Candlelight on Main Street, and the Beerfest That Pays for What Taxes Don't
"Everything that has to do with equipment and the actual response to emergencies is paid for by tax dollars," Bruce Kratz, a member of Moorestown's Relief Engine Company, told The Sun in 2022. Everything else the company does has to be paid for some other way. One of those ways is a beer festival held in the Community House on East Main Street. This year it falls on the same Saturday as the Moorestown Business Association's Candlelight Stroll.
That Saturday is November 21, 2026. Main Street is lined with luminarias from Church Street to Chester Avenue, and the town's volunteer firefighters hold their fundraiser at the Community House on East Main. Moorestown opens its holiday season with both at once. Merchants light the street, and the volunteer firehouse at the east end of that street pays for the costs a tax levy leaves out.
The two events overlap for two and a half hours. The Beerfest then runs for 90 minutes after the last luminaria goes out.
| Time | Main Street, Church St. to Chester Ave. | Community House, 16 East Main Street |
|---|---|---|
| 4:00 p.m. | Candlelight Stroll begins | |
| 5:30 p.m. | Stroll continues | Relief Beerfest doors open, 21+ |
| 8:00 p.m. | Stroll ends | Beerfest continues |
| 9:30 p.m. | Beerfest ends |
The Business Association says Main Street will stay open to traffic during the stroll. Parking on Main Street will be limited. More parking is available on the side streets, in the municipal lot next to the Moorestown Library at 111 W. 2nd Street, and behind the Main Street shops, reached from 2nd Street. That differs from some past years. In 2019, Patch reported that Mill Street was closed at Main Street for the event. This year's listing describes an open street with limited curbside parking.
The Candlelight Stroll is the Business Association's annual November event to welcome the holidays. The 2026 listing includes luminarias, seasonal offerings from shops and restaurants, a holiday pie-making contest, horse-drawn carriage rides, live music, a children's art contest and other family activities, and a visit from Santa. Outside vendor spaces are limited to sponsors. The street's own storefronts are the attraction.
The pie contest has become a fixture. In 2024, South Jersey Media reported that the Thanksgiving-themed contest was in its third straight year and was held near Pie Lady Cafe. The same coverage said a scavenger hunt and a gingerbread-house contest were new that year. Last year, the Association's 2025 contest notice listed four judging categories and asked for entries by November 17: Most Nostalgic, Best New Twist on an Old Classic, Most Delicious, and Best Presentation. The 2026 rules haven't been posted on the event page yet. Bakers using last year's categories as a guide should check with the Association before the date gets close.
The carriage rides are the part of the stroll that connects its two ends. In 2019, Patch placed the horse-drawn rides at Main and High streets, on a route heading east along Main Street toward the Community House. The 2026 pickup point hasn't been published. If the route is similar, the carriages will spend the evening heading toward the building where the firefighters' fundraiser is underway.
The Relief Beerfest returns to the Community House for its 12th year, according to the Township's calendar listing. That count matches The Sun's 2022 story, which called that year's event the eighth. The listing describes a ticketed, 21+ event that benefits Relief Engine Company on Chester Avenue and supports its all-volunteer firefighters' community programs and local initiatives.
Chester Avenue is also the eastern boundary of the Candlelight Stroll. The firehouse that benefits from the evening sits on the same street where the luminarias end.
The event site lists:
A regular adult ticket is $67.60, which includes a $2.60 fee. The site also lists two-ticket and four-ticket packs at $62.45 and $57.31, fees included. Every guest must be 21 or older and bring proper ID. According to the Township, tickets usually go on sale shortly after Labor Day, and the event has sold out in past years. By early November, tickets have been on sale for about two months. The brewery lineup for 2026 hasn't been announced.
Relief Engine Company dates to the 19th century. Local volunteers formed Moorestown Hose Company No. 2 in 1890 and incorporated it as Relief Engine Company in 1892. The Moorestown Fire Department describes itself as entirely volunteer-operated. That arrangement explains the Beerfest.
In the 2022 Sun article, Kratz described the line between what taxes cover and what the company has to raise itself:
"We need to raise funds for a number of things that we do that are not 'putting out fire'-related. We run a couple of different events that raise money and we also are always looking for opportunities to get closer to the community that we serve, and so this is the perfect opportunity."
That year, The Sun reported that Beerfest proceeds would go to three things:
The first item matters most. Kratz told The Sun that the company holds events through the year to attract and keep members, and that this "obviously keeps taxes down, because there's no paid firefighters in town." A volunteer department depends on people choosing to stay. So a ticket to a beer tasting helps fund the thing that keeps the firehouse staffed without a payroll.
The 1922 Ahrens-Fox falls in the same category. By Kratz's account, tax dollars cover equipment for emergency response, so the restoration and maintenance of an antique engine come from fundraisers like this one.
The pattern returns in December. The Moorestown Lions Club's 65th Annual Holiday Parade is set for Saturday, December 5, 2026, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. It runs along Main Street from Union Street to Chester Avenue. Another volunteer civic group fills the same street, and it ends at the same cross street.
The next day, Sunday, December 6, the Community House hosts Miracle on Main Street Holiday Village from noon to 7 p.m. at 16 East Main Street. It includes a children's shop, an artisan market, carolers, live music, performances, and Santa. The annual tree and menorah lighting takes place on the front lawn from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Over two weekends, Main Street hosts the stroll, the firefighters' fundraiser, the parade, and the tree lighting. Each one is run by a different group: the Business Association, Relief Engine Company, the Lions Club, and the Community House. The November 21 evening is the first and the busiest, because two of those groups use the street at the same time. Strollers who reach Chester Avenue at 8 p.m. with a ticket in hand have an hour and a half left at the Community House, and the money from that ticket goes to the firehouse on Chester Avenue.
Main Street on stroll night shows Moorestown's older facades by candlelight. The blocks around it hold many of the historic homes that give the town its character. If the evening leaves you curious about one of those houses, what it would take to restore it, or what it might be worth today, Holly Garber is glad to talk it through. Begin the Conversation.
Whether you are preparing to sell, searching for your next home, planning a renovation, or exploring an investment opportunity, I welcome a confidential conversation about your goals.
