River Road Park sits where River Road meets Route 202/206 South. For the next four weeks almost every holiday event in Bedminster happens there. The Township of Bedminster's historic Jacobus Vanderveer House & Museum is in the park at 3055 River Road. Over Thanksgiving weekend it holds three days of Colonial Christmas. A week later, the Bedminster Farmers Market closes its 2026 season on the same grounds with its Holiday Market.
A short drive up Route 206, the stores people use every week are changing in a way the holiday events are not. The Hills Village Center, home to Kings and CVS, has a new owner as of this fall. Its new leases this year went to two fitness studios and a purified-water shop. A family-owned Thai restaurant is set to open there in early 2027. Farther along the highway, Advance Realty Investors has started building a second retail cluster with a leasing plan of food, fitness, medical and services.
Thanksgiving Weekend Belongs to the Vanderveer House
Colonial Christmas runs three days. Each day has its own price and schedule, so it helps to know which day you are going before you leave the house.
| Day | Hours | Admission | What's on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Nov. 27 | 5 to 7 p.m. | Free | Tree lighting, hot chocolate, hot apple cider and hot pretzels, colonial cocktail samples, a votive and candle program, the Hickory Tree Chorus, and a visit from Santa Claus |
| Saturday, Nov. 28 | 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. | $10 adults, children under 12 free | Santa and storytelling from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Willow Grove Clydesdale Ride from noon to 3 p.m., free hand-drawn silhouettes, colonial music with the Enslows from 1 to 4 p.m., holiday shopping, re-enactors including "General Knox" and "Lady Ellen," and a raffle |
| Saturday, Nov. 28, evening | 7 to 9 p.m. | $100 per person | Cocktail party with vintage cocktails from the Colonial Barkeeps, a wine pull, a silent auction and raffle, and hors d'oeuvres |
| Sunday, Nov. 29 | 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. | $10 adults, children under 12 free | Gingerbread house workshop at $45 per kit, the Hickory Tree Chorus from 2 to 4 p.m., colonial re-enactors, Santa and storytelling from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 18th-century chocolate history with samples, and a house raffle |
Friday night is the free one, and it falls the day after Thanksgiving. The tree lighting, Santa and the chorus all fit into two hours. Saturday has the most going on during the day, with the Clydesdale ride and the silhouette artist both running in the early afternoon. Sunday leans toward hands-on activities. The gingerbread kits are priced on their own, separate from admission, and the chocolate program covers the 18th-century history behind what you taste.
All of it happens in a Revolutionary War-era house owned by the township, in the middle of a township park. That makes the holiday season here a civic event more than a retail one. The park, the house and the Saturday market all have the same address.
The Market's Last Saturday Is Dec. 5
One week after Colonial Christmas, the Bedminster Farmers Market holds its Holiday Market on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at River Road Park. The township lists it as the season's closing market, so the next Saturday market at the park comes with the 2027 season.
The timing matters because the township's standing park rule says parks close for winter from Dec. 1 through March 31 unless otherwise posted. The Holiday Market falls four days into that closure period, which makes it a scheduled exception on the township calendar.
Indoors, the Clarence Dillon Public Library at 2336 Lamington Road has its Morning Book Club on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 11 a.m., and there is a registration link on the library's site.
Hills Drive Changed Hands for the Second Time in Two Years
While the park sticks to its calendar, the shopping center most people know as "where Kings is" has been sold twice since the end of 2024. NJBIZ reported in December 2024 that Longpoint Partners had bought the center and was running it under its Lena Centers brand. On Sept. 30, 2026, JLL announced that Asana Partners had acquired The Hills Village Center from Lena Centers.
The daily stops have stayed the same through both sales. The announcement names Kings Food Markets and CVS as the anchors, along with Starbucks, PNC Bank and Peapack Gladstone Bank. Kings lists its Bedminster store at 450 Hills Drive, open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day.
What has changed is the tenant mix around those anchors. ROI-NJ reported in March that Lena Centers' leasing plan for 2026 was to reposition the property and assemble a mix of service, retail and restaurant tenants.
This Year's New Leases Point Toward Appointments
ROI-NJ's report listed five deals, and the sizes it gave add up to about 9,300 square feet. Three are new leases and two are renewals:
- Fit Body Boot Camp, 3,147 square feet, new
- Stretch Zone, 1,059 square feet, new
- Purity Water, 1,004 square feet, new
- Ricciardi Brothers Paint, 3,147 square feet, extended
- Great Clips, 980 square feet, renewed
Fit Body Boot Camp alone took as much space as the paint store that has been renewing there. Its Bedminster page lists 550 Hills Drive and is taking class bookings, with a trial offer. Stretch Zone's page says "Now OPEN!" and describes the studio as being in Hills Village Center by Kings, at 438 Route 202-206. Purity Water is on the company's own list of locations, and NJBIZ covered its lease in June as part of a wider franchise expansion.
A class schedule, a stretch session, a haircut and a water refill are all things people come back for on a regular cycle. The center is adding a set of those next to the grocery store.
Ricky's Brings Its Founder Back to 400 Hills Drive
The restaurant side of the plan arrives early next year. Patch reported on Oct. 13 that Ricky's Thai & Asian Fusion is planned for 400 Hills Drive and expected to open in the first quarter of 2027. It will be the fifth Ricky's. The menu will be full Thai, plus a bigger Asian fusion menu that includes Malaysian and Chinese dishes.
The space has a history with the owner. According to Patch, founder and co-owner Ricky Chai came to the United States from Malaysia in 1988. He started his American restaurant career as catering and takeout captain at a Chinese restaurant in the same space where the new Ricky's will open. He told Patch:
"This location is where I began learning the restaurant business in America, so coming back to open a restaurant in this very same spot bearing my name means a great deal to me."
Many Somerset Hills households may already know the name. The first Ricky's opened in Hillsborough in 2004. Skillman followed in 2014, Bernardsville in 2022, and Ricky's Asian Fusion in Princeton in 2025. The Bedminster location brings a restaurant that started out locally back to the room where its founder learned the trade.
A Second Cluster Is Rising at Advance Drive
The Hills Village Center is reshaping existing storefronts. Bedminster Village Square is building new ones. NJ.com reported on Oct. 29 that Advance Realty Investors has broken ground on a four-building, 19,240-square-foot retail development at 1420 Route 206, at the traffic light where Route 206 meets Advance Drive. That is about twice the square footage covered by all five of this year's Hills Village deals put together.
The layout is meant for sitting down. Two buildings of about 5,770 square feet each will frame a central courtyard with outdoor seating, and two buildings of about 3,850 square feet each will have their own patios. MyCentralJersey reported that the site will be reachable from both directions on Route 206 and from the back off Route 202. The broader plans also include new pedestrian connections to Bedminster's trail and open-space network.
The tenant plan closely matches Hills Drive. NJ.com reports that leasing is aimed at food and beverage businesses, medical and physical therapy providers, boutique fitness and wellness concepts, and other service businesses. The space is scheduled to open in 2027. Alex Cocoziello, Advance Realty's chief investment officer, told MyCentralJersey the goal is "a walkable mixed-use environment."
The campus is not new to Bedminster. MyCentralJersey notes it was once the corporate headquarters of Research-Cottrell and Forbes Newspapers. Freshpet recently opened its 30,000-square-foot global headquarters there after moving from Secaucus, a project NJ.com says NAIOP New Jersey named its 2026 Office Deal of the Year.
For the rest of this year, Bedminster's holiday calendar still fits inside one park: the free tree lighting on Nov. 27, the open houses on Nov. 28 and 29, and the Holiday Market on Dec. 5, all at 3055 River Road. In 2027, Ricky's and the Village Square tenants will be added to the Route 206 run, which already includes Kings at 450 Hills Drive and the new studios beside it.
If you're wondering what Route 206's changes might mean for your own property, or you'd like help with a move in English, German, French or Mandarin, Gereon Wiese is glad to talk it through with you. Let's Connect.
