Community Corner

Whitesbog Blueberry Festival On Tap For Saturday

Festival celebrates the 100th anniversary of the cultivated highbush blueberry

Courtesy of the Historic Whitesbog Village:


Join us for the 31st Annual

Whitesbog Blueberry Festival

Saturday, June 28, 2014

10:00 AM to 4:00 PM – rain or shine

Celebrate the Centennial of the Cultivated Highbush Blueberry

New this year: Expanded Parking and Improved Traffic Pattern

(June 18, 2014)  The 31th ANNUAL WHITESBOG BLUEBERRY FESTIVAL is just around the corner, Saturday, June 28, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Historic Whitesbog Village.  This annual celebration of all things blueberry – the official state fruit of New Jersey – is considered to be one of the finest “old-fashioned” festivals in the tri-state region.  The Festival features the pioneering work of Whitesbog’s own Elizabeth C. White and Dr. Fredrick Coville to domesticate the very first highbush blueberry, traditional Pinelands musicians, artists and crafters, fantastic festival food, wagon and walking tours, lectures, Living History actors, demonstrations and dozens of children’s activities will all be featured at the day-long festival. But the real star of the show is, of course, the blueberries!

This year, we are celebrating New Jersey’s 350th Anniversary with a special Women’s History Trail exhibit that features many of New Jersey’s legendary women and the historic sites that celebrate their work.  This new exciting venue will include exhibits and interpreters from the Alice Paul Institute, the Roebling Museum, Smithville Mansion, Peachfield, White Hill, Bordentown, West Hill, and others.

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Other top attractions at the day-long festival include an “artists’ row” featuring fine art and photography, 50 of the Pinelands best crafters, 30 nonprofit organizations and authors, an expanded Pinelands Antique Engine exhibit, and interactive experiences that festival goers can enjoy all day.

For the children, activities such as the outrageously fun blueberry pie-eating contest, a hunt for the Jersey Devil, face painting, hands-on crafts, traditional games and blueberry picking, will keep the young ones entertained all day.  Live country music by Home Cookin’, the Basement Musicians, the Bad Dogz, Clan Suibhne, Warm Hearted Country, Ladies Night Out, and others will provide the perfect atmosphere for the festival, which the Burlington County Times has described as “a reminder that good old country life is alive and well” in the region.

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The Pinelands, New Jersey’s blueberry and cranberry industries and our region’s rich cultural history intersect in delicious ways in this corner of the state.

History buffs can tour and explore Whitesbog’s Ice House, Suningive, Elizabeth Coleman White’s historic home and office, visit Rutgers’ first Cranberry Research Substation, tour a cottage that depicts what life was like for Whitesbog’s workers in the 1920s and shop in Whitesbog’s authentic General Store.

Fresh fruit enthusiasts will delight in picking their own blueberries at the celebration. Whitesbog is home to the world’s oldest test fields for domesticated blueberries, which will be open at the Blueberry Festival to give people an opportunity to experience firsthand a bit of our state’s agricultural history.

The 31th Annual Blueberry Festival is scheduled on Saturday, June 28 from 10AM to 4PMParking is $10 per car.  $5 per person arriving by foot, bike or charter bus.  All proceeds benefit the Whitesbog Preservation Trust in their continuing efforts to restore and interpret Historic Whitesbog Village and the surrounding Pinelands.

A new streamlined traffic pattern has been designed to eliminate traffic congestion, with expanded parking available in the village and on the Whitesbog airstrip – a 2-minute drive from the festival grounds.  Shuttle buses bring visitors from this parking area to the village throughout the day.

The Whitesbog Preservation Trust also thanks the New Jersey Historical Commission for their general operating support of our operations and special projects.  All festival proceeds benefit the Whitesbog Preservation Trust’s on-going efforts to restore, protect and interpret Historic Whitesbog Village. 

Whitesbog is administered by the State of New Jersey, Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Parks and Forestry as part of Brendan T. Byrne State Forest.

Whitesbog Preservation Trust, 120-34 Whitesbog Road, Browns Mills, NJ 08015

Phone: (609) 893-4646 – Fax: (609) 893-8297

Email: whitesbogpreservationtrust@comcast.net



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