Maplewood's October Weekends Meet at the Train Station Before the Coffee Shop Does

"I just want to know when are you going to be open for drinks?"

Township Committeewoman Jane Collins-Colding asked that at the Maplewood Alcoholic Beverage Control Board meeting on September 23. "That was my question too," Committeeman Dean Dafis said. The answer from Rohit Gera, who represents the new owners of Pickett's Village Bar, was "Hopefully in a couple of weeks."

Maplewood is asking the same "when" about two places this fall. One is Pickett's on Millburn Avenue. The other is the old Nelson's automotive building at 145 Dunnell Road, which Paper Plane Coffee Co. is turning into a coffee shop and retail hall called The Terminal. Neither has a firm opening date. October's calendar is already full regardless, and most of it falls on one side of the Maplewood train station or the other. The station works as this month's weekend center a few months before the building meant to anchor it opens.

One Week, Both Sides of the Tracks

On the Village side, the Maplewood Village Alliance holds two events ten days apart. On the park side, Diwali Fest NJ fills the Memorial Park Amphitheater on the Saturday between the Alliance's Sunday Art Walk and the opening weekend of a horror play at the Burgdorff Center.

The Pink Party comes first, on Thursday evening, and it benefits breast cancer research. Kimaya Salaskar chairs it. Closing Maplewood Avenue to cars turns the Village's main block into the event space for the night.

The following weekend uses both sides of the station on back-to-back days. Diwali Fest NJ runs on Saturday afternoon with performances, activities, food and vendors. Its organizers list the amphitheater "on the Park side of the Maplewood Train Station." Akshatha Shetty, Deepak Jhalani, Mona Karim, Geetanjali Mehra and Ruchika Muchhala Gnesin are named as organizers. On Sunday the Maplewood Village Alliance's annual Art Walk and Music Fest takes over the Village streets with artists, musicians, merchants and children's activities from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Graveyard Girls plays at the Burgdorff on those same weekends. It's billed as the East Coast premiere of the theatrical horror production. Performances are October 9 to 11, 16 to 18 and 23 to 24, with added 2 p.m. matinees on October 17 and 24. That 2 p.m. matinee on the 17th starts the same hour Diwali Fest opens.

The Park Side Is About to Get a Permanent Draw

The Nelson's building is the reason the park side matters beyond this month. Nelson's ran as an automotive shop there for more than 100 years before it closed in 2024. Paper Plane, a Montclair-based coffee company, has been working toward a 7,000-square-foot Maplewood location in the building since spring 2025. Its own description is a "new gathering place to Maplewood, right by the train station, with coffee, independent shops, and room for businesses to be part of it."

The most recent concrete step came on September 29, when Paper Plane opened vendor applications for The Terminal, the retail part of the space. The numbers suggest small makers and specialty shops more than a food court:

• Long-term spaces of about 160 square feet
• Rent starting around $1,500 a month, or roughly $50 a day
• Daily vendors and pop-ups planned for later, once the space is open and the team sees how it operates
• Applications not currently accepted from food or bakery vendors, vintage clothing sellers, or jewelry businesses
• Independent retailers, makers, creative concepts and candy vendors among the categories under consideration

The excluded categories follow from who is already there. Maplewood Mercantile, a multi-vendor marketplace at the same 145 Dunnell Road address, sells vintage furniture, home goods, clothing, jewelry and art. Paper Plane posted that "our neighbors at @maplewoodmercantile are not closing, we have not bought them out, and they are not going anywhere," and its vendor guidelines say The Terminal's lineup should complement nearby businesses rather than compete with them. Independent makers interested in a stall can find the application on Paper Plane's vendor page.

As for timing, Paper Plane hopes to open by the end of the year but has no firm date. So Diwali Fest on October 17 is the park side's biggest scheduled draw this fall, and The Terminal is likely to follow it.

Pickett's, Changing Hands but Keeping Its Name

Pickett's sits at 2208 Millburn Avenue, and it is the other open question. After the liquor license was transferred and expanded at the September 23 meeting, the new owners, Seven Spirits Inc., bought the building and the business. The expanded license now covers the second floor as well.

Chef Erica Hernandez will run the kitchen, and longtime restaurateur Hugh Preece is her partner. The announcement calls the plan "a neighborhood Italian American bar with handcrafted food, an expanded wine program and the same warm welcome regulars know." Hernandez said, "We're keeping everything people love about it and bringing in the Italian American cooking I've built my career on."

The name stays. Pickett's honors Jim Pickett, the husband of founding partner Heidi Hovland. Hovland and fellow original partners Beth and Doug Sasfai, Brinton Brosius and Ashlee Anthony said they were sad to step away. Hovland wrote that "Jim would be glad to see Pickett's in their hands, and so are we."

As of the Village Green's September 25 report, "a couple of weeks" is the only timeline given, and the hours on the bar's website were posted before the sale. Check with Pickett's directly before planning a night there around the Art Walk or a Burgdorff show.

The Weekday Circuit on Springfield Avenue

The station takes the weekends. Springfield Avenue covers Mondays and October Saturdays.

1. Maplewood Farmers Market, every Monday from 2 to 7 p.m. at 1662 Springfield Avenue near the Springfield Gazebo, through November 23. The Township sponsors it, and Herminia Davila is the market manager. That leaves eight more Mondays after today, starting October 5.
2. Proof of Existence family workshops, Saturdays October 10, 17 and 24 from noon to 4 p.m. at the 1978 Maplewood Arts Center, 1978 Springfield Avenue. The pieces made there go into an exhibition described as taking place "during Halloween weekend."
3. Deep Mapping, Alex Steinberg's six-week workshop on Wednesdays from October 7 through November 11, also at the 1978 Arts Center.

The Saturday workshops on October 17 overlap with Diwali Fest and the Graveyard Girls matinee, so a family could spend the afternoon on Springfield Avenue and then head to the amphitheater, which runs until 6 p.m.

Two smaller dates are also on the calendar. The Township lists a Senior Halloween Bash on Thursday, October 29, from noon to 2 p.m. in the Main Meeting Room. On Newark Way, The Art Generators Gallery, or TAGG, opened as a pop-up gallery at 14 Newark Way with a September 4 grand opening. It planned Thursday-to-Sunday evening hours, but confirm those before you go, since they were set around the opening.

No 2026 date for the Village Halloween parade has been published yet, and the parade listings still online are from earlier years. Watch the Maplewood Village Alliance's channels for this year's details.

November Starts the Same Way

The first weekend of November follows the same pattern. On Saturday, November 7, the Maplewood Strollers present The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live shadow cast by The Cosmic Light Cabaret at the Burgdorff Center, from 7 to 10 p.m. That same weekend, November 7 and 8, Studio Tour SOMA opens studios, homes and group venues across South Orange and Maplewood from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with more than 100 artists and free admission.

When Studio Tour weekend arrives, Pickett's may well be serving Erica Hernandez's menu, and Paper Plane will be about seven weeks from its end-of-year target for the Nelson's building.

If you're weighing how changes like The Terminal and the new Pickett's affect the blocks around them, or you just want to compare notes on a street you love, The Home Collective follows these Maplewood updates closely and is always glad to talk them through. Work With Us.