Where Matawan's Events Went While Terhune Park Is Rebuilt
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
"For one year only, Matawan Day is moving to Main Street for a special Throwback Year celebration!" That's how the Matawan Day 2026 listing on Patch put it. The reason comes one line later: "While Terhune Park gets some exciting upgrades, we're bringing this beloved tradition back to Main Street."
Matawan Day is the move most people will see. It's also the last of several. Since midsummer, almost every borough event that used to be at Terhune Park on South Street has been moved somewhere else. If you line up those moves with the borough's contract documents, the event calendar works like a progress report on a playground project. The borough hasn't published that progress report anywhere else.
The plan changed more than once before it settled. In January, the Recreation Commission said summer 2026 events would tentatively move to Hourihan Field because of the Terhune Park renovation. In late March, the Economic Development Commission still couldn't choose a spot for Matawan Day. Its minutes say members needed to know when the park would be under construction before deciding between Main Street and a bigger footprint on Broad Street.
The summer listings show when that answer came:
That leftover map pin tells you the switch happened late, after the listing went up in early July. Every borough event since then has been somewhere other than Terhune Park.
The contract went to Vulcan Construction, Inc. of Cookstown, the lower of two bids, at $434,321.40. Robert Keady of T&M Associates reviewed and recommended it. According to the bid notice, the work includes:
The borough's 2026 budget presentation describes the program more broadly, with ADA pathways, a modern playground and fitness areas.
The money involves three different numbers. Bond Ordinance 26-03, adopted February 3, 2026, authorized $775,000 for Terhune Park improvements. It allows up to $738,000 in borough bonds or notes and expects $180,908 in grant funding. The grant is a real award. Monmouth County announced $180,908 for Matawan's Terhune Park Improvements in its 2025 Municipal Open Space Grant round in November 2025. Vulcan's bid is about 56 percent of the amount the ordinance authorized. The county grant covers about 42 percent of the construction contract.
The bid notice also gives the work schedule. Everything has to be finished within 60 calendar days of the notice to proceed. The borough hasn't posted that notice-to-proceed date, though. The July through September council agendas include no progress or reopening item for the park. So the 60-day window tells you how long the contractor has, not when the gates will open.
For two years, Matawan Day was spread across three connected spaces. The Matawan-Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce listed both the 2024 and 2025 festivals at Borough Hall/201 Broad Street, Hourihan Field and Terhune Park. With one of those three out of service this year, organizers went back to the old location. The 2023 vendor form had listed the festival on Main Street.
Matawan Day 2026 Saturday, October 3, noon to 5 p.m., on Main Street. Rain date Sunday, October 4, same hours.
The Matawan Borough Economic Development, Business and Redevelopment Commission and the Chamber are presenting it together. Vendor spots sold out, and the Chamber is keeping a waiting list. The lineup moves into downtown storefronts and side streets. The beer and wine garden is at MJ's Restaurant, and the Kidz Corral is on Little Street. There will also be live music all day, food trucks alongside Matawan restaurants, and a giant LED screen showing festival highlights.
The downtown setting adds a few stops that weren't there last October. Key Food opened at 126 Main St. this spring and held its grand-opening celebration on Saturday, May 16. Matawan Bike Shop at 77 Main Street has a new owner, Ryan Gresh, a former employee who partnered with another former employee to take over the shop. Last year the festival's three spaces were on the Broad Street side of town. This year's crowd will walk right past both of them.
Matawan Day gets a one-time move. Everything else has moved to one place. Since July 31, the Municipal Building gazebo lawn at 201 Broad Street has hosted most of the borough's programming. Before that, the same programs were spread between Terhune Park and indoor rooms.
Here is how that lawn's calendar has filled up:
In 2025, the borough calendar placed the August 14, 21 and 28 summer concerts at Terhune Park. In 2026 the series ended on Broad Street.
Halloween follows the same pattern. The Recreation Commission's Boo-Tacular is on Friday, October 23, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Municipal Building gazebo lawn. It has costume contest trophies for most clever, scariest and best-themed group costume, plus live music. The listing adds a note in italics: "Note this year's new location." In 2024 the borough calendar listed the event at Terhune Park. In 2025 it started at 4:30 p.m. with outdoor activities at Terhune and a movie in the Municipal Building gym. This year the whole event is outdoors at Broad Street, and it starts later.
Main Street has one more October date. BARKS and BOOS, a fundraiser for animal rescue, is Thursday, October 15, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at A Salute Italian Restaurant & Bar, 74 Main St.
Two events coming up later this year are connected to Terhune Park in different ways.
The 20th Annual Matawan Borough 5K Turkey Trot & Fitness Walk is Saturday, November 28, at 8:30 a.m. It starts and ends on Main Street, and the registration page lists the location as 6 South Street, Terhune Park's address. Since the race already starts and ends downtown, the renovation has less effect on it than on the other events.
Light Up Matawan, the Winter Lights Festival, is set for Thursday, December 3, 2026. The borough's campaign page doesn't name a venue yet. The tree lighting has been at Terhune Park before, including the December 3, 2021 ceremony. The borough hasn't announced a reopening date for the park or published a progress update. The location of the December lighting will likely be the first public sign of whether Vulcan's work is done.
Until then, the borough's event notices are the best guide to Terhune Park's status. Every move since July 31 has gone to the same lawn at 201 Broad Street, except Matawan Day on October 3. That one goes back to Main Street, where it ran in 2023.
If your family has a Matawan routine, you might be wondering whether a park renovation like this changes anything about your home or street. I'm happy to talk it through in English or Spanish with real local context. Catch me on Main Street this Saturday or reach out to Viviana Mejia anytime. Let's Connect, and get your free home valuation. Hablemos, valoración gratis.
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