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Park Commission Press Releases

Parking Area Update: Mennen Sports Arena
MORRISTOWN, NJ – The impact of snow and ice to Mennen Sports Arena parking area is currently being addressed. Additional parking of 240 spaces is now opened. The Morris County Park Commission anticipates 90% of parking area under the solar panels will be available for parking by Wednesday, March 5. Carpooling is highly recommended.

For facility updates and openings, please visit www.morrisparks.net and www.facebook.com/MorrisParksNJ.

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The Morris County Park Commission features one of the region’s best park systems in the state of New Jersey. It currently protects and maintains 18,600 acres at 38 distinct sites plus offers a year-round calendar of events and activities for all to enjoy!
Entice Your Senses at the Maple Sugar Festival
MORRISTOWN, NJ – The peak of the sugaring season is celebrated with the annual Maple Sugar Festival on Saturday, March 1 at the Great Swamp Outdoor Education Center in Chatham Township. From 12 noon to 4:00 p.m. watch smoke billow from the evaporator and tree-tapping demonstrations, and become entranced by the sweet smell of maple sugar as you savor a cup of hot, homemade apple cider. Experience making maple cream first hand and taste the final product. Kids enjoy a variety of crafts, games, and maple snow cones.

Take a fascinating guided ‘Hike Through Maple Sugaring History,’ to discover how sugaring has changed since it was started by the Native Americans hundreds of years ago. If you are thinking of making your own syrup at home, spiles are on sale along with easy instructions on how to get started. Purchase fresh, local, maple products from a maple sugar farmer and treat yourself to delicious food available for purchase. Festival admission is $4 per person, rain or shine. For more information, please call the Great Swamp Outdoor Education Center at 973.635.6629.

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The Morris County Park Commission features one of the region’s best park systems in the state of New Jersey. It currently protects and maintains 18,730 acres at 38 distinct sites plus offers a year-round calendar of events and activities for all to enjoy!



Explore and More, Sign Up for Summer Camp with the Park Commission
MORRISTOWN, NJ – Now is the time to enroll your children in the best summer camps while there are still openings. The Morris County Park Commission offers a variety of unique and exciting camps, all close to home, geared to kids with all types of interests, and lead by certified, professional, counselors.


Choose from Adventures in Nature, where campers investigate the rugged outdoors, learn all about plants and animals, and how to survive in the wilderness of New Jersey. Or Travels in Time for budding young farmers to learn the day to day chores of the farm in the old’n days! For those looking for swimming and boating, beach-side activities, volleyball, crafts, and more, try Camp Sunrise Lake. And for all those interested in law enforcement, enroll in the Junior Police Academy, for both girls and boys. Learn handcuffing techniques, motor vehicle stops, help solve a case, and take a tour of the county jail.

For the young athletes, specialty athletic camps including, ice hockey, and figure skating, are offered throughout the summer. There’s never been a more perfect time to learn a new sport, or advance in one that your child is already involved in. For more information and registration visit www.morrisparks.net. Camp enrollment starts now, enjoy the experience!


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The Morris County Park Commission features one of the region’s best park systems in the state of New Jersey. It currently protects and maintains 18,600 acres at 38 distinct sites plus offers a year-round calendar of events and activities for all to enjoy!
Luck O’ The Farm: Irish Field Hands and House Maids
MORRISTOWN, NJ – The American landscape is a melting pot of diverse cultures that have come to this country for hundreds of years. Especially during the 19th century, many Irish flocked to the United States. They often heard the well-known phrase, ‘Cead Mile Failte,’ which in English translates to, ‘A Hundred Thousand Welcomes,’ as they embarked on a new life in America. Get to know the experiences of the Irish immigrants who came to the Morristown area and those who worked at Fosterfields. On Sunday, March 16, from 12 noon to 4 p.m., at Fosterfields Living Historical Farm, in Morris Township, explore first-hand their lives and experiences in America as farmers and domestic workers.


While touring Fosterfields, meet the farmer’s wife, ‘Mrs. Cahill’ as she is busy in the Creamery building, churning cream into butter. Stop by the Carriage House and introduce yourself to ‘Andrew Gibbons,’ the coachman, before boarding an open-air wagon ride around the farm. Join alongside the Irish farmworkers and roll up your sleeves to assist with brushing cows, weighing eggs, stacking wood, and cleaning harnesses for the horses. In the Farmhouse, follow the delicious smells to the kitchen, and discover what traditional Irish foods are being prepared on the wood stove. Role players portraying the Foster family, owners of Fosterfields, along with their Irish house servants, welcome and invite you to tour The Willows, the Gothic Revival-style mansion. Outside The Willows, help the Irish servants do laundry and beat rugs.

At the Visitors Center, attend a 1 p.m. presentation by Cheryl C. Turkington, author of Ordinary Days, Extraordinary Times: Morristown New Jersey’s Irish Immigration Past, and gain an insight into the lives of other Morristown-area Irish residents. It wasn’t all work and no play on the farm! You can revisit the Irish culture through the music of Linda Russell, hear stories of Irish folklore, learn to dance an Irish reel, and revel in the sounds from a piper. Also, families can make a fun craft to remind them of their unique visit to Fosterfields.

Special event admission fees are $8 for adults, $7 for seniors (65+), $6 for children ages 4-16, and $4 for children ages 2 and 3. FREE for children under age 2 and Friends members with a current membership card. For more information, please call 973.326.7645.



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The Morris County Park Commission features one of the region’s best park systems in the state of New Jersey. It currently protects and maintains 18,730 acres at 38 distinct sites plus offers a year-round calendar of events and activities for all to enjoy!