Farms, attractions and neighborhoods across Philadelphia and its surrounding counties celebrate the fall season with fun-filled harvest festivals and events every year.
Visitors can enjoy quintessential autumn activities like pumpkin-picking, apple-picking, hayrides and scarecrow-making at a whole bunch of attractions, including Peddler’s Village, Shady Brook Farm and Tyler Arboretum.
Crowds eager to taste the flavors of fall can score fresh-baked apple cider doughnuts, homemade ice cream, crisp pumpkin ales and other delicious seasonal delights at events like South Street Fall PumpkinFest, Freddy’s Fallfest at Freddy Hill Farms and Harvest Weekends at Highland Orchards.
And kid-friendly fun — pony rides, cornfield mazes, pumpkin bowling and more — can be found daily throughout the season at Hellerick’s Family Farm, Linvilla Orchards and Varner Farms.
Read on for our guide to harvest festivals in and around Philadelphia for 2019.
All season long (select dates)
Peddler’s Village buzzes in the fall with exciting family-fun events and festivals, including its Scarecrows in the Village display (September 9 – October 27) and Scarecrow Festival (September 14-15), OctoberFeast (October 12-13), Apple Festival (November 2-3) and Grand Illumination Celebration (November 15) that kicks off winter holiday celebrations.
Where: Peddler's Village, 2400 Street Road, New Hope
September & October
Visitors to Varner Farms in September and October can hop on a horse-drawn wagon to a pumpkin patch for pumpkin picking daily and explore a corn maze. The picturesque, family-owned farm in Collegeville also hosts a free Candy Carnival on October 31 for Halloween, with kid-friendly activities and plenty of treats.
Where: Varner Farms, 746 S. Trappe Road, Collegeville
Saturdays & Sundays, September 7-22, 2019
Chaddsford Winery invites visitors to celebrate the year’s vintage harvest for three weeks during its Harvest Festival, featuring a pop-up Oktoberfest beer and wine garden, apple-flavored wine slushies, discounted tours of the reserve winery and delicious food truck fare.
Where: Chaddsford Winery, 632 Baltimore Pike, Chadds Ford
Saturdays & Sundays, September 7 – October 27, 2019
Pumpkin picking, apple picking, hayrides, a hay-bale maze and more attract visitors to Highland Orchards in West Chester on weekends during the fall, as do the fresh pies and apple cider doughnuts for sale at the bakery.
Where: Highland Orchards, 1000 Marshallton Thorndale Road, West Chester
The oldest Diamond District in America hosts its second annual fall festival, complete with food, drinks, entertainment, family-fun activities and high-quality jewelry shopping.
Where: Jewelers' Row, 700 block of Sansom Street
September 14 – October 31, 2019 (select dates)
FallFest at Shady Brook Farm offers a host of fun activities, like apple picking, pumpkin picking, a five-acre corn maze, pedal go-karts, an adventure course and more.
Where: Shady Brook Farm, 931 Stony Hill Road, Yardley
Crisp fall days are well-spent at the harvest festival at Hellerick’s Family Farm, an 18-acre “adventure farm” in Bucks County. More than 45 activities beckon visitors, including pick-your-own pumpkins, gourds and squashes; a five-acre corn maze; hayrides; pumpkin bowling and goat yoga.
Where: Hellerick's Family Farm, 5500 N. Easton Road, Doylestown
Linvilla Orchards invites visitors to revel in all things fall at Pumpkinland, where they can find hayrides, a straw-bale maze, apple-picking, pony rides and — naturally — lots of pumpkins.
Where: Linvilla Orchards, 137 W. Knowlton Road, Media
Manayunk celebrates all things autumn on Main Street during its MANAfest community festival. On the agenda: Pumpkin carving, face painting, live music, food vendors and shopping specials.
Where: Main Street from Shurs Lane to Green Lane
Delaware River waterfront bar and restaurant Morgan’s Pier debuts a new fall-inspired menu during its month-long Fall Fest. Special activities like karaoke, pumpkin carving, an Oktoberfest (October 5) and a massive Halloween party (October 26) round out the fun.
Where: Morgan's Pier, 221 N. Christopher Columbus Boulevard
Saturdays & Sundays, September 29 – October 28, 2019
For five weekends this fall, visitors to Milky Way Farm in Chester Springs can hitch a hayride to the farm’s expansive pumpkin patch — which produces nearly 25,000 pumpkins in a fair-weather year — and purchase pumpkins off the vine, visit young farm animals, trek through a corn maze and indulge in freshly made ice cream from Chester Springs Creamery.
Where: Milky Way Farm, 521 E. Uwchlan Avenue, Chester Springs
October 3 – November 17, 2019
Kids can play and pose for photos among pumpkins of all shapes and sizes at Longwood Gardens’ Pumpkin Playground (October 3-31). Also this fall: The attraction’s annual chrysanthemum showcase features two large-scale bamboo and natural-element displays by Akane Teshigahara, headmaster of the renowned Sogetsu School of Ikebana headquartered in Japan (October 3 – November 17).
Where: Longwood Gardens, 1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square
Every fall, the Apple Butter Frolic commemorates Mennonite heritage and Pennsylvania Dutch culture in Harleysville. An apple-sausage-and-pancake breakfast kicks off the day’s activities, which include folk-craft demonstrations, tractor and wagon rides, and farming tutorials. A variety of apple-based and Pennsylvania German foods are available for purchase, and guests can also try traditional food from Latino and Indonesian Mennonites at this year’s event.
Where: Mennonite Heritage Center, 565 Yoder Road, Harleysville
This one-day harvest festival takes place at an 18th-century grist mill in Delaware County. The event features historic demonstrations — candle making, woodworking and milling — along with pumpkin painting, hayrides and music by the Colonial Revelers. Also on tap: beer at the Colonial Tavern from Twin Lakes Brewing Company and food truck fare.
Where: Newlin Grist Mill Park, 219 Cheyney Road, Glen Mills
Saturdays & Sundays, October 5-27, 2019
Quintessential harvest-fest activities — hayrides, a cornfield maze, pumpkin painting — along with hand-dipped ice cream, apple cider donuts and fresh seasonal pies delight crowds year after year at Merrymead Farm’s annual Harvest Days.
Where: Merrymead Farm, 2222 S. Valley Forge Road, Lansdale
Freddy Hill Farms in Montgomery County goes all-out for autumn each year during Freddy’s Fallfest, where visitors can pick out pumpkins, explore a cornfield maze, watch pig races and more. The farm’s two mini-golf courses, batting cages, driving range and ice cream parlor — serving more than 30 flavors of fresh homemade ice cream — get a lot of action during Fallfest as well.
Where: Freddy Hill Farms, 1440 Sumneytown Pike, Lansdale
October 5-31, 2019
The scenery at Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill turns beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow every autumn, making it a prime location for fall celebrations. Fall Family Weekend (October 5-6) promises activities like scarecrow making, pumpkin decorating and apple sampling. Visitors can also stroll through the Scarecrow Walk (October 5-31) to view and vote on their favorite original scarecrow designs.
Where: Morris Arboretum, 100 E. Northwestern Avenue
A harvest festival inspired by the show Parks and Recreation goes down on the street outside of popular Fishtown watering hole Evil Genius Beer Company. Guests can expect plenty of the brewery’s superb beer and food, along with a “treat yo’self” ice cream station and other features that pay homage to the cult-favorite show.
Where: Evil Genius Beer Company, 1727 N. Front Street
The Cheltenham Community Harvest Festival, now in its 29th year, brings hayrides, a craft fair, inflatable amusement rides, pumpkin decorating and big find-the-needle-in-the-haystack competition to the scenic Curtis Arboretum. The event concludes with a spectacular fireworks show.
Where: Curtis Arboretum, 1250 W. Church Road, Wyncote
The seven wineries that make up the Bucks County Wine Trail throw a two-day celebration for the season’s grape harvest. Visitors can vineyard hop and sample a variety of wines as well as unfermented, fresh-pressed grape juice. Check in with each individual winery for specific hours and special events taking place each day.
Where: Various locations including Rose Bank Winery, 258 Durham Road, Newtown
During the two-day Fall Harvest Weekend, visitors at this 150-acre Bucks County farm can look forward to hayrides, a corn maze and animals galore, including chickens, goats and bunnies.
Where: Snipes Farm and Education Center, 890 West Bridge Street, Morrisville
Hayrides, scarecrow-making, plenty of kids’ activities and pumpkins bring fall to the forefront at Tyler Arboretum’s annual Pumpkin Days Celebration.
Where: Tyler Arboretum, 515 Painter Road, Media
The nation’s oldest continuously operating farmers market transforms the street just outside its doors into a corn-stalk-and-hay-bale-covered urban farm during its Harvest Festival. Guests can jump on a tractor for a hay ride around the market, enjoy fall beer at the beer garden, taste seasonal food from market vendors and listen to live music.
Where: Reading Terminal Market, 51 N. 12th Street
Franklin Square invites the whole family to a pop-up pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin and decorate it to bring home (free for children ages 10 and under). Afterward, visitors can stick around and play a spooky round of mini-golf.
Where: Franklin Square, 200 N. 6th Street
Free pumpkin decorating, a scavenger hunt, trick-or-treating and more Halloween-themed activities entertain kiddos during this neighborhood fall fest. For the adults, there’s live music, a craft show, and food and drink specials at select restaurants along East Passyunk Avenue.
Where: The Singing Fountain, S. 11th Street and E. Passyunk Avenue
Headhouse Plaza’s fall festival is a day of shopping, live music, seasonal bites and brews, straw bale maze, circus performances, horse and wagon hayrides, face painting, and trick-or-treating for children 12 and under along South Street.
Where: Headhouse Square, 176 Lombard Street
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Beer, brats and block parties all season long...