A paradise for candy lovers, you’ll want to forget about your diet here.  This two-story shop sells every kind of candy you can imagine, including Atlantic City’s famed Salt Water Taffy.  It also offers shoppers the unique opportunity to make their own candy bars.  Simply choose which goodies you want inside, place your order and presto, you’ll have a candy bar made just for you.

It's Sugar's tribute to Lucy the Elephant

While you’re here, be sure to check out the massive recreation of Lucy the Elephant, the ultimate candy pachyderm, made from 1,050,493 Jelly Belly Beans.  Lucy is one of the New Jersey Shore’s most eclectic architectural feats.  Located in the town of Margate south of Atlantic City and Ventnor, she’s a 65-foot tall wooden elephant shaped building, the largest “elephant” in the world.  Built in 1881 by real estate prospector James Vincent de Paul Lafferty, Jr., Lucy has been a real estate office, summer house, and a tavern.  Today she’s a quirky roadside attraction, paid homage to by It’s Sugar’s Jelly Belly Bean elephant.\

Images:  Upper Right:  ACCVA/Center:  Melody Moser

The Boardwalk and skybridge levels of the Pier are where you’ll find the shops. While most are upscale such as Tiffany & Co., Gucci and Louis Vuitton, you’ll also find mall staples where you won’t have to blow all of your winnings. These include Victoria’s Secret, the Body Shop, Gymboree, Banana Republic, and even a Starbucks.

Fine dining and great views at The Pier Shops at Caesars

If you’re hungry, Starbucks isn’t your only option. The Pier’s third level is where you’ll find a variety of restaurants, such as Souzai Sushi & Sake, Buddakan, and Trinity Irish Pub & Carvery. You can also grab a snack at Phillip’s Seafood Express near the Boardwalk entrance, at Boardwalk Favorites at the far end of the Pier on the skybridge level, or at Giorgios at the far end of the Boardwalk level.

You’ll find The Water Show at the far end of the Pier. Performances of this sound and light extravaganza take place every hour on the hour beginning at noon.

The Pier has an interesting history. It was first built in 1906 as the famed Million Dollar Pier, featuring performers such as Harry Houdini as well as early Miss America pageants until a fire swept through it in 1912. More recently it was known as Ocean One. Today, it’s the perfect place to go when you’re in the mood for shopping.

Images/ACCVA

The Downbeach Film Festival/Atlantic City Cinefest is a cultural event for both residents and visitors to Atlantic City, Margate, Ventnor, Longport and beyond.  It is meant to promote new films, as well as filmmakers and actors, and to celebrate the art form of moviemaking.

Resorts Atlantic City

The opening night feature is “Green,” a comedy about the medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles, with a cast and crew heavy with Cherry Hill, New Jersey natives.

The third annual festival will screen a stellar selection of some 40 features, shorts and documentaries, as well as honor cinematic success stories, such as Chris Mulkey. Chris  plays Boss Frank Hague in “Boardwalk Empire,” and has also appeared in “Bare Knuckles,” from last year’s festival; “North Country”; “Radio”; “Behind Enemy Lines”; “Broken Arrow”; “First Blood”; and numerous television series.

A variety of films will be screened including “Cantata in  C Major” directed by Ronnie Kramer, “Eye Candy” directed by Robert F. Kauffman, and “Five Years Later” directed by Jaime Lerman.

The festival also provides novice and aspiring filmmakers, actors, and others interested in a career in the film business the opportunity to meet and network with industry professionals.  Admission is $5 and up.   Hours will be  Friday from 7:00pm – 10:00pm; Saturday from 12 noon – 10:00pm and  Sunday from 12 noon – 9:00pm.

Images/ACCVA

Visit the Atlantic City Historical Museum

This small museum, located on Garden Pier at the Boardwalk and New Jersey Avenue,  is home to the award-winning exhibit “Atlantic City:  Playground of the Nation”.  You’ll learn all about Atlantic City’s past here through memorabilia, artifacts, and vintage photographs.  Especially interesting is the Miss America memorabilia, and the continuously playing video presentation, Boardwalk Ballyhoo.  Pick up a copy of the video, or other books and items about Atlantic City at the gift shop by the register.   The museum is open from 10 am to 4 pm and admission is free.

Strolling on Atlantic City's Boardwalk

Watch The Water Show

The Water Show (known simply as “The Show”) at the eastern end of the Pier Shops at Caesars is a Bellagio-style sound and light extravaganza that runs every hour on the hour starting at noon.  You can view the spectacle from the Boardwalk level or from either the second or third floor levels, and best of all, it’s free.

Visit the Absecon Lighthouse museum

While it’ll cost a small fee to actually climb the 150-year-old lighthouse’s 228 steps, it’s absolutely free to visit the Keeper’s House Museum, exhibits and grounds.  If you’ve got some cash to spare, the climb to the top is worth it for the breathtaking views of the Atlantic City skyline you’ll have up top.  You’ll also get to check out the original first-order Fresnel Lens, first lit in 1857.  It’s New Jersey’s tallest lighthouse and one of the oldest in the country.  You’ll find it at Pacific and Rhode Island Avenues within walking distance of Showboat Casino.

Pay your respects at the Korean War Memorial

Pay your respects at this memorial, located at Brighton Park where Park Place meets the Boardwalk.  It’s meant to ensure that future generations remember the proud and dedicated service that our veterans gave to their country, the legacy they continued, and the freedom they fought for.  It’s open daily, and it’s free.

Biking on the Boardwalk

Stroll the docks and Crafters’ Village at Gardner’s Basin

For  a change of pace, visit historic Gardner’s Basin, located at New Hampshire Avenue and the Bay, where Absecon Inlet meets Clam Creek. It is across from the Senator Frank S. Farley State Marina and Atlantic City’s Coast Guard station.  Here you can stroll, for free, watching deep-sea and back bay fishing charters ply their trade, as well as a variety of cruises offered by Atlantic City Cruises, such as dolphin-watching cruises, sightseeing cruises and cocktail cruises.

Other attractions at Historic Gardner’s Basin include the Flying Cloud Café, the Back Bay Ale House and Bayside Basin Antiques. Also of interest at Historic Gardner’s Basin is the “Diving Bell,” once an attraction at Atlantic City’s famed Steel Pier. Historic Gardner’s Basin even has its own artists’ colony.

Stroll or bike the Boardwalk

No one should miss a stroll along Atlantic City’s world-renowned Boardwalk.  Not only is it family-friendly (for the most part), it’s been rated by ForbesTraveler.com as one of the “Top 10 American Boardwalks.”  Built by Alexander Boardman (yep – the “Boardwalk” is named after Boardman) in 1870 as a collapsible footpath to keep people from getting sand in hotel lobbies, today the Boardwalk is lined with shops, restaurants, casinos and nightlife.  This more than 4-mile long wooden walkway is the ideal place for a stroll or early morning bike ride (from 6 am to 10 am).

Dating from 1870, ForbesTraveler.com rates the Boardwalk among the “Top 10 American Boardwalks.”  Lined with dining, gambling, nightlife and a wealth of fun family attractions (and some not-so-family friendly), you’ll find some of the poshest hotel casinos in the world here, including Caesar’s and the Trump Taj Mahal, as well as some kitschy tourist draws such as the famed Boardwalk Rolling Chairs.

Dancing in Atlantic City's nightclubs

Dance at Club Worship

Club Worship, an eclectic three-level nightclub at Showboat’s House of Blues, has free admission on Thursdays for “Reggae Nights” at 8 pm, and every Saturday for “Seductive Saturdays” at 10 pm.  The club sports a spacious dance floor and exclusive VIP seating and bottle service.

You’ll also find a cozy fireside lounge, sacred prayer rooms, great dining, and live entertainment.  Located at 801 Boardwalk, it’s open all night, so it’s a pretty good bet that you’re going to be feeling it the next morning.  On regular nights, themusic ranges from Top 40 to hip hop and trance.  The club gets hopping around 11:30 pm with pulse-pounding  music and crowds of people.

Enjoy Atlantic City’s beaches

This will be most appreciated during hot, sunny summers, but Atlantic City’s beaches are free, a rarity at the Jersey Shore.

Surfing Atlantic City's Beaches

Window shop at the Pier Shops at Caesars, The Walk, and The Quarter

Grab your winnings and head over to the Pier Shops at Caesar, where you’ll find two levels of luxury retailers and a variety of excellent restaurants.  Don’t feel intimidated by the big name shops, though, you’ll also find an Apple store, the Body Shop, and Banana Republic, to name a few.  Even if you don’t spend a dime, it’s fun to stroll the pier, then take in a view of the majestic Atlantic Ocean from the pier’s Surf Deck at the far eastern end.

Two other excellent shopping areas include the discount outlet shops at The Walk and The Quarter, a Cuban-themed shopping district at the Tropicana.

Watch annual surfing competitions

Well, why not?  Keep tabs on the Facebook page of the Atlantic City Surfing Club to see what’s happening.  You may catch a competition.  And it’s free.

For more details about free things to do in Atlantic City, check out the guide, The Best Free Things to Do in Altantic City.

Images/ACCVA

The festival will feature more than 145 juried artists from across the country presenting a variety of items such as studio art glass and stained glass, creative jewelry designs, unusual metal sculptures, innovative wearables and accessories, intricate baskets, sculptural and functional clay pieces, woodcarvings and turned vessels, handcrafted furniture, and two-dimensional art and photography.

Named a “Top 100 Event in North America” in 2008 by the American Bus Association, the festival draws thousands of visitors each year from throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.  It will take place in the Event Center, in a large tent and throughout the grounds.

Vendors at the Fine Festival of Craft

With your entrance tickets to the Festival you can also visit the Center’s Museum of American Glass, Down Jersey Folklife Center, as well as all of the Artist Studios and museum stores.

This year children of all ages can participate in the “D/Zine A Glass Ornament” competition in the Glass Studio.  Other children’s activities will include face painting, “Blow a Glass Bubble” with the guidance of WheatonArts’ Glass Studio artists, create a scarecrow and more.

For those who enjoy demonstrations, you’ll be able to watch everything from blacksmithing to basket and broom making, from dulcimer and harp making to weaving and woodturning, plus much more.

Unique jewelry for sale at the Fine Festival of Craft

Entertainment will include strolling musician Bill Kerwood and “Cambodian Music and Dance” with Chamroeun Yin.

The Glass Studio will offer continuous pumpkin blowing with narrated demonstrations at 11 am, 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm both days.  And be sure to visit the “Pumpkin Patch” outside the Glass Studio, where  glass pumpkins of all shapes, sizes and colors will be available for purchase.

In addition, a variety of food vendors will be on hand, serving festival fare such as funnel cakes, crepes, crab cakes, gelato and hot dogs.

Tickets on Saturday will cost $10 for Adults, $9 for Senior Adults and $7 for Students . Children five and under are free.  On Sunday tickets will cost the same, but all children under 17 will be admitted free.

Images:  Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center

Set at the dawn of Prohibition when gangsters, feds and flappers called Atlantic City their home, this new HBO series traces Atlantic City’s storied political history through the roaring 1920s. The series will take viewers into the shady world of Prohibition-era Atlantic City, where crooked politicians, mobsters and government agents battled to control the illegal liquor trade.

Loosely inspired by the book Boardwalk Empire:  The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City by Hammonton-based historian Nelson Johnson, the new series is produced by Martin Scorsese, penned by The Sopranos screenwriter Terrence Winter, and stars Steve Buscemi as rising gangster Enoch “Nucky” Thompson.

By the early 1920s, Atlantic City had become a popular convention destination.

The town earned it’s moniker “America’s Playground” in the decadent 1920s. Visitors to Atlantic City will have the opportunity to experience a variety of promotions in the spirit of Boardwalk Empire and in roaring 20s style.

For starters,  28 Atlantic City-area restaurants are offering “Prohibition Priced Menus” of two- or three-course meals for $19.20, and select venues will serve Boardwalk Empire-themed cocktails featuring Canadian Club Whisky.

Additional promotions and a variety of Boardwalk Empire events are planned through October. Here are the highlights:

• At 7 pm tonight head to the Circus Maximus Theatre at Caesars Atlantic City where local historians, including Vicki Gold Levi (a consultant on Boardwalk Empire), will tell stories.  RSVP.
• A free screening of Boardwalk Empire will be held at 9 pm  in the Circus Maximus Theatre at Caesars Atlantic City. RSVP.
• Hotel rooms are being offered for $19.20 at Caesar’s Atlantic City and other Harrah’s properties from September 16-30.  There is limited availability as only 1,920 rooms are being offered at this rate and the booking began in August.  Reserve at CaesarsAC.com .
• HBO/Caesar’s Atlantic City contest will give one lucky Grand Prize winner access to a suite (three days a month) for a full year. Five First Place winners will receive “Boardwalk Empire” weekend vacation packages.  Contest details.
• A free Interactive seminar with historian Allen “Boo” Pergament will be held on October 9 at 2 pm at the Atlantic City Free Public Library. The Atlantic City native will discuss his career and work as a production consultant on the HBO series.  Features photos and memorabilia showing Atlantic City in the 1920s. Event details.
• To celebrate the premiere of Boardwalk Empire, four Atlantic City casino hotels are offering “Boardwalk Empire” packages.  Package details.

Images/Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority

The races will include the racing catamaran “Miss Geico,” one of the fastest boats in the world, which travels at speeds of over 185 miles per hour.

Atlantic City Powerboat Races

Dubbed “Lightning on the Water,” the event is free to the public.  The four-mile course starts just north of the Trump Taj Mahal in the vicinity of Delaware Avenue, then travels south to Albany Avenue and back.

Today, race events are being held from 10 AM to 5 PM at the Powerboat Race Dry Pits A-Lot at Trump Marina Hotel and Casino adjacent to the Frank S. Farley State Marina. Visitors can view over 50 race boats up close, including Miss Geico, as well as meet the drivers.  They can also enter a sweepstakes to win a ride on Miss Geico’s pace boat “The Caveman.”

After reading Jane Goodall’s Harvest for Hope:  A Guide to Mindful Eating and Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire:  A Plant’s-Eye View of the World, I thought seriously about my diet and decided it’s time to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.  I also decided to shop for them locally. The problem for visitors to the area is that you might not know where to find these markets.  To help you out, I’ve listed four Atlantic County farmers’ markets below, one right in the heart of Atlantic City.

Buying fresh locally-grown produce is not only healthy, but healthy for the community

Atlantic City Farmers’ Market

This seasonal open air market features fresh cut flowers, fresh Jersey produce, organic herbs, local honey, pumpkins, cranberries, and more. In it’s 10th year of operation, the market offers not only produce, but jazz concerts as well (Thursdays). Located in the heart of Atlantic City, it’s easy to reach:  Just hop a jitney or take a stroll. It’s open Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 AM to 4 PM from July 8th to October 2nd.  It’s also a fun place to socialize.

Hammonton Farmers’ Market

Known as the “Blueberry Capital of the World”, Hammonton’s Italian tradition makes for an enticing market offering a variety of produce and items for Italian cooking.  Here you’ll find about 15 vendors offering eggplant, peppers, herbs and other produce, as well as delicious homemade pasta and baked goods.  Like the Atlantic City Farmers’ Market, it’s a fun place to socialize, and this one offers themed events such as Hot Latin Night and Back to School Night, as well as Harvest Fest (September 24th), which will mark the end of the season with grape stomping, live music and pumpking carving.  How fun is that? It’s open June 25th to Sept. 24th,  Fridays, 4pm – 8pm.

Jersey Fresh Farmers’ Market at Smithville

You can shop for a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables here in a unique historic setting — colonial Smithville Village.  Located in the parking lot at the Village Greene, this market takes place on Fridays from 11 AM to 3 PM. It’s open June 25th to September 26th,  Fridays, 11 am – 3 pm.

Margate Farmers’ Market

Owned and operated by Cookie Till of Steve & Cookies by the Bay in Margate, this market offers fresh, quality produce for the public as well as for her restaurant.  Here you’ll find a variety of fruits and vegetables, seafood, baked goods, coffee, honey, soap, flowers and plants. It’s open June 24th to September 2nd,  Thursdays 9am – 12:30pm.

If you love fresh produce, you might also consider visiting the Jersey Shore’s Pick-Your-Own produce farms.  It’s a fun family day out.

Images:  Top, right:  Hrushi3030/Wikimedia Commons; Above:  Melody Moser

Called a “Top 100 Event in North America” by the American Bus Association, the Cape May Food & Wine Festival, presented by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities (MAC), offers a calendar full of events.

Local chefs face each other in a test of talent, skill and speed during the Chefs Cook-off

New this year is the Harvest Wine Festival, a two-day outdoor food and wine extravaganza to be held at the Cape May Winery in North Cape May from 12 noon to 5 pm on Saturday, September 18th and Sunday, September 19th.  Food and craft vendors will sell their products and local wineries will offer samples. There will also be the Chef’s Cook-off on Sunday, September 19th at 1:30 pm, where local chefs will face each other in a test of talent, skill and speed.  Both days will feature live music, mini winery tours, lectures, demonstrations and fun activities for the kids.  Free trolley shuttles will take festival-goers from the Washington Street Mall Information Booth to the winery.  Admission is $25, including wine tastings.

In addition to the Harvest Wine Festival, you’ll find lots of other food and wine related events, such as:

• A Beer Tasting Dinner at Aleathea’s Restaurant at the Inn of Cape May
• A guided tour of Fisherman’s Wharf at the Lobster House
• Gourmet five-course Chefs’ Dine-Arounds
• Luncheons at some of Cape May’s best restaurants
• The popular People’s Choice Chowder Contest
• Seminars and classes

To learn what else is being offered at the Festival, visit the Cape May MAC website.

Images:  Cape May MAC

The Pine Barrens offer some of New Jersey’s best canoeing.  Four rivers, the Oswego, Wading, Batsto and Mullica meander through the Wharton State Forest and nearby areas.  It’s a great way to explore the forest and get away from the city for a while.

Kayak on the Oswego River

If you don’t have your own kayak or canoe, you can rent one from the following companies:

• Adams Canoe Rental
• Mick’s Canoe and Kayak  Rental
• Palace Restaurant and Outfitters

Paddling the Jersey Pine Barrens, written by Robert Parnes, is a good resource with a lot of material on the history and ecology of the rivers.  Another option is to include kayaking/canoeing in a tour of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, you’ll find a suggested itinerary in the guide Exploring New Jersey’s Pine Barrens.

Images:  Top, right – Mwanner/Wikimedia, above – Jeremiah Connelly.