagues span a wide range of sports, including basketball, soccer, softball, and bowling, and excluding hamster racing. After games, players can retire to local sponsor bars, where discounts on food and drink help celebrate victories or fuel mournful food fights.

An indoor haven for everything outdoors, Great Escapes furnishes snowy excursions and backyard barbecues alike with snowboards, skiing gear, outdoor pools, and cookout equipment. On-site technicians wax and sharpen skis or help yetis select the tastiest snowboarding gear from brands that include Northwave, GNU, and Flow. In the summer, outdoor pools arrive at backyards with included delivery and setup, as well as assistance from licensed electricians to supervise homeowners as they install the filter and fill the pool with electric eels.

The organizers of Garden State BrewFest invite beer lovers to sample the ales and lagers of tri-state-area brewers in the name of charity. After collecting donations of canned food for the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, gate attendants usher visitors in to taste two-ounce samples, each freshly poured by representatives from breweries such as Philadelphia’s Yards Brewing Company and Cape May County’s Tuckahoe Brewing Company. An array of entertainment engages guests throughout the four-hour fete, including live bands, a beer-pong tournament, and a keg-icing contest. Their Homebrew Competition lets DIY brewers enter their best fall-season beers, and the grand-prize winner gets to work alongside master brewer Brendan O’Neil of New Jersey Beer Co. Brewery for a day. Garden State BrewFest’s team donates a portion of the proceeds to St. Jude Children's Hospital.