Tenafly, NJ: Local Events in September and Community Updates
September is the turn. Camp ends, the Nature Center's parking restrictions lift, apple cider making opens the fall program season on the fifth, and the borough's Fall Festival moves to a Thursday night in October for the first time. The Huyler Park concert season closed in August, which leaves the preserve carrying the month. Here is what is happening this September.
Local Events in September 2026
Apple Cider Making
Date: Saturday, September 5, 2026
Times: 11:00 AM and 1:30 PM sessions
Location: Tenafly Nature Center, 313 Hudson Avenue
The first fall program of the season. Learn the history of apple cultivation and cider making, then press fresh cider the original way. The Nature Center provides the apples and the press. Registration is required and the two sessions fill separately.
Where Wildlife Meets Creativity
Date: Saturday, September 5, 2026
Time: 2:00 PM
Location: Tenafly Nature Center, 313 Hudson Avenue
Meet one of the Nature Center's live Animal Ambassadors up close, then make an artistic version of the animal you met. Open to adults and to children ages 4 and up. Registration required. Pairing this with the 1:30 cider session makes a full Saturday afternoon at the preserve.
Family Forest School
Dates: Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday mornings, September 8 through December 3, 2026
Location: Tenafly Nature Center, 313 Hudson Avenue
A 90-minute outdoor session for children ages 18 months to 3.5 years with a caregiver. Registration is open for a limited window.
Full Year Forest School
Dates: September 14, 2026 through June 11, 2027
Time: 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM daily
Location: Tenafly Nature Center, 313 Hudson Avenue
The full-year outdoor program opens on the fourteenth. Enrollment requires a current Family level membership or higher and begins with an interest form. Note that the Nature Center is not a licensed New Jersey child care center.
Celebrate Fall Camp
Date: Monday, September 21, 2026
Location: Tenafly Nature Center, 313 Hudson Avenue
A one-day seasonal camp with outdoor adventures, crafts, games, and nature discovery for Pre-K through sixth grade, plus junior counselor opportunities for seventh and eighth graders.
Afternoon Forest School
Dates: Monday and Wednesday afternoons, September 23 through December 9, 2026
Location: Tenafly Nature Center, 313 Hudson Avenue
Play-based outdoor sessions running through the fall. Families can register for one day or both.
Wellness in the Wild
Date: Friday, September 25, 2026
Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Location: Tenafly Nature Center, 313 Hudson Avenue
Free, all ages, presented with NJ4S. The evening covers the eight dimensions of wellness and includes guided meditation, live animal encounters, and campfire s'mores. Registration is through the Nature Center's form and this one is genuinely free, which is rare for an evening program of this size.
Butterfly House and Pollinator Garden, Final Weeks
Dates: Through the warm season
Location: Tenafly Nature Center, 313 Hudson Avenue
The seasonal Butterfly House opened at Nature Day and stays up through the end of the warm months. September is the last reliable stretch. Check the Nature Center before you go, since closing depends on the weather.
Waterfowl at Pfister's Pond
Dates: Late September into early October
Location: Tenafly Nature Center, 313 Hudson Avenue
The Nature Center's own autumn calendar points to the half hour before dusk at Pfister's Pond this time of year. Sit quietly and you may see herons, kingfishers, and up to several hundred waterfowl, mostly wood ducks, mallards, and Canada geese. Free, no registration, and one of the better half hours available in Bergen County in the fall.
Tenafly Public Library Programming
Dates: Throughout September
Location: Tenafly Public Library, 100 Riveredge Road
The library shifts to its fall slate of storytimes, workshops, reading groups, and community lectures. Check the library calendar for specific dates and registration.
Borough Recreation Fall Season
Dates: Throughout September
Location: Various borough facilities
Borough-sponsored and co-sponsored sports, enrichment classes, and adult programs move into the fall session. Registration runs through Community Pass on the borough site. Tennis and pickleball stay heavily used well past Labor Day.
Planning Ahead for Fall
The Tenafly Fall Festival is set for Thursday, October 15, 2026, from 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM in downtown Tenafly and Huyler Park, with a rain date of Thursday, October 22. Note the format change. The festival ran as a Sunday afternoon event in prior years and moves to a Thursday evening this year, with the borough soliciting rides, live music, food vendors, a beer garden, and an LED screen for college and NFL football. It is the single largest gathering on the Tenafly calendar and worth planning a visit around if you are evaluating the town.
The Nature Center's fall programming follows, including Wild Nights, Fall Delights, the Lost Brook Trail Race, and the fall fundraiser.
Ongoing and Seasonal Highlights
Tenafly Nature Center Trails and Hours
The preserve covers nearly 400 acres of hardwood forest and wetland, combining the Nature Center's own land with the borough's Lost Brook Preserve, and carries more than seven miles of trails. Trails are open daily from one hour after sunrise to one hour before sunset. The Visitor Center is open daily 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM. The summer schedule that restricted parking lot access on weekday mornings and afternoons ended September 4, so normal access and full Visitor Center hours are back. Trail admission is a suggested donation of two dollars per person or ten dollars per household, payable by cash, Venmo, PayPal, or Apple Pay. Apple Maps users should enter the street address to reach the correct parking entrance.
Downtown Tenafly and the Parks
Roosevelt Common, Huyler Park, and the downtown commercial core stay in steady everyday use. The free summer concert series at Huyler Park ran Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7:00 PM from July through late August and has closed for the season, though a rained-out date can occasionally push into early September. The borough's walkability is the thing that is hard to appreciate from a listing photo and obvious within ten minutes of walking it.
Community and Local Government Updates
Borough Meetings and Planning
Tenafly's boards and commissions return to their full fall schedule this month. If you are evaluating the town seriously, the Planning Board, Historic Preservation Commission, and Recreation Board agendas and minutes are public and worth reading. Historic preservation in particular affects what you can and cannot do to a property here, and it is far better understood before you are under contract than after.
Fall Real Estate Activity
The post-Labor Day inventory wave is the story this month. August was the last quiet window, and September typically brings both more listings and more competition. That cuts in both directions. Buyers get a wider selection but face a deeper bidding pool, and sellers reach more buyers but stand next to more comparable inventory than they did four weeks ago. Inventory in the borough has stayed tight and well-priced listings continue to draw competitive interest. If you want current pricing and recent comparable sales for a specific street or price band, I can pull those for you. You can also start with a valuation here: https://sellecksellsnj.com/home-valuation
Thinking About Buying or Selling in Tenafly?
Tenafly remains one of Bergen County's most established boroughs, valued for its low-density residential streets, its open space, its walkable downtown, and its proximity to Manhattan. If you are considering buying or selling here or elsewhere in Bergen County, local knowledge is what separates a well-timed move from an expensive one. Scott Selleck helps clients evaluate Bergen County neighborhoods and pricing trends, read inventory and days-on-market conditions street by street, and time a transaction against a long-term plan. Current listings are here: https://sellecksellsnj.com/home-search/listings
Call or text: 201-970-3960
Plan Your Next Move in Three Steps
Start with the assessment, explore the community guides, then dig into the advisory site.
Step 1. Take the Seven-Question Assessment
Answer seven quick questions and get a clear read on where you stand and what your next move should be.
https://quiz.sellecksellsnj.com/
Step 2. Explore the Northern New Jersey Community Guides
Compare Bergen and Hudson County towns with interactive local guides. The Tenafly guide is here:
https://northernnj.sellecksellsnj.com/towns/tenafly/
Step 3. Visit the Real Estate Advisory Site
Go deeper on strategy, timing, and the full picture with The Selleck Group advisory site.
https://scott.sellecksellsnj.com
Ready to talk it through? Schedule a conversation: https://tidycal.com/slselleck
Scott Selleck, REALTOR, Broker Sales Associate
The Selleck Group | KW City Views Realty
2200 Fletcher Avenue, Suite 502, Fort Lee, NJ 07024
Cell or text: 201-970-3960 | Office: 201-592-8900
[email protected] | SelleckSellsNJ.com
Schedule a conversation: tidycal.com/slselleck
The Selleck Group | Keller Williams City Views Realty | Broker Sales Associate | E-Pro | SRES | AI-Enabled Agent Certified by the Krem Institute of Technology
Equal Housing Opportunity
https://sellecksellsnj.com/blog/equal-housing-opportunity-scott-selleck-and-the-selleck-group-at-kw-city-views-realty
