Home to 25 municipalities, New Jersey’s Middlesex County is serviced by the Central Jersey Convention & Visitors Bureau and is ripe with historical sites and tours, first-rate theaters, hotels, and other venues for groups. One of the oldest counties in the state, it is where the first college football game was played in 1869, on the site of what is now the Rutgers University–New Brunswick gymnasium. It is also where, 10 years later, Thomas Edison debuted the first practical and commercially viable incandescent light bulb in his Menlo Park laboratory.
Vibe: Located in the heart of New Jersey, Middlesex County is known for its diversity, thriving arts and culture scene, and commitment to innovation. It is home to corporate giants Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squib Co., as well as Rutgers University’s New Brunswick campus. Dubbed the Hub City, New Brunswick is the most populus municipality, situated along the Raritan River and the New Jersey Turnpike.
Transportation: The county’s convenient location within a two-hour drive of New York City and Philadelphia, as well as Newark and Atlantic City, New Jersey, makes travel easy when attendees are spread throughout the Northeast. Newark Liberty International Airport is the nearest place to fly into, and both of Middlesex County’s train stations are along Amtrak’s Northeast Regional route that runs from Massachusetts to Virginia.
Hotels: Middlesex County boasts more than 50 hotels that support groups of varying sizes. Some of the most popular options for meetings include Hyatt Regency New Brunswick, with 33,000 square feet of meeting and event space; the versatile Crowne Plaza Princeton–Conference Center in Plainsboro Township, featuring a 360-seat amphitheater; The Heldrich Hotel in New Brunswick, with a 7,370-square-foot ballroom; and the more intimate Residence Inn by Marriott Woodbridge Edison/Raritan Center in Woodbridge, among others.
Venues: Beyond hotels, groups in Middlesex County can meet at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, a large outdoor amphitheater featuring state-of-the-art lighting and sound technology that accommodates up to 16,800 attendees. Bridgewater’s TD Bank Ballpark has private suites and distinctive offerings like “Ballpark BBQ,” during which large groups enjoy a 90-minute, all-you-can-eat barbecue buffet before cheering on the Somerset Patriots minor league baseball team, a Double-A affiliate of MLB’s New York Yankees, at a lively game.
Restaurants: B2 Bistro + Bar in North Brunswick is nestled on the shore of picturesque Lake Farrington, with private banquet space for up to 150 and farm-to-table cuisine. New Brunswick’s The Frog and The Peach also focuses on locally grown ingredients, with a menu that easily accommodates most dietary requirements. Two sophisticated private dining rooms can be found at Salt Seafood and Oyster Bar, also in New Brunswick.
Must-Sees & -Dos: Middlesex County’s diverse museums are impressive—the Rutgers Geology Museum in New Brunswick offers guided tours that include presentations, hands-on activities, and scavenger hunts, while the Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park in Edison shines a light on the brilliance of the inventor. In downtown New Brunswick, State Theatre New Jersey is a renovated 1921 art deco theater offering 1,750 seats, private rentals, and discounts on tickets for large groups.
