Oktoberfest Coming to Whiting Town Center

A free Oktoberfest, complete with music, games and pony rides, is coming to Whiting next month. 

The event, scheduled from 2 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 14 at the Whiting Town Center, will feature "a mix of Broadway and jazz, as well as fun family activities and local vendors," said Michael Grande, artistic director at The Studio Stage Theatre and the event's manager. "We look forward to giving people a great day out."

Festivities will kick off at the Route 530 plaza when WOBM radio station personality Marianne, of Bob and Marianne in the Morning, hosts Bingo. The Daniel Bennett Jazz Group and others will perform Gershwin, Cole Porter and other standards at midday, according to Grande. 

To cap off the event, members from The Studio Stage, a theatre company located in the shopping center, will perform excerpts from "Little Shop of Horrors: The Musical" from 5 to 7 p.m., Grande said.

"We’re excited to bring this family-friendly event to the public free of charge," said Zev Schick of AAM Management, the plaza's landlord. "This is the Whiting Town Center’s way of saying thanks for all the support the people of Whiting, Manchester, Toms River and beyond have given us over the years."

Local vendors will feature food, arts and crafts, pony rides, a petting zoo and more, according to Grande. 

Representatives for the plaza recently went before Manchester's Planning Board and received approval for various improvements, including changing traffic patterns in the parking lot and renovating exteriors. A Save A Lot grocery store is expected to replace the Foodtown, though a timeline of when that may happen was not immediately clear.