News · Hardyston, Frankford, Fredon, Hopatcong, Lafayette, Newton, Sparta
The Weekend Ahead: Route 15 Still Closed, Two Renaissance Festivals, and a Long Weekend
Route 15 remains closed in Lafayette, Newton's offices shut early today, and the county has two Renaissance festivals and a Dream Asia Festival competing for your Saturday. Here's what's happening across Sussex County this Labor Day weekend.
Good morning, Sussex County. This is the first of what will be a weekly look at what's happening across all twenty-four towns — events, meetings, road work, and the occasional thing worth knowing. Labor Day weekend seemed like a reasonable place to start.
Before you go anywhere: Route 15
Route 15 remains closed in Lafayette Township. The closure began September 1 and, as of yesterday, had not reopened. If your weekend involves getting to or through Lafayette, build in the detour before you leave — this is the kind of thing that turns a twenty-minute trip into an hour on a holiday Friday. We are tracking updates in our news feed.
Newton's municipal offices are also closing early today, September 4, ahead of the long weekend. If you had a permit, tax, or clerk errand planned, today is not the day to leave it until the afternoon.
This weekend
Friday, September 4
Sussex County Miners vs. Tri-City ValleyCats — 7:05 PM at Skylands Stadium, 94 Championship Place in Augusta. Late-season home game and one of the cheaper family nights out in the county.
Piggies & Pizza at Posh Paws Family Farm — 6 to 8 PM. Exactly what it sounds like. If you have kids under ten, this is an easy yes.
Saturday, September 5
Dream Asia Festival at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta. Food, performance, and vendors — the largest single event on the county calendar this weekend.
Sparta Renaissance Festival at Camp Sacajawea in Sparta. Costumes encouraged, apparently not required.
Miners vs. Tri-City ValleyCats again — 6:35 PM at Skylands Stadium, if Friday's game leaves you wanting more.
Two festivals and a ballgame, one Saturday, all in the county. You will have to choose.
Still going
Martorana Farms, 44 Augusta Hill Road in Augusta, is open — worth the stop if you're already heading that way for the fairgrounds or the ballpark.
The Hopatcong Monthly Market at 120 River Styx Road drew a good crowd for its August edition, therapy pig and all. It runs monthly; the September date hasn't been announced yet.
More of what's on across the county is in our events listing.
Next week at Town Hall
Monday is Labor Day, so municipal offices across the county will be closed. Meetings resume midweek:
- Tuesday, September 9 — Sparta Zoning Board. Agenda posted.
- Tuesday, September 9 — Fredon Township Committee. Agenda posted.
- Monday, September 14 — Hardyston Joint Land Use Board. Agenda posted.
We publish plain-English summaries of every municipal meeting in Sussex County, with links to the original agendas and minutes. If you have ever wanted to know what your council or land use board actually decided without reading a forty-page PDF, that is what the Government section is for.
Schools
School boards are back in session. The Hopatcong Board of Education met August 24 and a recap is available now. Newton (August 25) and Sparta (August 27) have both met, with minutes still pending — we will post recaps as soon as the districts publish them.
Buses are running countywide. The usual advice applies: leave ten minutes earlier than you think you need to on Route 15 and Route 181, and more than that while Lafayette is closed.
Also this week
The Sussex County Caregiver Expo is being organized to connect families with support services and resources — worth a look if you are caring for an aging parent or a family member with a disability.
And a small pleasure: News 12 profiled a Sussex County homeowner who has spent decades turning his house into a living work of art. It is the kind of story that only exists in a county where people have room to be eccentric. Both stories are linked in our news feed.
Heard around the county
One thing circulating that we have not been able to confirm, offered as exactly that: a new electrolysis studio has been advertising a "coming soon" opening somewhere in the county, with no location or date announced yet.
If you know something we have wrong, or something we have missed, tell us. There is a "Report an error" link on every page, and we would rather hear it from you than not hear it at all.
County Brief is a free local dashboard for Sussex County — headlines, events, weather, and meeting recaps for all twenty-four municipalities. No paywall, no account required.