Tenafly This Summer: How Washington Street, Lot N, and the Red Trail Became One Weekend

The clearest sign that downtown Tenafly is having a moment this summer is not a ribbon cutting or a press release. It is a set of giant screens going up on Washington Street the same weekend a new pasta shop three blocks away hits its first busy Sunday, while a mile up Hudson Avenue, a woodland trail is being wired with faerie lights.

These are not competing draws. They are a circuit. A resident with a free Saturday in July or August can walk, drive, or bike a loop of less than two miles and hit an internationally televised sporting event, a chef-driven restaurant that opened in April, a Sunday farmers market that has anchored the same corner for years, and a nature preserve with over seven miles of trails. The point of this post is that the loop is the story. Individually these are updates. Together they are a summer.

The Weekend That Turns Washington Street Into a Fan Zone

The FIFA World Cup is spilling directly into downtown on July 18 and 19, when the Chamber of Commerce and the Borough will host a FIFA World Cup Viewing Weekend featuring giant live viewing screens, food trucks, outdoor beer garden, music, family activities, soccer inflatables, local business activations, and more. The programming is built to keep people moving between venues rather than parked in one spot.

Two pieces are worth calling out. The first is the Tenafly FIFA Passport Challenge, which encourages residents and visitors to explore and support local businesses for a chance to win prizes. It is a structural nudge to walk the retail spine on foot. The second is a competition aimed at teenagers: Bergen County teens ages 13 to 17 are invited to participate in "Tenafly's Next Sportscaster," a sports commentary competition judged by Tracy Wolfson and Noah Garden, with finalists providing live commentary during the event weekend. That is a legitimately unusual thing to have judging a local teen contest, and it is the kind of detail that separates a Tenafly summer from a generic Bergen County one.

If you have out-of-town family visiting that weekend, this is the itinerary. If you have kids playing rec soccer, the sportscaster contest is worth flagging before registration closes.

What Actually Opened on Washington Street This Spring

The retail texture of downtown has shifted enough this year that longtime residents will notice. The clearest example: Massa Pasta is now open in Tenafly at 33 Washington Street, offering a neighborhood-focused concept centered around artisan, handcrafted pasta made fresh daily. It is run by a husband-and-wife team, and the credentials behind the counter are not typical strip-mall fare. Yosif is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa, where he finished first in his class, and his background includes culinary travel across more than 25 countries, blending traditional pasta-making techniques with a modern, globally informed perspective while keeping simplicity and ingredient integrity at the forefront.

Two practical notes for locals. First, the format is hybrid: the space functions as both a casual dine-in spot and a retail pasta shop, allowing guests to enjoy meals on-site or take fresh pasta and sauces home. That means the shop solves the Wednesday-night dinner problem as well as the Saturday date-night one. Second, plan your week around the closure: Massa Pasta is currently open six days a week and closed on Tuesdays. There is also a gluten-free pasta option, which is worth knowing if you have been steering a specific family member away from Italian menus for years.

Massa Pasta sits within a short walk of the Sunday farmers market corner, which is the point. Two food-forward reasons to be on Washington Street on the same weekend is how a downtown starts feeling like a destination for its own residents again.

Sunday Mornings, Same Corner

The farmers market has not changed its footprint, and that is a feature. It runs at Washington Street and Tenafly Road, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays, May through October. The mission the organizers wrote for themselves is worth reading in full because it explains what the market is actually for: a seasonal market where farmers, local food producers and artists can gather on a weekly basis to sell fresh, local food, arts and crafts directly to our community, striving to be a safe, vital public space where people can gather and engage each other in a friendly relaxed environment, in essence, a heartbeat for our town.

A weekly market that runs from mid-spring through late fall is a rare piece of civic infrastructure. It sets a default. If you have a standing Sunday errand run, the market corner is on it. If you have a house guest, the walk from Lot N to a coffee is the low-effort morning plan.

When Downtown Ends, the Red Trail Begins

The Nature Center is not a side trip. It is the northern anchor of the same summer loop. Maintaining over seven miles of hiking trails for exercise and enjoyment, Tenafly Nature Center has so much to offer visitors, whether it's your first or one of many returns; visitors can spend all day or just a few hours exploring within the many natural areas throughout the preserve. The preserve's address is 313 Hudson Avenue, roughly a mile north of downtown.

The event that most residents underrate is Fireflies & Faeries. It runs after sunset, and it is genuinely for adults as much as children. As twilight settles over the forest, Tenafly Nature Center transforms into a glowing, storybook world; Fireflies & Faeries invites guests of all ages to wander a softly illuminated woodland trail filled with whimsical faerie houses created by local artists, following a 1/3-mile enchanted path through the preserve. Two data points on scale: last year's event sold out with over 500 attendees, and this year, with no attendance cap, organizers anticipate welcoming double the number of guests. That is a meaningful jump from a boutique event to a signature one.

If you want to participate rather than just attend, the on-ramps are already open. Educators are running Fabricating for Faeries sessions where you build your own fairy house, participants bring a base and the Nature Center provides materials, and those who want to display their creations are encouraged to enter them at Fireflies & Faeries.

For families with younger children, the camp calendar covers most of the summer. The 2026 camp season is June 22 through September 3, with each session running Monday through Friday except Week 11 which runs Monday through Thursday; full-day sessions run 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, and Pre-K and Kindergarten half-day sessions run either 9:00 am to 12:00 pm or 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Extended care exists at both ends of the day. Beforecare runs from 8 to 9 a.m. at $25 per day or $100 per week, and aftercare runs from 3 to 5 p.m. at $50 per day or $200 per week.

A smaller but delightful program worth noting for parents of preschoolers: monthly nature-story sessions where a resident animal makes a cameo. Families with children ages 3 to 7 are invited to settle in for a nature-themed story and a surprise visit from one of Tenafly Nature Center's Animal Ambassadors; each month brings a brand-new tale and a different animal friend, which might be a curious turtle, a slithery snake, a tiny owl, or an adventurous hawk.

A Practical Summer Saturday in Tenafly

If you are trying to explain to a visitor, or to yourself, why downtown Tenafly plus the preserve is one weekend rather than two errands, this is the shape of the day.

The FIFA weekend of July 18 and 19 is the compressed version of this same logic, with the screens and food trucks doing the work that the market and Massa Pasta do on a normal weekend.

Why This Summer Matters for the Town

The reason to notice all of this at once is that a downtown does not become walkable or destination-worthy in a single quarter. It happens when a market anchor, a chef-driven independent, a civic event with real production value, and a nature preserve within walking distance all show up on the same calendar. Tenafly has had the geography for a long time. This summer it also has the programming.

If you have been thinking about your own home's relationship to that geography, whether that means a first floor built for guests during festival weekends, a mudroom that handles trail dust on a Saturday morning, or a listing strategy that leans into the downtown loop rather than away from it, Stacy Esser Group is based here and thinks about these questions every day. Schedule a meeting today.