How much of Thanksgiving around Saddle River is still open by the weekend before? Very little. By Sunday night, November 22, the area's two prepared-dinner options have stopped taking orders, the Thanksgiving morning 5K in Upper Saddle River has already raised its fee, and the only open question is how Wednesday will fit together.
From the first week of November, that leaves about two weeks of open choices before the first deadline. What follows is the season in the order it happens, so the decisions come up while there is still time to make them.
The Countdown, Dated
The first date on the calendar comes before any deadline. On Tuesday, November 10, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Bergen County hosts a free evening talk, "The Encampment Along the Steenrapie in September 1780 and the Maturity of the Continental Army," presented by Pat Schuber, in the First Floor Multipurpose Room at One Bergen County Plaza in Hackensack. After that, the holiday's dates arrive in quick order.
| Date | What closes or opens | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, November 19 | Upper Saddle River 5K fee rises from $35 to $40 | Online at usr5k.org |
| Saturday, November 21 | Uncle Giuseppe's Thanksgiving ordering ends at 9 p.m. | Ramsey store |
| Saturday, November 21 | Ridgewood Guild's Winterfest, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Van Neste Square Park, Ridgewood |
| Sunday, November 22 | Saddle River Café Thanksgiving ordering ends | Online only |
| Wednesday, November 25 | Café pickup, market pickup and 5K bib pickup | Saddle River, Ramsey, Upper Saddle River |
| Thursday, November 26 | Upper Saddle River 5K and Glen Rock Thanksgiving Day Run, both at 9 a.m. | Cavallini Middle School; Doremus Avenue, Glen Rock |
Thursday has only one entry. Nearly everything that shapes the day falls between the 19th and the 25th.
The Weekend That Decides the Table
The two order deadlines fall on back-to-back days, and they are built for different kinds of tables.
Saddle River Café's Thanksgiving menu is a short, à la carte list for a host who is cooking some of the meal and wants the rest handled. Each dish is sized for four to six people. The menu covers starters, a choice of beef tenderloin, turkey breast or ham, sides, and desserts, with individual prices from $10 to $150. Orders are taken only online through the café's website, and the page states the cutoff plainly: "Place your order online before November 22 to secure your Thanksgiving dishes." The form lists the deadline as Sunday, November 22, 2026.
A dish for four to six works as a supplement or as a whole meal for a small household. A larger gathering will need several of them, or a different approach.
That different approach is the Ramsey store of Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace, which closes its 2026 Thanksgiving ordering a day earlier. The market's package page gives the cutoff as Saturday, November 21, by 9 p.m. Uncle Giuseppe's offers complete holiday packages for larger groups as well as à la carte items, and it is the one option of the two that delivers. Because its pages describe the package sizes differently, the safest course is to confirm the headcount with the Ramsey store when ordering.
So Saturday is the deadline for a larger table and Sunday is the deadline for a smaller or partly homemade one. Both have passed before the week of the holiday even begins.
Saturday's other appointment
The same Saturday has a reason to be out of the house. The Ridgewood Guild's Winterfest in Van Neste Square Park runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on November 21 at the park on South Walnut Street. It is free and includes live music, trackless train rides, a hayride, storytelling, a dance performance by HeART in Motion, and Santa.
The festival ends at 2 p.m., which leaves the rest of the afternoon and evening before the 9 p.m. Uncle Giuseppe's cutoff. On paper, a family can go to Winterfest and still settle the dinner order before the day is over.
Wednesday, Assembled in Sequence
All the weekend's decisions become errands on Wednesday, November 25. The three pickups that matter that day have different windows. The café's midday window and the gym's evening window never touch, and the market's all-day window covers the hours around both.
- Uncle Giuseppe's, Ramsey, from 8 a.m. Wednesday pickup runs from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., the longest window of the day. Delivery is also available on November 25 and 26, with a window chosen at ordering.
- Saddle River Café, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is the tightest window and the only pickup day the café lists. The order form names "11/25 From 11am-2pm" as the pickup time, and there is no Thursday option.
- Cavallini School gym, 5 to 8 p.m. Pre-registered runners in the Upper Saddle River 5K can pick up their shirts and bib numbers the evening before the race at the gym, 392 West Saddle River Road.
Uncle Giuseppe's runs a second pickup window on Thanksgiving morning itself, from 7 a.m. to noon. That helps a host who would rather not keep a full dinner overnight. It also falls across the hours of both local races.
Thanksgiving Morning, Two Starting Lines at Nine
The 2026 Upper Saddle River 5K Run, which the borough's announcement describes as continuing its tradition on Thanksgiving Day, starts at 9 a.m. at Cavallini Middle School, with doors open at 7:30.
The borough is explicit about how registration works. It is online only at usr5k.org, by credit card only, and there are no paper forms and no cash on site. Late entrants can register by phone on arrival, but shirts are not guaranteed for them. The fee is $35 and rises to $40 on November 19, which makes the Thursday before the holiday the first deadline of the season. Donations go to the Borough of USR / USR 5K Run, and the organizers are asking for volunteers for both Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
A few miles south, the Racefaster Thanksgiving Day Run in Glen Rock starts at the same hour. The listing gives an event window of 9 to 11 a.m. at 390 Doremus Avenue, with a Kids Fun Run at 9:45, and registration through RunSignup.
With both races starting at 9, it is one race or the other. The kids' run at 9:45 makes Glen Rock the option for a family with young children. Upper Saddle River's Wednesday-evening bib pickup means a runner there can arrive Thursday with nothing left to do but run.
The Walk After the Plates Are Cleared
Once the meal is over, the nearest long walk follows the river. Bergen County's Saddle River County Park connects its sections with a multi-use path, and the stretch to the Wild Duck Pond area is the one the county singles out. It reaches the pond from the south along what the county calls "an invigorating 2 mile stretch that hugs the river." For a shorter outing there is a car entrance on East Ridgewood Avenue.
Wild Duck Pond has an off-leash dog-park area, which helps when relatives bring a dog for the long weekend. Fishing there requires a New Jersey state license. Later in the season, the county opens Wild Duck Pond and the Glen Rock pond for ice skating when conditions allow.
Where the Calendar Picks Up Again
After Thanksgiving week the calendar goes quiet, and the next fixed dates come at the start of December, a week after the holiday.
On Friday, December 4, the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce holds its Ridgewood Tree Lighting and Downtown for the Holidays. The event runs from 6 to 9 p.m., the tree is lit at 6:45, and a new kids' hour comes first, from 5 to 6. The program includes photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, arts and crafts, face painting, a hot cocoa tasting, and fire trucks. Barbie's pink Corvette will be parked in front of Bookends on East Ridgewood Avenue.
The next afternoon, Saturday, December 5, the Ramsey Chamber's calendar lists Home for the Holidays on Island Road from 4 to 7 p.m.
For hosts who start planning in early November, the most useful dates are November 19, 21 and 22. A $35 race entry, a 9 p.m. order cutoff and a Sunday online form account for most of what is still undecided about the holiday.
At Elizabeth Broderick, we follow the local calendar the way we follow the market, one dated week at a time. If your Thanksgiving table this year includes guests getting to know the Saddle River valley, we're happy to share what we know about the season here. Explore curated Hudson Valley estates.
