MANCHESTER – The Pines Fall Festival (also known as “In Our Neck of the Woods”) returned to Whiting this month and the celebration featured music, food and crafts.
This marked the second year for the event held at the Pines at Whiting Retirement Community and it showcased the fall beauty of the Pine Barrens as well as the assisted living facility/retirement facility itself.
The facility offers dining and shopping options for outgoing seniors as well as doctors and pharmacies are also conveniently close by for their care.
Residents and visitors also had the opportunity to shop and support local businesses and to start holiday shopping early. It had around 20 vendors, including Handmade with Love by Mary Lou Gilbert with Quilting, Memory Pillows and more; Craft & Carry Custom handmade for the home by MJ Torres, Hive n’ Vine local honey by Lee & James Conte; Tickled Pink Stamping with Colleen; Kristen Markevich mosaics, clocks, signs; Olive June Design Company, prints, ceramics, jewelry, and others.
Attendees also enjoyed some live music, food vendors, musical storytelling, and the local history and folklore of the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
There were demonstrations by Chef Vinnie’s Kitchen and basket weaver, Mary May. Also on hand were several local nonprofit organizations such as America’s Keswick, and the Barnegat Bay Partnership whose representatives’ shared information about their efforts to support the local community.
Members of Udder Chaos a 4-H club brought some pygmy goats and chickens. Group leader Mie Lowe who lives in the township said, “4-H is on Whitesville Road in Toms River and we’ve been doing this for 17-18 years now. It started with rabbits and now it is with goats and chickens.”
She noted that rabbits “were harder to raise even though they are little. This is our first year at this event.”
Admission was free and attendees were presented upon entry a coupon for a free slice of apple pie from Emery’s Pies in Plumsted Township. A cup of coffee, tea or hot apple cider were also served up at the table manned by staff members of the Pines at Whiting Retirement/Assisted Living Community.
Pines resident Mary Lou Gilbert was selling her patchwork bears, memory bears and quilts at the festival. She grew up in a family of seamstresses and has been sewing since she was in 7th grade.
Gilbert used to sew her own clothing and she and her dog, Benji, live in a one-bedroom with a den apartment at The Pines.
“My memory bears here were made out of my husband’s shirt after he passed. I made three bears from the left-over shirt and this is the left-over fabric and this is mine. He’s a jointed bear and you can move his legs and head,” she said.
“I started doing them about 10 years ago when I was working with hospice at Holy Redeemer in Toms River as a nurse. I started to make them for my patients. It spread like wildfire through word of mouth,” Gilbert added.
She has donated bears to nursing homes and also gifts them to her friends. Making the bears, “is my ministry for other people. Giving them a little piece of happiness or healing.”
