Summer fun does not have to end with August: September brings a boatload of activities to the Cape May shoreline, and with less traffic and no more heat waves, it may even be a better, more relaxing experience! From tomato festivals to watercolor workshops, wine tastings to the famous Jackson Street Oktoberfest, Cape May has a slew of activities to keep you active and entertained even when the leaves start to turn.
    Labor Day weekend usually marks the end of summer, and Cape May starts off September with a nod to this landmark holiday. The Summer Send-Off Craft Show will be a beehive of local, hand-made arts and crafts on the Boardwalk for the entire weekend. But as much as the craft show will be saying good-bye to summer, it will be saying hello to all the great fall-themed activities in Cape May for the rest of the month!
   The Tomato Festival hosted at West Cape May Borough Hall on September 1^st will bring the taste of fall to the island. But before we jump straight into Halloween, don’t forget to mark your calendars for September 29^th because Oktoberfest is back! Jackson Street, the oldest, highest, and most haunted street in Cape May will block the road and host all sorts of vendors, food and craft alike, and never without the classic beverage which Oktoberfests are known for. Other great arts and crafts shows this month will include the Grandma’s Attic craft show on the Boardwalk on September 8^th from 10-5pm, the Cape May County Art League Fine Art Craft Show at the Washington Mall and Rotary Park on September 8-9, and the Fall Sidewalk Sale on the Washington Street Mall from September 13-16.
   Fall is a goldmine season for artists. Technicolor leaves and fluorescent trees are a staple that can make even the dingiest of places look like paradise. The many art exhibits in September prove that with Victorian houses as the landscape and the beach as the background, Cape May in the summer may be the princess, but the fall is the crown. The Chalfonte Hotel will host Carole Clarke’s Watercolor Exhibit from September 2^nd through mid-October. The opening reception on September 2^nd will occur from 2-4 p.m. Free, self-guided tours will be open to the public from 11-4 p.m. everyday until mid-October. The Chalfonte Hotel will also host a weekend watercolor workshop run by Marge Chavoosian from September 14-16, a noted New Jersey artist who has received over 145 regional and national awards. Questions about fees and enrollment for the workshop must be directed to the Hotel, phone number 888-411-1998.
   The Cape May arts scene is not just reachable through handy crafts and artwork: the East Lynne Theater Company and Savoy Opera Company paint on the canvas of a stage as well, and do not disappoint. On September 5^th the Savoy Company will perform Gilbert & Sullivan’s H.M.S Pinafore. The performance will be located in the Magnolia Room of the Chalfonte Hotel, with a buffet dinner proceeding the show at 6 p.m. Tickets are $40 per adult, $18 per child and include the price of dinner. Show only tickets are not available. Reservations can be at 609-884-8409. If opera is not your style, The East Lynne Theater Company will be performing You and I, a 1923 Broadway comedy about marriage and careers written by Philip Barry beginning on September 19^th and continuing through October 13^th. Performances will be hosted by the First Presbyterian Church on Hughes and Decatur Streets. Reservations can be made by contacting the theater company’s box office at 609-884-5898.
   Meanwhile over at the Robert Shackelton Playhouse of Cape May Stage Going to St. Ives is running until September 22. Lee Blessing’s play is the story of two women from different cultures brought together by the question of how to deal with a brutal dictator – but what to do when he happens to be your son. The Turn of the Screw by Jeffrey Hatcher opens at Cape May State September 26 and runs through October 27. Based on the provocative classic novel of Henry James, it is a haunting tale about a young governess and her journey to an old English manor to tend two orphaned children. She soon discovers ghosts haunting the children and she must stop the fiends before it is too late. But there is one question that is torturing the would-be heroine: are these ghosts real or are they just part of her own wild imagination?
   Though the attraction of less humidity and more beach space is enough to want to stay in Cape May all September, the restaurants keep visitors coming back even when there’s snow on the beach! September pays homage to these beacons of refined taste with a variety of wine tastings and friendly food competitions. The Cape May Food and Wine Festival from September 16-20^th will include workshops hosted by local chefs and tours around the kitchens of some of the most well-known restaurants in the business – and don’t forget the People’s Choice Chowder Contest! Hosted by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, more information can be found by contacting them at 609-884-5404 or 800-275-4278 or by looking at their website, www.capemaymac.org. The more refined taste of wine will be accommodated in the following weekends by the Spirited Cape May Weekend on September 28-30, beginning on Friday with a four-course dinner at the Washington Inn and ending with a Wine School Class on Sunday. The weekend will include tours of the local Cape May Winery. Hosted as well by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, more information can be found by contacting the same phone numbers as the Food and Wine Festival.
   There is no reason to fear the cold just yet: Cape May has enough activities for you to enjoy in September to keep you and the family well-fed and well-entertained for the chilly months ahead!