The winds are blowing; the air has turned crisp and Christmas music has even started blasting through intercom systems of your favorite stores. There’s no denying Thanksgiving is approaching. To help you shift into the season, read the November issue of Princeton Perspectives, Getting into the Fall Spirit: Gratitude, Giving and Change.
We kick it off with our Pulse of Princeton video, as we caught up with locals inside Marketfair. Do you relate to what gets them into the Thanksgiving spirit? You’ll have to watch and see!
We had no idea how much New Jersey was involved in the creation and many of the traditions we celebrate this time of year. Spark some memories or get enlightened yourself in the article A Look Back at Thanksgiving Across Mercer County.
As the weather chills, some embrace the shift while others wish they could head to warmer locations. That is just what a variety of species do, traveling from New Jersey to South America or Mexico. Fall Migration – It’s for the Birds! offers insight into why and how our feathered friends leave us and return, and what we could do to make it safer for them to do so.
On Thanksgiving morning, as groups gather for their annual run/walk, they are often not running away from something but towards it. The Meaning of the Annual Turkey Trot delves in the histories of three area trots, how they began and what they’ve come to represent. If you haven’t yet signed up for one, this may just be the push you needed.
Another annual fall tradition is end-of-year giving. What options are best for you? The article Charitable Giving Can Make a Meaningful Difference breaks it down into simple-to-understand terms.
As the season shifts, so do plans and expectations. This month’s Perspectives Revisited reminds us that change can present opportunity, and you may not need your heaviest parkas quite yet.
As you gather with your various communities next week, remind yourself of all you have – not what’s missing. We can always strive for more, but deep down, we each have something to be grateful for.
Lisa Jacknow spent years working in national and local news in and around New York City before moving to Princeton. Working as both a TV producer and news reporter, Lisa came to this area to focus on the local news of Mercer County at WZBN-TV. In recent years, she got immersed in the Princeton community by serving leadership roles at local schools in addition to volunteering for other local non-profits. In her free time, Lisa loves to spend time with her family, play tennis, sing and play the piano. A graduate of the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, Lisa was raised just north of Boston, Massachusetts but has lived in the tri-state area since college. She is excited to be Editor and head writer for Princeton Perspectives!
Most relate Thanksgiving to the first known holiday feast of the Pilgrims in Plymouth, MA in 1621. Their three-day harvest event was celebrated along with members of the Wampanoag tribe. While this feast was notable, tribes all around had been honoring their crops for years before Pilgrims made it famous – including native tribes right here in New Jersey. In fact, there is a lot about Thanksgiving that began in the Garden State.
But the tradition of pigskin and turkey-day was not lost altogether. One annual meet-up began locally in Hamilton in 1959, 
Another procession of sorts in the streets that has become synonymous with Thanksgiving is the Turkey Trot. The first known in Mercer County that continues today was the 
Some Turkey Trots bring together smaller communities and for nearly 20 years, Princeton’s 
Did you sign up? Pick up your bib number? Plan your warm, but breathable, attire? Next week, thousands will gather across Mercer County to take part in a Turkey Trot. Are you ready?
“I had recently moved from Kentucky, where I loved participating in a Thanksgiving morning run each year. When I couldn’t find a similar event in the Princeton area, I thought it might be a great way to bring people together—to build a little community spirit on Thanksgiving morning and do something good for others at the same time,” Rev. Jeanes recalls. “None of us could have imagined how quickly the Turkey Trot would grow, capturing the energy and enthusiasm of the wider Princeton community. The outpouring of support—from local runners, sponsors, and neighbors—has been both humbling and inspiring.”
“It’s become a tradition for a lot of families, which is fun to see,” explains Sarah Kempson, a volunteer with the Mercer County Turkey Trot Race Team. “It’s such great energy, so much fun. Families all gather in the picnic area before the start of the race, and at the end of the race. People dress up in fun festive costumes. Teams that sign up are creative and fun. Howard Alter is DJ of the race every year and Steve Shueh, another managing partner, wears a turkey costume and goes along the race and cheers people on.”
What started as a small fundraiser has truly developed into a community gathering with a run/walk component welcoming grandparents, children and everyone in between. With nearly 1,000 runners last year, it truly was a reunion. At the end of the race each year, everyone from Hopewell Wrestling – youth through alumni – gather for a group photograph.
“What is difficult to put into words is the energy that is so palpable onsite in both the pre- and post-race gathering of runners and volunteers,” says Bill Hackett, Co-Director of Trinity Turkey Trot. “It is not just a race. It is an event that changes lives – for the participants and those who benefit from the important service provided by our supported charities.”
Corporate sponsorships enable race proceeds to be donated. The more the races grow, the more they can provide. Solidifying these sponsors, arranging runner sign-ups, handing out bid numbers, coordinating with local police to secure the routes and more are often done by volunteers who have other day jobs. But, for many, it is a burden worth taking on.
“Our Turkey Trot was founded primarily as a means to fund the needs of our wrestling community. An ancillary social benefit grew naturally from that. Connecting the different eras of our wrestling community, and our township, all together on the same day, has become a treasured asset and expectation of our race.”
As we do every October, Princeton Perspectives is providing you with information about every candidate on the ballot to help you vote informed in the upcoming General Election. There is a lot at stake, as a new governor is to be chosen, the entire Assembly is up for grabs, and many county and local leadership positions are on the table.
Are you inclined to 
If you prefer to vote in person, what are your options? This year, in-person early voting begins on Saturday, October 25, 2025, and is available through Sunday, November 2, 2025. Polls will be open Monday–Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday from 10:00 a.m.to 6:00 p.m.
Susan Kanter is running for her third term on the Board of Education, looking forward to what it will bring.
It is three weeks until election day, and the biggest race on the New Jersey ticket in years. Who will succeed Phil Murphy as the next governor of the Garden State?
Our current approach to affordable housing is broken. Of course, we need affordable living options in New Jersey, but mandated housing construction in every municipality has resulted in residential overdevelopment in communities that have limited infrastructure, no mass transit, and very few, if any, low-to-moderate income job opportunities.
The current model is also gobbling up open space, chasing wildlife from its habitat, increasing pollution from more idling cars on already congested roads, leading to more local flooding from stormwater management issues, and driving up property taxes due to endless legal fees and additional local services.
That's why I support a regional approach that would allow for more local input, with an approach focused on driving population growth to transit hubs and urban centers, where self-sustaining local economies are desperately needed - including regional contribution agreements (i.e., RCAs) and quotas based on state Department of Labor statistics. The extent to which PILOTS fit into that approach would be a matter for local stakeholders to determine in the best interest of their community. I believe that approach must come via a real legislative solution - not a judge - and, if need be, a constitutional amendment.
Local infrastructure issues, like Princeton faces, are why I support impact fees on new development to ensure that when infrastructure improvements are necessitated by the development, the developer pays for it, not already overburdened taxpayers. 
I support affordable housing, but I do not support state mandates, such as the PILOT agreement to negotiate with developers to build affordable housing. I do not support using tax dollars to achieve affordable housing. I just want people to have access to affordable housing, without having the taxpayers foot the bill. I support the building of smaller houses with no impact fees (taxes on smaller houses). I support working with the local governments to change the zoning laws to allow tiny homes and RVs, so that people can have affordable housing. I do believe that the presence of affordable housing would reduce the number of people leaving New Jersey, as well as homelessness. Abandoned residential and commercial buildings could be used to house the homeless. 
The SWP campaign is not centered on a better set of proposals for how to reform capitalism it is to change which class rules. No agreements including the PILOT agreement, other laws, or policies under the capitalist profit system can solve the housing crisis and homelessness. High rents and housing shortages are no accident. Landlords put a premium on building luxury apartments — which rake in more profits — rather than affordable decent housing that workers need. Only through the struggle to end the profit system can that be changed. Workers need to fight for higher wages and a massive government-funded public works program to build affordable housing and provide jobs for those who need them. Cost-of-living adjustments in all wage, pensions and benefit contracts so that workers are protected from rising prices. 
I am committed to lowering housing costs and working with our towns to expand housing opportunities that families, seniors, veterans, and young people can actually afford. PILOTs are an important tool for towns to meet the specific needs of their communities and to help their residents afford a home there. As governor, I will work collaboratively with municipalities to help lower housing costs by crafting further incentives and tools for towns to employ and making resources available to support municipal housing programs and projects.
As governor, I will expand existing first-generation and first-time homebuyer programs to cover a larger share of homebuyers’ down payments, which will expand access to homeownership and generational wealth to more families. Making housing more affordable in our state also includes working to expand access to starter homes and accessory dwelling units that are less expensive for families and address the “missing middle.” I will work collaboratively with local governments that seek to redevelop underused and neglected properties, and to create transit-oriented development, which will expand access to affordable housing options and generate local property tax revenues.
State government also needs to improve coordination and consistency across all state departments to streamline the state permitting process for housing. This will reduce construction delays and homebuilding costs, which will lower the cost of homes for working families.
I also will work with municipalities to identify ways that we can fairly and effectively address infrastructure impacts from new housing construction, such as sewer and water systems and roadways, which create additional local burdens.
I’ll crack down on predatory investors, negligent landlords, and deceptive lenders who illegally jack up prices, collude to rig rents above market levels, don’t take care of their buildings, and discriminate in the home mortgage and rental markets.
A critical way for the state to support more housing options that are affordable for families is by ending diversions from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. This fund helps municipalities expand housing options that are affordable for families and lower costs in a way that works for their community, but the state largely uses it for other purposes right now. I’m committed to ending these diversions as governor.
I will also work with municipalities to make sure our families have access to a world-class education at the same time as they can afford to put a roof over their heads — families should not be forced to pick between the two. Central to this commitment is fully funding our schools at the state level. As governor, I will fully fund, stabilize, and modernize our school funding formula so our kids have access to programs that we know work, like high-impact tutoring and mental health services. 
Perhaps it is a story being told by the docent as you make your way through the halls; videos strategically placed throughout that bring different displays to life; or maybe it’s the pieces alone that connect with you. Everyone engages with museums differently, but all have the ability to take you back, pull you in and open your mind.