The Moorestown Business Association (MBA) held its first Main Street event of 2026 last month.
Daffodil Day, brought to the MBA by event chair Melissa McGrath, included horse-drawn surrey rides, music, artisan demonstrations, family activities and seasonal merchant sales.
Having previously attended the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce’s daffodil festival, McGrath, a New Englander, thought that it could be something special for Moorestown. Since its inception years ago, it hasn’t disappointed.
This year marked the first that vice chair Diane Cairoli helped organize the festival, with a variety of art mediums – including painting, woodworking, photography, pottery and quilting – on sidewalks, porches and even inside businesses.
As a longtime Moorestown Garden Club member and supporter of Save the Environment of Moorestown, Cairoli was a good fit for the position, even though she’s not a member of the association. It’s good, said MBA President Paul Schultz, to have a diverse art scene in a community, and it helps the businesses in ways that people don’t think.
“It provides culture and it provides a destination for people to come see both from in the community and outside of the community,” Schultz said. “We had a wide array of artists from painters to sculptors to people that made pottery and different things … It lets people see all different types of art and it gives it some variety for the attendees.”
Each of MBA’s Main Street events have a different theme. Moorestown Day will be held on Saturday, June 6, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with food, vendors, sidewalk sales, entertainment and live performances.
Autumn in Moorestown will be held on Saturday, Oct. 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and include arts and crafts, live entertainment, vendors, artisan foods and craft beers.
The last event of the year is the Main Street Candlelight Stroll, set for Saturday, Nov. 21, from 4 to 8 p.m. The street will be lined with luminarias and shops and restaurants with seasonal offerings. Festivities are expected to include a holiday pie-making contest, horse-drawn carriage rides, a children’s art contest and a visit from Santa.
Schultz said he could sum up Daffodil Day in one word: vibrant.
“There was a real energy to the day,” he recalled. “You had a lot of that ‘spring’ energy. People were interacting with each other, saying hello to neighbors and friends who maybe they hadn’t seen in a while … Last year we got rained out, but this year was the complete opposite.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better day this year.”
Schultz has served as MBA president for two years. He said the organization is all about giving back to the community. If you do that and you create a good atmosphere for the residents and the local businesses, he added, it helps the township thrive.
“Support your small businesses,” he enthused. “Support all your businesses, but especially your small community businesses.”
The Moorestown Business Association kicked off the spring season with its annual Daffodil Day festival on Main Street last month.
