Monsterville 2021 kicked off on Friday, October 1st with a DIY scarecrow making fundraiser at the Merchantville Market Off Centre. Bring the kids every Friday between 5:00-9:00 p.m. to have some spooky fun at the Market! Decorate your home to win a golden broom in our annual Haunts of Monsterville contest. October 15th will feature Halloween games and creepy crafts for kids while you shop at the Market. And, Merchantville School transforms into a Haunted Movie House of Horrors on October 15th & 16th from 7:00-10:00 p.m. Are you brave enough to enter? Refreshments and raffles round out this fundraising event for the 8th Grade Class of 2022. Have you been BOOED yet? Keep an eye out - 2021 may be your year! The 2nd annual Jack O Lantern Walk will take place on Friday, October 22nd along bike path and the following week you can join in the Halloween Costume Strut during the Market. Coming soon: The Haunts of Merchantville - contest info available soon - touring maps out the week before Halloween and winners announced on November 6th. On October 30th zombies will be on the loose in Monsterville so, join in the fun at the scariest 5k run and one mile fun walk Merchantville has ever seen as runners and walkers show off their costumes around the haunted Halloween streets of Merchantville. If you aren't running stop by Grace Church's annual Fall Festival between 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Monsterville events end on Halloween, Sunday, October 31st, so, get those little trick-or-treaters ready! Get up-to-date event details on the Borough website! 

The partners behind Mexican restaurant Avocado Fiesta were featured on abc7 Local this week. They say their labor of love and family's support helped amid the pandemic. Co-owner and chef Alfredo Ramírez says, "We are passionate to cook for you. And that's why Avocado Fiesta is here for you guys." Their restaurant serves 100% authentic Mexican food and delicious pastries. "We're really passionate what we are doing here," says co-owner and baker Delia Leana. "We try to make everyone happy here and have a good ambience." Menu options include: sandwiches, salads, tacos, and popular plates such as chiles rellenos and carne asada. Be sure to save room for tres leches and tirmisu. Avocado Fiesta serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

John N. Alloway, 60 passed away on September 20, 2021. he was a life-long resident of Merchantville and is survived by his loving and devoted partner in life and business, Connie McGlynn, dear son John and his mother Elizabeth, sisters Mary Beth (Frank) Spitz, Rosemary Brooker and Regina (William) McGrail, uncle Bryan McKernan and many nieces and nephews. John was a 1979 graduate from Bishop Eustace, earned his Bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s University and was the owner of the Alloway Funeral Home. John was very active in his community, serving as a Merchantville Councilman for 12 years and a Camden County Committeeman.  He was a loyal Roman Catholic and very proud to be a Past Grand Knight of St. Peter Council #6735 and a member of the Bishop J.J. McCarthy Assembly 4th degree Knights of Columbus. Visitation on Friday Evening, Oct. 1st, 5-8 p.m. at Alloway Funeral Home, 315 E. Maple Ave., Merchantville and a Memorial Mass on Saturday, Oct. 2nd, 11:30 a.m. at St. Peter RC Church, 43 W. Maple Ave., Merchantville, NJ. Full obituary.

New Jersey's COVID-19 Vaccination Overview dashboard can be found on the NJ COVID-19 Information Hub. The dashboard is updated once daily, usually between 10:30-11:30 a.m. and the map of vaccination coverage is refreshed weekly. Current vaccination course data as of 10/2/2021 is for individuals who have received at least one dose of any vaccine and who have received a single dose from a one-dose vaccine course, e.g., the J&J vaccine, or their second dose from a two-dose course e.g. Moderna or Pfizer. Merchantville has a one dose rate of 85% age 12 and over; 81% age 18 and over; 82% age 30 and over; and, 97% age 65 and over. Merchantville's completed dose rate is 80% age 12 and over; 76% age 18 and over; 76% age 30 and over; and, 93% age 65 and over.

It’s been over a year and half since we’ve been able to say ‘the tickets are in!’ The Blue Monkey Tavern is hosting their 2021 FallFest on Saturday, October 2nd, from 5:00-9:00 p.m. Fall weather is on the way, the perfect season for having a few brews! You’re invited to the 12th Annual Fall Fest, hosted by Blue Monkey Tavern and the Niagara Fire Company. Enjoy dozens of beers, select wines, food trucks, fun and more! Tickets are $45 in advance and $50 on event day and at the door. Tickets can be purchased onsite at the Blue Monkey Tavern anytime during normal operating hours or online - https://events.beerfests.com/e/blue-monkey-fall-fest-2021. A portion of the proceeds will support Merchantville’s Niagara Fire Company and our local first responders. All attendees MUST be 21 years of age or older to enter, whether drinking or not. Must have valid state ID and ticket (printed or mobile) to be admitted. Wearing of masks are strongly encouraged!

Chase Doran Brownstein from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University and the Stamford Museum and Nature Center has described two new dinosaurs, a herbivorous hadrosaur and a carnivorous tyrannosaur, that lived in the North American paleolandmass Appalachia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, some 85 million years ago. The specimens he examined were collected in the 1970s from the Late Cretaceous Merchantville Formation in New Jersey and Delaware. The remains of the 'Merchantville tyrannosauroid' were re-examined by a team at Yale University, who also analyzed fossils of what is dubbed a new herbivorous duck-billed hadrosaur. The Merchantville Formation, named by Knapp (29) in 1895, is a geological formation - a clayey glauconite sand - in the northeastern United States whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous, around the time of the Santonian and Campanian age. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. In a study of the rocks of Cretaceous age exposed in the banks of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in 1954 described the oldest of the marine units as consisting of dark blue to black, micaceous, glauconitic silt and dark greenish-brown, micaceous, glauconitic, very fine quartz sand containing considerable admixtures of silt and clay. This unit, because of its evident similarity to the type material in New Jersey, was called Merchantville and this designation has been used since that time by the Delaware Geological Survey and others.

George O'Neill, 73, of Medford, passed away peacefully at home, on Saturday August 28, 2021, with his loving wifeand soulmate, Lynne Patrice O'Neill. He was on born February 4th, 1948 to the late Joseph and Gladys O'Neill. George attended the Merchantville school system and after high school was drafted into the US Army to fight in the Vietnam War. He received a Bronze Star medal for his distinguished service in Vietnam. George was an equestrian, an animal lover, and a Pinelands preservation advocate. Arrangements are under the care and direction of Mathis Funeral Home in Medford, NJ. Full obituary.

Alyce died on Tuesday, September 7, 2021. At the age of 95, she was one of the oldest residents of Merchantville.  Alyce’s family moved to town when she was 17, and she died, peacefully, in the same home she lived in for 78 years. Alyce is preceded in death by her sister Mildred (known as Mimi) who also was a life long Merchantville resident. In her youth, Alyce was a member of the Merchantville Playcasters which performed in the building now occupied by the Blue Monkey. She also served many years in the Clerk’s office of Merchantville and is remembered for both attention to detail and efficiency in handling the many submissions that crossed her desk. Following her retirement, Alyce lived a quiet life, spending holidays with her neighbors and adopted family, Steve and Cindy Volkert and their family members. A graveside funeral service will be held on Saturday, September 18, 2021 at 10:30 a.m. at the Lakeview Memorial Park. All are welcome Full obituary.