JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Between Halloween and Thanksgiving, many families in New Jersey observe a very special holiday season. It is unique to the Garden State. As NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas reports, it's an annual fall break that's come to be known as Jersey Week.
ANASTASIA TSIOULCAS, BYLINE: In New Jersey, the first full week of November isn't just about Election Day. It also marks the statewide teacher's union's annual convention in Atlantic City. All public school teachers in New Jersey get that Thursday and Friday off and so do all their students. Some districts even close for the full week, and it seems like the Garden State Parkway has an exit ramp straight into Walt Disney World.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LIVELAUGHLEM: It is 8:15 on a 9 a.m. opening. I think it might be Jersey Week. Holy shmolies (ph).
TSIOULCAS: That's a TikTok user named LiveLaughLem narrating his way through Disney World's gate last November. A Disney spokesperson told NPR they don't give out demographic information about park visitors, but she noted it's a great time of year to visit. The park is less crowded and the weather's still good. And lots of New Jersey families find great travel deals for these days, says Heather Cross. She owns VBH Travel, a travel agency based in New Jersey.
HEATHER CROSS: Obviously, Disney is full of people for Jersey Week, but I actually love pushing my clients to, like, take advantage. I have clients going to Africa, often have clients going to Europe, doing, like, Italy.
TSIOULCAS: Sarah Rothman of Maplewood, New Jersey, is one of those parents going far away.
SARAH ROTHMAN: Life's too short. We're going to pull everyone from school and do something fun.
TSIOULCAS: They had planned to go to Yosemite National Park until the shutdown. So they switched gears, and her 15-year-old son, Solomon Schaffzin, is still psyched for their trip to California.
SOLOMON SCHAFFZIN: I'm excited to go to Redwood State Parks. They still have hiking trails and really big trees.
TSIOULCAS: But not everyone is planning to relax. A couple of years ago, Liz Burke used Jersey Week as an opportunity to tour colleges with her oldest child. They're from Millburn, New Jersey.
LIZ BURKE: Because unsurprisingly, when you go on college tours during these days, half of the kids visiting are from New Jersey.
TSIOULCAS: Which can startle student tour guides.
BURKE: You know, that Jersey flavor (laughter) can be a lot for people sometimes.
TSIOULCAS: But these days off can be frustrating for working parents who need to juggle child care, even for the teachers who get the days off. Erin Meade teaches in the Westfield, New Jersey school district. She hasn't been able to attend this statewide convention.
ERIN MEADE: When I was a younger teacher, it was because I didn't have child care for the days.
TSIOULCAS: Now it's just too expensive, but that doesn't mean she's staying home this time. She and some fellow teacher friends scored a deal on a beach house following another great Garden State tradition. As New Jerseyans say, they're going down the shore.
Anastasia Tsioulcas, NPR News, New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF AMIE BLU SONG, "EVERYTHING ABOUT HER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
