Ridgefield Park: Parade, Nature and Local History

Ridgefield Park reveals the many facets of a community: a long-standing parade, insights into local history and experiences in nature. There are also activities such as model boating, an outdoor swimming pool and community gardens. When planning your trip, it’s worth weighing up these different interests: should your stay focus primarily on local history and festive traditions, or are nature and activities the priority?

A Parade with a Long History

The Fourth of July Parade and Celebration in Ridgefield Park was established in 1894. It is the oldest continuously held parade in the United States and also the oldest in New Jersey. This makes the parade one of the community’s defining traditions. Anyone interested in local customs and their history will find a tangible reason here to see Ridgefield Park as more than just a name on the itinerary.

Another facet is the Baby and Youth Parade. Children from the Village and beyond take part on foot or ride in decorated carriages, elaborately designed floats or personally decorated bicycles. The different ways of taking part show that children themselves are part of the procession. For families interested in community events, this parade offers a distinct glimpse of local festivities.

Nature and Participation

The Ridgefield Park Nature Preserve is home to native plants and wildlife. At Quinn Overlook, visitors can take part in citizen science with the Chronolog: this collaborative photo-monitoring project invites people to document their observations with photographs. The Preserve is therefore a place both for nature and for community participation. For residents, the area is open daily from dawn to dusk.

If you want to give nature and culture different weight when planning your trip, you can consider these offerings as separate areas of interest: the Preserve is about native plants and wildlife, as well as photo monitoring at Quinn Overlook; the parades represent tradition and community participation. Which vacation rental is right for your stay also depends on which of these aspects of Ridgefield Park interests you most. The range of offerings does not provide a single standard for every traveler.

Local History and Other Activities

The Gregory Olsen Local History Room contains photographs, newspaper articles and maps about the history of Ridgefield Park. Its collections also include Ridgefield Park High School yearbooks dating back to 1919. These different materials offer a variety of ways to explore the area’s history: photographs, newspaper articles and maps tell its story through images and text, while the yearbooks provide a school-related perspective. Anyone who enjoys learning about the history of a destination can make this collection a focus of their plans.

Other local offerings also have their own distinct appeal. Overpeck County Park offers model boating at its location on Challenger Road in Ridgefield Park. The John B. Davis Municipal Pool is the Village of Ridgefield Park’s outdoor swimming pool and is located at the eastern end of Hobart Street. The McGowan and Fellowship Community Gardens have raised beds of vegetables and herbs that the public is expressly permitted to harvest. So, alongside nature and history, the experiences described here also include model boating and community gardening of vegetables and herbs.

If you’d like to compare other places as you plan your trip, you can also find Teaneck, Mahwah, Englewood, Hasbrouck Heights, Paramus, Rochelle Park, Edgewater and Lyndhurst.

For the broader travel overview: Bergen.