15+ Things to Do for Indigenous Peoples Day Weekend 2024 in Philly

Old City’s Museum of the American Revolution highlights the history, culture and revolutionary impact of Indigenous people during this annual weekend celebration. This year’s events include outdoor Lenape dance performances (free); traditional stories told by living history interpreters Kehala Smith (Tuscarora Nation, Turtle Clan) and Jordan Smith (Mohawk, Bear Clan); authentic Oneida beadwork displays (with pieces available for sale); Wampum belt crafting sessions for kids; screenings of The People of the Standing Stone; and much more. Museum tickets are required for most events.

Bartram’s Garden hosts an outdoor Indigenous Peoples Day celebration with traditional dancers, speakers, musicians, pay-as-you-go vendors, workshops, kids activities and more. The celebration is free to attend and open to the public.

Bring the littles out to Scott Arboretum to make crafts, create games using natural materials, and learn about Indigenous plants and the culture of Philly’s original founding fathers (the Lenape nation). This free drop-in event is catered toward children 3 to 12 years old.

Each year, Philadelphia and Indigenous communities from across the nation gather at Shackamaxon, also known as Penn Treaty Park, to mark five-plus centuries of Indigenous history and culture. This year’s Indigenous People’s Day Philly celebration features Indigenous and First Nations speakers, performers, and vendors from as far away as Mexico and South America. The event is pay what you wish, though suggested donations of $12 are encouraged.

Produced by the Center for Architecture and Design, the DesignPhiladelphia Festival is a multi-day event highlighting the city’s design excellence, the skills of local designers and the impact of design on everyday life. Celebrating the big 2-0 this year, the annual event continues to inspire professional designers and stylish Philadelphians with photography exhibitions, immersive multimedia installations, kid-friendly events, workshops, vendor markets and more.

The 16,000-square-foot indoor Drill Hall hosts the sixth annual Brauhaus Schmitz 23rd Street Armory Oktoberfest, a boisterous three-session Friday-and-Saturday event billed as Philly’s most authentic German fall fest. The Rittenhouse Square venue — home to the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry — is transformed into a traditional Munich festival tent with German food and beer (served in one-liter masskrüge at tables and benches imported from Bavaria) alongside a raised stage with oompah music and dancing. The best part: General admission tickets include a free first liter of beer.

Philly doesn’t revel in Pride just in June. Each October since 1990, the city has held an annual National Coming Out Day celebration event (formerly known as OutFest). Renamed OURfest (which stands for “Our Uniting Resilience Festival”) in 2022, the eventful weekend includes the second annual OURfest Parade — the nation’s first National Coming Out Day Parade — from 5th and Market streets to Broad and Locust streets. The fun continues with a festival block party in the Gayborhood featuring live performances, speeches, craft and apparel vendors, fair food, and scores of organizations offering health and wellness resources and promoting LGBTQ+ visibility.

An autumn companion to the park’s annual spring fine arts show, the Fall Rittenhouse Square Fine Craft Show showcases over 150 functional craft artisans and their master-level works in ceramics, jewelry, wood, digital art, decorative and wearable fiber, furniture, glass, photography and more. The event, which has been held in Rittenhouse Square park since 1928, is the oldest fine arts show in the nation.

The 130-year-old Reading Terminal Market public food hall celebrates the intersection of a Philly favorite food and a beloved fall staple with the inaugural Scrapple & Apple Festival, held inside the 1.7-acre Center City landmark. Attendees at the free-to-attend, pay-as-you-go feast enjoy small bites, entrees and sweet treats — crafted by the market’s merchants — themed around the flavors of scrapple, apples … or both! The family-friendly event also features live music and fun kids’ crafts.

The eighth annual OctoberFeast celebrates a full weekend of fall fun at Peddler’s Village in Lahaska, Bucks County. The free two-day German-inspired fair features ax-throwing, pony rides, a petting zoo, lawn games, pumpkin painting, food trucks and a food tent, and plenty of boutique shopping. Swing into the season with three live German brass bands, a German dance-team performance and lots of craft brews. Grab your own custom stein from the beer garden and stroll among larger-than-life scarecrows, part of the Scarecrows in the Village display.

Fall in love with Northern Liberties all over again this long weekend. The Northern Liberties Fall Festival is back with a full day of family-friendly fun. The day’s festivities take place on 3rd Street (between Brown Street and Wildey Street) and at Liberty Lands Park and include a scavenger hunt, costume parade and live music. Also, look out for pay-as-you-go treats, seasonal brews, crafters and other vendors, and more.

There’s only one chance in October to catch the greatest birds on turf live and in person. Head down to Lincoln Financial Field to watch Jalen Hurts, Jalen Carter, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and the rest of your 2024 Philadelphia Eagles take on interconference foe the Cleveland Browns with stars Deshaun Watson and Amari Cooper. And since you can’t miss a game even when the Birds are playing away from home, check out the action at your fave Philly sports bar or find a new pub you haven’t tried before.

The over-a-thousand acres of botanical garden aren’t the only draw to Longwood Gardens. One of its most stunning attractions are the Illuminated Fountain Performances, 30-minute color-lighted musical dancing water shows at the center of a magnificent five-acre fountain garden. During this special Spark Your Imagination show, watch the dancing fountains jam to the indie sounds of Coldplay, Florence + The Machine, The Cranberries and more, played over the enhanced sound system. Grab new reserved seating throughout the venue or catch the views from the brand-new tiered Conservatory Overlook.

Dates vary by event

When the air gets crisp, the hayrides and pumpkin-picking come out in full force. During Indigenous Peoples Day weekend, you can:

• pick-your-own autumnal crops, including sunflowers, apples and the aforementioned pumpkins; explore a Peanuts-themed corn maze; and get up close and personal with Shady Brook Farm’s resident barnyard animals at FallFest (through October 30, 2024)
• enjoy harvest and moonlight hayrides around Linvilla Orchards, find your way through the corn and (slightly harder) straw bale mazes, and go fishing at Pumpkinland (through November 3, 2024), or
• hit up any of the other amazing fall farm and harvest attractions in the region. You can peruse our full round-up here.

Dates vary by event

AHH! Philly takes spooky season to the next level as haunted houses, terrifying Halloween attractions and goosebumps-inducing ghost tours continue through the long weekend:

• Fright Factory: Like a nightmare right out of a Stephen King novel, the dark and cavernous basement of a 120-year-old abandoned factory is the setting for the high-scare, high-startle Fright Factory. The 25,000-square-foot space is split into three themed areas: the dystopian and derelict Industrial Nightmare; the abandoned South Side Sanatorium; and Fright Factory Unholy, a consecrated cathedral home to possessed priests and demonic entities (select dates through November 2, 2024).
• Lincoln Mill Haunted House: The lore of Lincoln Mill Haunted House is a spine-chilling tale of bodies “discovered” in a secret basement chamber after a flood, uncovering the mill’s dark past. Explore the 160-year-old abandoned Manayunk mill as you avoid the spirits of workers who were subject to torment and experimentation by twisted owner Viktor Kane a century ago. Expect scare actors, high-quality sets, special effects and animatronics, with new props, characters and sets for 2024 (select dates through November 2, 2024).
• The Valley of Fear: Located in Feasterville-Trevose, The Valley of Fear has offered Halloween frights for 34 years. The twisting Original Haunted Hayride — rated five-out-of-five “blood drops” — presents an all-new production with a redesigned trail for 2024. Then risk it all as you Escape Shipwreck Cove before exploring the evil Miles Manor Haunted House (select dates through November 2, 2024).
• Halloween Night at Eastern State Penitentiary: The cell blocks swing open after dark for Halloween Nights, transforming abandoned Eastern State Penitentiary (which once housed infamous criminals from Willie Sutton to Al Capone) into America’s largest haunted house with 15 different attractions of terror behind the walls, plus a popular beer garden (select dates through November 9, 2024).

Dates vary by event

Philly offers exciting concerts and stage performances all weekend long — every weekend. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll sing your heart out:

• La Egoísta at Philadelphia Theatre Company (October 4-20, 2024)
• Justin Timberlake at the Wells Fargo Center (October 11, 2024)
• The Rocky Horror Show at Bucks County Playhouse (October 11 – November 3, 2024)
• Parker McCollum at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion (October 12, 2024)
• Neko Case at Ardmore Music Hall (October 12, 2024)
• POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive at Arden Theatre Company (through October 13, 2024)
• Jersey Boys at Walnut Street Theatre (through November 3, 2024)

Dates vary by exhibition

Wondering what’s inside Philadelphia’s favorite museums and cultural institutions? Why not find out? These exhibitions are a great place to start:

• Alexis Duque: Los Dueños De Nada at Taller Puertorriqueño: A special solo exhibition from Alexis Duque is on display as the Colombian-born, New York City-based artist celebrates people who society tries to force to the margins through paintbrush and pencil works inspired by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano’s poem Los Nadies (through October 26, 2024).
• The Art of the Brick at The Franklin Institute: Snap to it: The Art of the Brick exhibition displays more than 100 works all made completely of LEGO by contemporary artist Nathan Sawaya — from recreations of masterworks like Van Gogh’s Starry Night to original works of LEGO sculpture, including a 20-foot-long T. rex dinosaur skeleton (through November 17, 2024).
• The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick at the Brandywine Museum of Art: Famed wood sculptor Wharton Esherick, the “Dean of American Craftsmen,” lived deep in the Chester County woods near Valley Forge National Historical Park for 40 years (now the Wharton Esherick Museum). The nearby bucolic Brandywine Museum of Art highlights works from the father of the studio furniture movement through a curated selection of early woodcut illustrations, furniture reimagined as organic sculpture and more rarely seen works (October 13, 2024 – January 19, 2025).