This Sunday, May 19, the FREE bi-annual Hoboken Arts & Music Festival will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Washington Street between Observer Highway and Seventh Street with over 300 artists, crafters, food vendors, dance troupes, DJs and live bands.

Memorial Park in Maplewood of Essex County will turn into the annual event known as Maplewoodstock again for the 20th time on July 13 and 14. This event is FREE. Complete with food venders, a beer garden and a “Kid Zone,” the schedule provides a multi-genre experience for every taste.

Summer just got louder. The Camden County 2024 Summer Parks Concert Series has been announced with concerts in three locations. The “Sunset Jazz Series” at the Camden Waterfront’s Roland Traynor River Stage will present shows every Monday at 8:00 p.m. starting June 3 with singer-songwriter-bassist Esperanza Spalding.

What other town hosts an all-summer FREE concert series? You’ve got to hand it to Woodbridge (“A Community Committed To The Arts”) and Mayor John E. McCormac. From oldies, country and classic rock to folk, jazz, Americana and worldbeat, you’ll hear it all this summer at various locations in town every Sunday through Thursday starting June 12.

Held in the historic Forest Hill section, the 2023 Newark Porch Fest will take place on Saturday September 23 (with a rain-date the following day) with live music, art, dance, food and kid-stuff. The fun takes place, indeed, on neighborhood front porches, stoops and lawns.

On August 26, The National R&B Music Society, in conjunction with the town of Atlantic City, will present FOR FREE After 7, Ray Goodman and Brown, Keith Washington, Black Ivory, Dennis Taylor and The Legendary Blue Notes featuring Sugar Bear.

Morristown swings! Outdoors! For Free! On September 22 and 23, in the downtown Morristown Green, and across the street at Pioneer’s Plaza, Louis Prima, Jr. & The Witnesses will cover such classic songs by his father, the legendary Louie Prima [1910-1978] as “Sing Sing Sing,” “Jump Jive & Wail,” “Just A Gigolo” and “Angelina The Waitress At The Pizzeria.”

Three nights a week. Every week of the summer. Outdoors. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays will be filled with free music. The Wednesday series, besides listed acts, will have opening sets by bands from the Lakehouse Music Academy. The Thursday series, featuring the Asbury Park Concert Band, in its 78th season, will perform all summer at 7:00 in the Fifth Avenue Pavilion’s bandshell.

The Camden County FREE 2023 Summer Parks Concert Series will inhabit 2,700+ acres of total greenery at Wiggins Waterfront Park in Camden, the McLaughlin Norcross Memorial Dell at Haddon Lake Park in Haddon Heights and Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, all with nationally known acts.

We have to hand it to Woodbridge Mayor John E. McCormac for instituting the best annual tradition ever in Middlesex County. How about five-nights-a-week of free concerts starting June 3 and continuing all the way to September 20. Unheard of!

Free shows are rare. But the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel will be presenting British Invasion act Herman’s Hermits and Tommy Roe on June 8. The Soundtrack of Our Lives with Deborah Rennard and Al Sapienza will open. Legendary disc jockey Cousin Brucie will host.