Hello! Welcome back to The Central Jerseyan Newsletter.

Summer theater takes center stage this week as Plays-in-the-Park closes its season with the premiere of Guys and Dolls in Edison. We're also staying close to Edison's budget saga, tracking every twist from the failed vote to the furloughs that followed. Round out your week with butterflies in Pennington, live music in downtown Rahway, and a look ahead at a fight over the future of a century-old fire department in Woodbridge.

Here are some fun events coming up this week.

🎭 FEATURED: Guys and Dolls | July 29–Aug. 8 | 8 PM (no Sunday shows) | Plays-in-the-Park, Roosevelt Park, Edison | Ticketed
Middlesex County's beloved outdoor theater series closes its summer season with this classic Damon Runyon comedy. Gambler Nathan Detroit is scrambling to fund the city's biggest craps game while his girlfriend of fourteen years wonders when he'll finally propose, and the action swings from Times Square to Havana before everyone lands right where they belong. It's a Central Jersey summer tradition performed under the stars. Check the box office link for ticket pricing and availability.

🎵 Beatlemania Again | Mon, July 27 | 7:30–9:30 PM | Joseph R. Lewis Concert Field, Woodbridge High School | Free
Woodbridge's Golden Oldies Monday series brings a stage-recreated tribute to The Beatles, tracing the band's sound from the early hits through the later, more experimental years. No tickets needed, just bring a lawn chair.

🍿 Free Kids Crafts & How to Train Your Dragon Screening | Tue, July 28 | Crafts 5:30 PM, Movie 6:30 PM | State Theatre NJ, New Brunswick | Free
Movie night continues with pre-show arts and crafts in the lobby, followed by a family screening of How to Train Your Dragon on the State Theatre's big screen. Registration is recommended.

🏀 The Dunk Team Acrobatic Basketball Performance | Wed, July 29 | 6–7 PM | Woodbridge High School, Woodbridge | Free
A high-energy family show featuring professional trampoline acrobats and slam-dunk artists. Expect a fast-paced hour built for kids and adults alike.

🥒 NY/NJ Picklefestival | Fri, July 31–Sun, Aug. 2 | 11 AM–8 PM | Edison Expo Center, Edison | $10
A three-day festival dedicated entirely to pickles, with gourmet variations, brine-infused treats, and pickle-themed merchandise from vendors across the region. A quirky, food-focused weekend for anyone who takes their fermentation seriously.

As always, you can check out our full events page for more on what’s happening around Central Jersey, and if you have a community event you’d like listed, don’t hesitate to reach out.

It was a busy week across Central Jersey. Here's what The Central Jerseyan covered.

No town had a bigger week than Edison. What started as a routine budget vote turned into a standoff that cost residents their summer camp days, put police furloughs on the table, and packed a council meeting so full the township had to open an overflow room in the hallway. The Central Jerseyan was there from the very first preview of Monday's vote, through the meeting that collapsed, and into the emergency session that followed. When the bigger news trucks from New York City eventually pack up and move on to the next headline, we'll still be here. This is our town too, and we plan on covering it long after the story stops trending.

Edison headed into Monday's meeting with a $181.8 million budget, two months late and one strange line item still unexplained.
The council was set to adopt the budget more than two months behind schedule, with health insurance costs driving most of the increase. A last-minute agenda item labeled only "Resolution to Amend 2026 Budget" did not indicate what might change before the final vote. This piece laid out exactly what was at stake before anyone in town knew how the night would actually end.
Read the full story →

Then the vote collapsed. Three council members skipped the meeting, and a fourth walked out.
Council President Joseph Coyle was left one vote short after Richard Brescher left the dais mid-meeting over unresolved questions about vehicle and toll costs. With the township's emergency spending authority set to expire at month's end, officials warned that furloughs were now the only option unless a new vote happened fast. Mayor Sam Joshi called the walkout "reckless and childish."
Read the full story →

So many residents showed up to the emergency meeting that Edison had to open an overflow room.
Firefighters, parents, and longtime residents lined up to speak after furloughs hit the police department and civilian staff. One resident said a home sale fell through because no township inspector was available. Another asked what would happen to police and fire coverage before the next scheduled meeting. The council passed emergency funding unanimously that night, ending the furloughs, but the bigger questions about trust in the process are still unanswered.
Read the full story →

🦋 Watershed Butterfly Festival | Sat, Aug. 1 | 9:30 AM–3 PM | 31 Titus Mill Road, Pennington | Registration required

Pack the kids in the car for this one. The Watershed Institute's annual Butterfly Festival takes over its nature reserve in Pennington for a full day of hands-on science, live music, animal shows, and a butterfly and insect parade. It's run by a nonprofit dedicated to protecting New Jersey's rivers, lakes, and streams, so every ticket and gift shop purchase supports that mission. Food trucks and a gift shop are on site, and kids can tour the butterfly house while parents browse the science exhibits. It's a longer drive than most of what we feature here, about 45 minutes from Rahway, but a nature-filled day trip for anyone looking to get outdoors before summer winds down.

I'm still in Edison this week. What started as a routine budget vote turned into a walkout and furloughed police officers before residents packed a council meeting into an overflow room. I covered it from the very first preview all the way through the emergency vote that ended it, and I'll keep following it into August when the council tries again to pass a real budget.

This kind of sustained coverage is what I've worked to build all year. It's the same effort behind the Rahway water utility investigation, where records showed a PR firm shaping the mayor's messaging before the city council even voted to study a sale, and behind the Kenilworth story, where a data center's own lawyer wrote the mayor's talking points word for word. Staying on a story after the initial headline fades is where local journalism shows its value.

Monday, I'm turning that same attention to Woodbridge, where the township is moving to dissolve the Keasbey Fire Department after more than a century of service. A petition against the move has crossed a thousand signatures, and questions remain about a firehouse residents say they were once promised. I'll have the full story for you soon.

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This week's trivia: Long before Trenton became New Jersey's capital, one Central Jersey city held that title twice over. What city served as the capital of the East Jersey colony, and later shared capital duties with Burlington for the United Province of New Jersey?

Last week’s trivia:  Metuchen earned the “Brainy Borough" nickname in the early 1900s, when rail access to New York City and Rutgers drew an unusual concentration of writers, artists, and professors to the small town. The name became official around 1915, when Metuchen and Glen Ridge fought it out in the local papers over which town was truly the "high brow" champion of New Jersey. Metuchen won, and one of its two post office branches is still called the Brainy Boro Station today.

Here’s the weather for the upcoming week:

🌦️ Monday, July 27: Mostly sunny with increasing humidity and a chance of a stray afternoon thunderstorm — temperatures range from 69°F to 86°F.

⛈️ Tuesday, July 28: Thunderstorms expected throughout the day with humid conditions continuing overnight — temperatures range from 69°F to 77°F.

🌦️ Wednesday, July 29: Humid with scattered showers and thunderstorms during the day, gradually clearing by the evening — temperatures range from 68°F to 80°F.

⛅ Thursday, July 30: Variable cloudiness throughout the afternoon with comfortable, dry conditions continuing into the night — temperatures range from 66°F to 82°F.

⛅ Friday, July 31: Partly sunny with a slight chance of scattered afternoon showers, giving way to clear evening skies — temperatures range from 68°F to 85°F.

☀️ Saturday, August 1: Bright, warm, and humid with plenty of sunshine for weekend activities — temperatures range from 68°F to 88°F.

☀️ Sunday, August 2: Warm and sunny to wrap up the weekend, with pleasant conditions continuing overnight — temperatures range from 66°F to 86°F.

Have a great week!