After the Ragamuffin Parade, Hoboken Art Month Saves Its Biggest Weekend for Last

"Art is part of what makes Hoboken such a dynamic place to live, work and visit," James Runkle, president of the Hoboken Business Alliance Board of Trustees, said in the City of Hoboken's Art Month announcement. He said the goal was to "make creativity part of everyday life in Hoboken."

You can see that goal in the venue list for the month's last event. The 45th annual Artist Studio Tour runs November 7 and 8. Its 16 stops include two long-running studio buildings and a few galleries. They also include a coffee shop, a cafe, a grocery, a framing shop, a social club and a boutique that opened on Washington Street eight weeks before the tour. For six weeks, Art Month has put its programs inside places people already visit for coffee, groceries and drinks after work. The final weekend does the same thing on a bigger scale.

Saturday Starts on Washington Street

The first big date is Saturday, October 31. The Ragamuffin Halloween Parade starts at 2 p.m. on October 31, according to Patch's report on the city announcement. Participants line up on Washington Street between 10th and 11th Streets and march south to Fifth Street. Some earlier Halloween guides listed a later start. The 2 p.m. time comes from the city's update on October 22.

The parade route passes one of the November 7–8 tour stops. Studio & Story, a women's lifestyle boutique, held its grand opening at 629 Washington Street on September 12, Hoboken Girl reported. It is already on the city's Artist Studio Tour list. That is fast for a 45-year-old event, and it shows how open the tour is to new storefronts.

October Already Put the Art Inside the Shops

The tour's venue list follows the pattern of the whole month. This is Hoboken Art Month's third year, run by the Hoboken Business Alliance and the City's Division of Cultural Affairs. It has used businesses as its main stage.

The free business workshops ran on Tuesday nights at local shops:

• October 6: fall baking at Di Blu Bakery
• October 13: pumpkin jar painting at Ivy Mane Studio
• October 20: 21+ tie-dye at Tipsy Tie Dye
• October 27: Paint-A-Pot at Blue Skies Pottery

Stoopfest was new this year. It is a Wednesday happy-hour music series that puts regional musicians at sidewalk cafes and "streatery" spaces outside bars and restaurants. The city described it as a Hoboken version of the porch-concert model. The October lineups played at Louise & Jerry's, Onieal's, Schmitty's Snackbar, Mulligans, The Brass Rail, Finnegans and Bin 14 / Madison Bar & Grill. On October 28, Zack Alexander played Leo's Grandevous from 4 to 7 p.m., and Arthur Pawley and Lahna Deering played Guitar Bar from 5 to 7 p.m., according to Patch's Stoopfest schedule.

The studio tour uses the same approach. Its venues are mostly working businesses, with a few galleries mixed in.

The Last Ten Days, in Order

The rest of Art Month falls into one stretch:

1. Saturday, October 31, 2 p.m.: Ragamuffin Parade, Washington Street from 10th–11th south to Fifth.
2. Monday, November 2, 6–8 p.m.: Altered Book Artwork, the last free workshop with Hoboken Teaching Artist-in-Residence Eileen Ferara at the Hoboken Historical Museum. Participants turn old books into sculptural pieces about Hoboken's history with the river.
3. Wednesday, November 4: the final Stoopfest date. Check Cultural Affairs for that night's performers and venues.
4. Friday, November 6, 6–8 p.m.: the Artist Studio Tour reception at the Hoboken Historical Museum, with artist meet-and-greets and an art auction. Part of the auction proceeds goes to the museum.
5. Saturday and Sunday, November 7–8, noon–6 p.m.: the free, self-guided Artist Studio Tour. Hours may vary by venue.
6. Sunday, November 8: Art Month ends.

The city says the artist workshops and studio tours require advance registration. It sends residents to the Cultural Affairs page to pre-register.

Sixteen Stops, Many of Them on Your Errand Route

The table below lists all 16 venues the city confirmed for 2026. Most addresses come from the Hoboken Historical Museum's 2025 tour directory. Two addresses come from 2026 sources: Studio & Story's from Hoboken Girl, and Monroe Center's from the building's own directory. Treat last year's addresses as a starting point. Some stops may move.

Count the businesses in the top half of that table. A coffee shop, a cafe, a grocery, a framing shop, a boutique and a social club make up close to half the list. You can stop at Little Grocery for something you need and see an exhibition while you're there. Right Angle Framing showed a working painter's work last year. The tour does not require a separate trip to a gallery district. It runs through the shops people already use.

The Two Buildings That Hold the Studios

The businesses make the tour easy to reach. The studio buildings are what have kept it going for 45 years.

Monroe Center at 720 Monroe Street describes itself as home to more than 100 businesses. Its directory lists artist tenants and Urban Arts, which runs an after-school art program and an adult art studio. Here the tour is a walk through artists' working space.

Neumann Leathers is the tour's other studio anchor. Last year's museum directory listed artist studios there, including Project Studios and a clay studio. Back in 2021, the city proposed a plan amendment to keep the industrial-arts community in the historic buildings. The proposal included rehabilitating 70,000 square feet of arts space. Neumann Leathers is on the 2026 venue list.

On tour weekend, these two buildings show the art being made. The storefront stops show the art for sale.

Plan the Route Before the Map Comes Out

Last year, the museum said its digital map and artist directory would go online one week before the tour. If 2026 follows the same schedule, the map should appear around Halloween weekend. That is a good time to finalize a route.

Last year's addresses already suggest a few loops. Confirm each one against the new map:

• Uptown: Little Grocery at 1212 Washington and the museum at 1301 Hudson, then west to Monroe Center at 720 Monroe and Gotan at 770 Jackson.
• Downtown: Roig Gallery at 252 First Street, 503 Social Club at 503 Third Street and Right Angle Framing at 320 Washington Street, then north on Washington to Studio & Story at 629.
• Studio blocks: Barsky Gallery at 50 Harrison and its annex at 46 Newark, combined with Neumann Leathers and Project Studio's Willow Avenue clay space.

Hours can vary by venue, so check the stops you care most about before you head out. Remember that the tour requires advance registration through Cultural Affairs. The Friday reception at the museum is a good way to start. You can meet artists before seeing their studios, and part of the auction proceeds supports the museum.

The next events are already scheduled. Hoboken Pizza Fest runs Saturday, November 14, from 1 to 5 p.m., with check-in at Urban CoalHouse Pizza + Bar, 116 14th Street, from 1 to 3 p.m. The Pier One Tree Christmas pop-up opens at Pier 13, 1301 Sinatra Drive, on November 27 and runs through December 20. Art Month itself ends Sunday, November 8, at 6 p.m., when the last studios close.

The studio tour route covers a lot of Hoboken, from Washington Street storefronts to the studios in Monroe Center. JC Luxury Group follows these blocks closely and knows which ones are changing. If one of the stops gets you thinking about your next move in Hoboken, schedule your strategy call and we'll walk through it with you.