In 2002, I found out that there was a cranberry festival in New Jersey. We had never been to one before, so I thought it might be a nice experience. I packed my two kids in the car, and drove them there. We had a good time. There were all sorts of activities going on. It’s difficult to remember too much about it, all of these years later, but I know we had fun. There were of course a bunch of booths with interesting things, and all sorts of festival type foods. One thing I remember is that we tried deep fried Twinkies with some cranberry compote on the side. It was incredibly yummy.
The most memorable part, though, was the tour of the cranberry bog. We were shuttled there on a bus to see a cranberry bog that was flooded in order for the cranberries to be harvested. We were lucky enough to be allowed to walk right up to the edge of the water. It’s one thing to hear about how they flood the bog for the cranberries to float. It’s quite another thing to actually see it. The bog was much larger than I would have imagined. The cranberries were very red, and it was a sunny day, so the wet cranberries looked almost like jewels glistening in the sun. I took a few pictures, but they just didn’t do it justice.
A few years later, we went to the Cranberry Festival again, but they no longer had the cranberry bog tours. I’ve occasionally worked on trying to find another place that has tours of a cranberry bog where I can take my kids now that they’re older. They were too young the first time to remember any of it.
I did some more extensive research recently, and found a few places that have trails you can walk on. I called and found out that some have a view of some cranberry bogs, although one said the bogs nearby were inactive. Now I’m curious what cranberry bogs look like when the berries are growing, before the bogs are flooded. Of course, I still want to see the flooded ones again, too. Maybe in a few weeks we’ll take a trip over to see the bogs that are being left alone, and then go see the ones where the cranberries are being harvested. Apparently, the harvesting starts in mid-October.
There was a cranberry festival in Bordentown, New Jersey on October 1 and 2, 2016, but we didn’t find out about it in time. There’s another cranberry festival in Chatsworth, New Jersey on October 15 and 16, which we’d like to attend. That’s the one we’ve gone to in the past – the Chatsworth Cranberry Festival. I look forward to going again, and sharing my experience with you!
