Join North Jersey Pride, South Orange Downtown, and Village of South Orange for Pride Under the Stars on Friday, June 12 from 7PM–11PM at Spiotta Park in downtown South Orange.

This free, all-ages Pride celebration will feature music by DJ Redline, dancing, a cash bar for guests 21+, and an evening centered around community, inclusivity, and celebration under the stars.

Admission is free, with a suggested $20 donation benefiting North Jersey Pride and its mission to uplift, support, and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community across New Jersey. Guests are encouraged to bring friends, family, and loved ones for a fun, welcoming night in the heart of South Orange.

Come celebrate Pride, connection, and community under the stars.

Join The Maplewood Strollers on Friday, June 12 at the Burgdorff Center for a free evening of music, community, and fun.

Start with a Community Interest Meeting at 6:30 PM to learn about The Strollers and ways to get involved, then stay for our Broadway Karaoke Party at 7:30 PM. Enjoy live accompaniment, refreshments, and a silent auction featuring local experiences, artwork, lessons, vintage treasures, and more. Show tunes are encouraged, but not required! Karaoke participation is $5 per song.

RSVP and learn more at www.themaplewoodstrollers.org.

The Strollers' Online Silent Auction is now open to all bidders.

Browse and bid on a curated collection of local experiences, private lessons, artwork, handcrafted goods, and vintage treasures. New items will continue to be added leading up to the event, so check back often. Proceeds support live theater and arts programming in our community. Happy bidding!

BID here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/the-strollerss-silent-auction

The North Jersey Pride Festival is one of the largest family-friendly LGBTQ Pride celebrations in the tristate—and we are planning our biggest celebration yet in 2026! 

Admission is free to this all-day community celebration, thanks to the generosity of our corporate sponsors. (Learn all about sponsorship!)

Live stage. Enjoy an incredible show featuring local and national talent (and all material is family-friendly!) Check out this year's amazing lineup!

 Vendor court. More than 100 merchant vendors selling jewelry, art, crafts, clothing, and of course, plenty of rainbow gear! You'll also be able to learn more about the incredible nonprofits that advocate on behalf of the LGBTQ community. (Please note: the 2026 Vendor Court is full.)

Large food court. Sample an eclectic buffet of delicious cuisine from local culinary artisans, and don't forget dessert—baked goods, frozen treats and lemonade for all! ​

Rainbow Kids Zone. One more thing that makes North Jersey Pride special is our expansive and fun-for-all-ages kids area with fun inflatables for toddlers, challenging obstacle courses for older kids and giant slides for everyone! (Bracelets for inflatables are just $10 per child for all-day fun with a max of $20 per family.) Your kids will love our interactive Kids Stage featuring a new and exciting show every hour on the hour. The goal? Your kids will be too busy to bother you for hours! 

 Click here to learn about disability inclusion and accessibility at this year's Pride Festival. 

​Come with a blanket or some beach chairs, spread out on the lawn, and enjoy a day of fun, family and celebration! 

Join us for our 2026 MAPSO Juneteenth celebration!

The Townships of Maplewood and South Orange invite residents and visitors to join the annual MAPSO Juneteenth Celebration on Friday, June 19th, 2026. An evening of music, culture, community, and reflection commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans and celebrating the enduring contributions of Black culture.

This free, family-friendly event will bring together acclaimed performers, local leaders, arts activities, food vendors, and community organizations for an inspiring celebration of freedom, resilience, and unity.

The evening's program will begin at 5pm, with our Master of Ceremonies Nicole McSwain, entrepreneur, creative visionary, and founder of The RICH Experience. Full event lineup below:

5pm - Jeanne Ricks Project, known for blending jazz, soul, and contemporary

influences.

5:45pm - Welcome remarks from Maplewood Mayor Vic DeLuca and South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum. The ceremony will also feature a special performance of the National Anthem by 15-year-old vocalist Laila Catching Jackson.

6:05pm -Maurice Chestnut, renowned tap artist.

7:10pm - MeriKara, a jazz fusion vocalist whose work is deeply rooted in Afro-diasporic musical traditions.

8:15pm - DJ Fauzi, Newark's acclaimed "Culture Curator," whose eclectic mix of house, hip-hop, R&B, afrobeat, and soulful sounds will keep the energy high leading into the evening's grand finale.

9:00 pm - Fireworks! The sky above Memorial Park will come alive with a fireworks display celebrating freedom, community, and the spirit of Juneteenth.

Family-Friendly Activities

In addition to live entertainment, attendees can enjoy:

● Arts and crafts activities:

Patterns of Us : A bead making experience with Phoebe King

Celebrate Juneteenth through color, creativity, and self-expression. Inspired by the rich tradition of storytelling through beads and patterns found across many African cultures, participants will create handmade polymer clay heritage beads that reflect their own unique story. This activity invites us to reflect on the people, experiences, and traditions that make us who we are—one bead at a time.

African Masks: Community Art Workshop with Kween Moore

This Juneteenth-centered workshop features large-scale African-inspired mask illustrations drawn live by the teaching artist and collaboratively filled in by participants using paint markers, collage materials, patterns, and symbolic designs. Participants will explore themes of ancestry, cultural pride, storytelling, and liberation while contributing to collective artworks inspired by traditions throughout the African diaspora. Individual mask-inspired artworks may also be created and taken home.

● Bouncy house

● Seniors Tent

● Accessible sensory headphones

● Food from KB's BBQ Smokehouse

All are welcome to attend this free community celebration and participate in a day dedicated to freedom, unity, and cultural expression.

Acclaimed composer Sheila Silver’s new song cycle, Songs of Resilience, will receive its world premiere on World Refugee Day, Saturday, June 20 at 7:00 p.m. at St. George's Episcopal Church in Maplewood, New Jersey.

Songs of Resilience will feature soprano Melissa Citro, soprano Teresa Castillo, and pianist Francesco Barfoed. Silver’s powerful new song cycle gives voice to individuals confronting urgent social, political, and humanitarian crises — a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist witnessing starvation in South Sudan; a parent discovering banned books in Florida; a Palestinian-American poet who documents displacement, lineage and homemaking away from home; a Turkish Ph.D. student arrested and jailed for writing an Op-Ed in her school newspaper; a mother and daughter experiencing the loss of a free society; a rallying cry, "Don't comply in advance!"; and a prayer yearning for a kinder, more loving world, "May we be saved by what we save." The songs embody a plea for sanity, empathy, healing, and renewal and speak to courage, conscience, and the weight of moral reckoning. Each is penned by a different author: Nicholas Kristof, Sara Abou Rashed, Ann Ellsworth, Victor Feldman, Stephen Kitsakos, Rob Lewis, and Lucile Lichtblau.

In addition, flutist Juan Carlos Narváez and pianist Francesco Barfoed will perform Borderless Dreams, a new work by composer Arturo Rodriguez. This passionate work explores the interior narrative many immigrants experience when contemplating emigration, spanning from hope to trepidation, and from home toward the unknown.

The concert is co-produced by Melissa Citro, Sheila Silver, and PROTESTRA.

All proceeds from ticket sales will benefit organizations supporting immigrants and families of immigrants detained at Delaney Hall, an ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey. Beneficiaries include First Friends of New Jersey and New York, Cosecha, and St. George's Episcopal Church’s own immigrant relief initiatives.

St. George's Episcopal Church is located at 550 Ridgewood Road, Maplewood, NJ, just a two-block walk from Maplewood’s NJ Transit station. Parking is available in the church lot and on nearby side streets. The concert will run approximately 80 minutes, with a reception to follow.

Get your tickets here

If you are unable to attend the concert but would still like to contribute to the crowdfunding campaign for immigrant aid and defense, you may do so here.

Do you play an acoustic instrument, hand percussion, or sing?

Join us to share a tune and learn a tune at the open acoustic jam session!  A welcoming space to share and learn tunes, open to all ages and levels, led by veteran teacher and touring musician Amy Beshara.  

Sign up here for one session or for all: https://forms.gle/WHL6NBCbFgoC9caL6

About Amy:

Amy Beshara is a versatile music educator, performer, and wellness practitioner with over 25 years of experience teaching and performing violin, viola, cello, piano, guitar, and songwriting. Trained in the Suzuki Method and a variety of innovative pedagogies, she specializes in early childhood music, creative piano, string instruction, and ensemble leadership, including Irish and Scottish fiddle traditions.

Amy has taught at respected institutions including Monmouth Conservatory of Music, Play Music NYC, and Montclair State University’s Extension Division, and has led workshops, summer programs, and community music sessions. In addition to her work in music education, she is a certified RYT-200 yoga instructor, incorporating trauma-informed and mindfulness-based approaches into her teaching.

Her educational background includes studies in linguistics and language acquisition at Montclair State University, certification in viola performance from Trinity College of Music in London, and pre-college training at the Manhattan School of Music. Amy brings a holistic, student-centered approach to her work, blending musical excellence with creativity, wellness, and personal growth.

Follow Amy on FB: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DdXkJoX1Q/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Do you play an acoustic instrument, hand percussion, or sing?

Join us to share a tune and learn a tune at the open acoustic jam session!  A welcoming space to share and learn tunes, open to all ages and levels, led by veteran teacher and touring musician Amy Beshara.  

Sign up here for one session or for all: https://forms.gle/WHL6NBCbFgoC9caL6

About Amy:

Amy Beshara is a versatile music educator, performer, and wellness practitioner with over 25 years of experience teaching and performing violin, viola, cello, piano, guitar, and songwriting. Trained in the Suzuki Method and a variety of innovative pedagogies, she specializes in early childhood music, creative piano, string instruction, and ensemble leadership, including Irish and Scottish fiddle traditions.

Amy has taught at respected institutions including Monmouth Conservatory of Music, Play Music NYC, and Montclair State University’s Extension Division, and has led workshops, summer programs, and community music sessions. In addition to her work in music education, she is a certified RYT-200 yoga instructor, incorporating trauma-informed and mindfulness-based approaches into her teaching.

Her educational background includes studies in linguistics and language acquisition at Montclair State University, certification in viola performance from Trinity College of Music in London, and pre-college training at the Manhattan School of Music. Amy brings a holistic, student-centered approach to her work, blending musical excellence with creativity, wellness, and personal growth.

Follow Amy on FB: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DdXkJoX1Q/?mibextid=wwXIfr