For one week in December, the studios at Thompson Park in Lincroft turn into a gallery where the work is for sale. The Monmouth County Park System's Creative Arts Center Exhibit and Sale runs daily from Saturday, December 5, through Friday, December 11, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with free admission and free parking.

The Creative Arts Center is the Park System's arts building at Thompson Park, and the exhibit and sale falls in the weeks when people are shopping for holiday gifts.

More at Thompson Park in early December

The park's Visitor Center has two free evenings on the calendar in the same stretch:

  • Open Mic Poetry, Wednesday, December 2, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Readers are encouraged to register ahead, and the Park System asks that material be family friendly.
  • Christmas Remembered, Saturday, December 5, 3 to 4 p.m. A literary recital in the Visitor Center on the opening afternoon of the arts sale.

Bird watchers can join the Casual Birder walk on Tuesday, December 1, at 9 a.m., meeting at the Marlu Lake parking area. It is free, and the Park System keeps a limited number of binoculars to lend.

Elsewhere in Middletown

Two more free programs in the township fall the same month. A naturalist leads a Wondrous Winter Walk at Huber Woods Park on Wednesday, December 2, from 10 to 11:30 a.m., starting from the Environmental Center lot, and the Park System recommends sturdy footwear. On Saturday, December 12, from 1 to 2 p.m., Bayshore Waterfront Park in Port Monmouth hosts a talk on the seahorses that live along the Jersey Shore.

Getting there

Thompson Park is on Newman Springs Road (County Route 520) in the Lincroft section of Middletown, a few minutes west of Garden State Parkway Exit 109. Huber Woods Park is off Brown's Dock Road in the Locust section, and Bayshore Waterfront Park is on Port Monmouth Road along Sandy Hook Bay. Every program listed here is free, and the Park System's online calendar carries any changes.

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