The weekend of Sept. 26 turned the ends of Bay Head's beach walkways into ledges. Police Capt. Robert Sherman told The Ocean Star that the nor'easter took 10 to 12 feet of dune, all of it dune that had been put in within the previous two years. The borough closed the beach entrances and the observation decks at the street ends.
That leaves the borough's fall on the other side of town, at Twilight Lake, around the Town Clock at 81 Bridge Avenue, and at the Fire House. Two of the season's gatherings send money and groceries to St. Gregory's Pantry, a volunteer food relief group on Bay Avenue in Point Pleasant Beach.
Where the beach stands after the storm
A state assessment followed the police account. Star News Group reported on Oct. 9 that an Oct. 2 executive summary from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection named Bay Head as one of only 10 shore towns with major beach or dune erosion from the storm. Inspectors recorded up to 60 inches of sloped beach erosion and "significant crossover scarping/damage between Karge St. and Johnson St."
The same day, according to a borough post quoted in that report, Bay Head leaders met to see the damage firsthand with representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bay Head Improvement Association, the DEP, FEMA and the state Office of Emergency Management. At the Oct. 5 council meeting, Mayor William Curtis said no plan had been finalized. The officials would give the borough a "template" of statistics and references to use in an aid application, and the work would be a joint effort of the DEP and the Army Corps.
The mayor described the problem at the walkways in plain terms to The Ocean Star:
"I'm going to write a letter requesting help to restore safety to the entryways to our beach. We have no fencing, and a quarter of the dune is gone."
He confirmed that a sizable drop had formed at the end of each of the beach's eleven entry points. The Oct. 9 report covers meetings and plans, not completed repairs, and it does not say whether the walkways or decks have reopened. The Bay Head Improvement Association runs the beach independently of the borough, so its updates and the borough's beach information page are the places to check before planning a walk on the sand.
The fall calendar, lake to Fire House
None of the borough's fall gatherings needs the beach. Here they are in order:
- Saturday, Oct. 17: Witches and Warlocks on Twilight Lake. A costumed paddleboard event at the corner of Twilight and Lake avenues. The two listings disagree on the start time. The Bay Head Business Association lists 10:30 a.m. to noon. The borough calendar and Ocean County Tourism both list noon. Arriving at 10:30 covers both.
- Saturday, Oct. 31: Bay Head Halloween Parade & Costume Contest. The borough lists it for 11:15 a.m., with pre-registration check-in at the corner of Mount and Lake.
- Sunday, Nov. 1: the 3rd Annual Mayor's Chili Cook-Off. Noon to 2 p.m. at 81 Bridge Avenue. Tasting and voting cost $5 or one nonperishable item.
- Nov. 28 through Jan. 1: the Gratitude Tree for Emotional Wellness. Supplies are left at the Town Clock, 81 Bridge Ave., for making ornaments to hang on the community tree.
- Friday and Saturday, Dec. 4 and 5: the 45th Annual Bay Head Christmas Walk. Friday night downtown, Saturday morning at the Fire House on Bridge Avenue.
Every event on that list falls within a few blocks of the corner of Lake Avenue and Mount Street. The paddle event uses the lake. The parade checks in a block away. The cook-off and the Gratitude Tree share the Town Clock address, and the Christmas Walk takes in the whole downtown grid.
Two events, one pantry on Bay Avenue
The two October and November events with an admission or donation built in both send it to St. Gregory's Pantry, and both run under the Bay Head Life Mayor's Wellness Campaign. The Business Association's listing for the paddle event marks it "(MWC)," and the cook-off listing names the campaign as presenter.
The pantry is not a Bay Head organization. By its own account, St. Gregory's Pantry began with food aid prepared at St. Mary's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Point Pleasant Beach. It now operates as an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) at 804 Bay Avenue in that borough. It provides temporary food relief and basic necessities. It serves about 50 families a week and roughly 10,000 individuals a year.
Its three largest days of the year are holiday distributions at Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, each serving about 300 families. That puts the Nov. 1 cook-off, with its can-or-five-dollars entry, a few weeks ahead of the Thanksgiving distribution.
The arrangement is not new. Borough council minutes from Nov. 3, 2025 group the previous year's Halloween parade, Witches and Warlocks paddle and chili cook-off together under the Mayor's Wellness Campaign. They record that those events raised money and collected seven bags of food for the pantry. This year's cook-off is the third, so the pairing of a lake costume event with a chili tasting has become a standing part of the Bay Head autumn.
The Christmas Walk closes the season downtown
The Business Association sponsors the 45th Annual Christmas Walk. It moves the giving season from the pantry to the shops. Friday, Dec. 4, runs from 5 to 9 p.m. downtown, from Bridge Avenue to Lake Avenue, Mount Street and Main Avenue. The program lists a tree lighting, photos with Santa, open houses at the shops, music, hot cocoa and light bites. A Victorian Christmas at the Museum is part of the celebration.
Saturday, Dec. 5, moves to the Bay Head Fire House on Bridge Avenue for Santa's Workshop and Santa's Trolley. It offers breakfast with Santa, a holiday workshop, trolley rides, a scavenger hunt and a museum visit. The event description says 10 a.m. to noon. The same page's calendar data shows a 3 p.m. end, so the morning window is the safer one to plan around.
The Association's notice promises open houses at "all shops" but does not list participating businesses by name.
Downtown hours between events
The shops on the Christmas Walk route are on fall schedules now. Two businesses posted updated hours in October. The rest come from undated pages, so call ahead before making the trip.
- Taylor Sam's, 58 Bridge Ave. Monday, Thursday and Friday 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. The location page was published Oct. 5, 2026.
- Theresa's South, 530 Main Ave. Dinner 5 to 9 p.m., closed Mondays starting Oct. 5. A 3% credit card surcharge took effect Oct. 1, 2026.
- Charlie's of Bay Head, 72 Bridge Ave. Lunch Monday and Wednesday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Sunday brunch 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Dinner nightly, starting at 4:30 p.m. on Sundays and 5 p.m. the rest of the week.
- Bay Head Cheese Shop & Bottles Too, 91 Bridge Ave. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It is a few doors from the Town Clock and the Nov. 1 cook-off.
- Bay Head Needlepoint, 58 Bridge Ave., entrance on Lake Avenue. Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to its homepage dated Oct. 9, 2026.
- J.McLaughlin, 84 Bridge Ave. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
- Beach House Classic Boardshop, 517 Main Ave. Describes itself as open year-round but does not post hours.
- Port Coffee Roasters, 519 Main Ave. Listed in the Business Association directory. No fall schedule is posted.
The Saturday mornings of Oct. 17 and Oct. 31 line up with Taylor Sam's weekend hours, which start at 8 a.m. Theresa's South's new Monday closing matters on the Sunday cook-off weekend only for anyone planning dinner out the next night.
Owning a home here through the off-season means keeping an eye on things like dune repairs and walkway access while the town's calendar carries on a few blocks inland. If you're weighing how a Bay Head property fits into your year once summer ends, Clayton & Clayton has watched this borough's autumns since 1930. Schedule a confidential consultation.
