The New Jersey town of East Orange is looking forward to their opportunity to wear Bermuda shorts as they prepare to honour the Island with "Bermuda Weekend".

The celebration, organised by the Central Avenue Business Improvement District (CABID), will begin on August 29 with an official proclamation at the East Orange City Hall, with Culture and Social Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler attending.

The following days will see the town celebrate Bermuda with a codfish breakfast, performances by the Mt. Zion AME Church Choir, and a dance, all leading up to an annual cricket game between Bermuda and the St. Paul's Cricket Team.

In past years, the cricket game has been attended by 50 to 100 Bermudians, many of whom fly to New Jersey for the game.

Pastor at St. Paul's AME and president of CABID, Leonard Santucci, says that the connection between Bermuda and the New Jersey town has gone back almost 50 years.

"When a lot of folks were migrative, East Orange and the surrounding communities were very receiving," he said. "There is a large Bermudian population in East Orange, Orange and Newark."

Pastor Santucci, himself a Bermudian, said that he had first visited East Orange around 1973, only eight or nine years old.

"Thirty years later, I was asked to Pastor at St. Paul's, which is the largest AME church in East Orange," he said.