Fall is approaching! Here are 11 festivals & events in PA to add to your calendar
Celebrate the harvest season and the state’s changing foliage at these fall festivals in Pennsylvania.
Fall is festival season in the commonwealth. After all, what better way to welcome the colorful leaves and crisp air than by taking in comfort food, live music, and exciting activities at fall festivals in Pennsylvania? We’ve highlighted 11 of our favorite fall festivals across the state, from the spookiest of events to classic fall foliage celebrations. Whether you visit a small community festival or travel to the big city for a fall fête, attending one of these festivals is a great way to greet autumn.
Phantom Fall Fest–Pittsburgh (Allegheny County)
Dates: September 12 – November 1, 2025
Phantom Fall Fest is held each spooky season at Pittsburgh’s own amusement park, Kennywood. The festival used to be called “Fright Nights” (and is still called Fright Nights by some), but the rebrand emphasizes that the park is now open during the day on fall weekends, with family-friendly activities during daylight hours and traditional scares at night. Classic Kennywood rides like Phantom’s Revenge and the Jack Rabbit are open during the day and at night, surrounded by fall treats for purchase. When the sun goes down, the park also opens six signature haunted houses, like the pitch-black Dark Shadows and the creepy-puppet-inspired Detached, included with the price of admission. Ticket prices vary, but one-day passes start at around $38 (with potential discounted tickets before Labor Day).
Bedford Fall Foliage Festival–Bedford (Bedford County)
Dates: October 4-5 and October 11-12, 2025
This fall, tens of thousands of people will make their way to historic downtown Bedford to enjoy the Bedford Fall Foliage Festival, two weekends of fun set against a backdrop of stunning fall colors in the foothills of the Alleghenies. This year, the festival celebrates its 61st year! Each festival weekend, Bedford’s streets will be lined with more than 400 vendors selling art, crafts, furniture, comfort food, sweet treats, and more. Festival goers also come for live entertainment, including music, dancing, and comedy shows; an antique car parade; and kids’ activities like scarecrow making.
Fall Harvest Fair and Early American Craft Show–Schaefferstown (Lebanon County)
Dates: September 13-14, 2025
Historic Schaefferstown hosts its Fall Harvest Fair and Early American Craft Show in September at Alexander Schaeffer Farm, a historic house museum. The house dates back to the 1700s, and the fair will lean into early American traditions, featuring exhibits of antique farm machinery, demonstrations including open hearth cooking, and live music from colonial-inspired tavern musicians: Forbes Road Frolic and folk singers the Holt Twins. According to the organizers, this year the fair will focus on beekeeping and pollination, with a featured guest speaker on the topic. Visitors can shop folk art at the craft fair, as well as a farmer’s market on site. Admission to the fair is $8 for those 12 and older.
National Apple Harvest Festival–Biglerville (Adams County)
Dates: October 4-5 and October 11-12, 2025
Biglerville, one of Pennsylvania’s top apple-producing towns, is home to the National Apple Harvest Festival, which has been drawing crowds of apple lovers for more than 50 years. Visitors can tour the festival site’s orchards as well as the booths of more than 300 arts and crafts vendors while also taking in live bluegrass music, puppet shows, apple syrup-making demonstrations, and more. General admission is $10, while kids under 12 get in for free. Tickets include parking in a designated field with a shuttle ride to the festival grounds.
Fort Ligonier Days–Ligonier (Westmoreland County)
Dates: October 11-13, 2025
More than just a commemoration of the French and Indian War’s Battle of Fort Ligonier, Fort Ligonier Days is a fall festival that transforms the charming town of Ligonier into Westmoreland County’s signature autumn destination. Festival events take place in downtown Ligonier as well as at the historic fort, with activities ranging from an arts and crafts fair and live music to live battle reenactments and a 5K race. Add the spectacular fall foliage of the Laurel Highlands, a parade, and fireworks, and it’s no surprise that the festival brings out tens of thousands of people each year.
Pennsylvania State Flaming Foliage Festival–Renovo (Clinton County)
Dates: October 10-12, 2025
The Pennsylvania State Flaming Foliage Festival has celebrated fall colors in Renovo for more than 75 years. The community festival highlights the rugged beauty of fall in the Pennsylvania Wilds while also hosting an arts and crafts show, coordinating a local talent show, and crowning a Flaming Foliage Queen. Besides the official festival activities, visitors can take in views of the surrounding Appalachian Mountains set ablaze with color, plus the nearby West Branch Susquehanna River.
Jim Thorpe Fall Foliage Festival–Jim Thorpe (Carbon County)
Dates: October 4-5, October 11-12, and October 18-19, 2025
The Jim Thorpe Fall Foliage Festival runs multiple weekends in October, with craft vendors, scenic train rides, delicious food, and live entertainment in the town known as the “Switzerland of America” because of its mountain setting. Fall is the perfect time to take in the beauty of Jim Thorpe and the fall colors of the surrounding mountains while exploring the shops and small businesses of the downtown area (many of which will offer seasonal specials and festive activities). Parking is limited on festival weekends, so either take advantage of the festival’s shuttle service or get there early to ensure you can find a spot!
Fall Pumpkin Fest at Conneaut Lake Park–Conneaut Lake (Crawford County)
Dates: October 10-12, 2025
Fall Pumpkin Fest, held at Conneaut Lake Park on the shores of Conneaut Lake, is one of the biggest fall festivals in northwestern Pennsylvania. The festival has carnival rides and games, homestyle food, live music, kids’ activities, and the high point: On Saturday and Sunday, a giant pumpkin weighing more than 1,000 pounds is dropped from above, and everyone cheers when it smashes onto a vehicle below! General admission is $5, while kids under 12 are free.
Scarecrow Festival at Peddler’s Village–Lahaska (Bucks County)
Dates: September 13-14, 2025
The Scarecrow Festival at Peddler’s Village in Bucks County is a fall festival full of family fun. Whether you and your kids are making your own scarecrows, painting pumpkins, or dancing to live music, the weekend’s festivities will help your family welcome autumn. Food trucks will be on site in addition to Peddler’s Village restaurants, and you can also wander through the shops. Be sure not to miss Scarecrows in the Village—a display of more than 150 scarecrows designed by the community—which will be on view from Sept. 8 to Oct. 26, as well as during the festival.
Fall Fest–West Reading (Berks County)
Date: September 20, 2025
Several blocks of Penn Avenue in West Reading are shut down for the city’s annual Fall Fest, giving pedestrians free rein of the streets to enjoy hundreds of vendors selling food, arts and crafts, beer, and more. Now in its 19th year, the event will offer a lovely day of live music (on three stages), community fun, and fresh fall air for an estimated 25,000 visitors.
Armory Oktoberfest–Philadelphia
Dates: October 10-11, 2025
The start of fall means the start of Oktoberfest season! While Pennsylvania has many Oktoberfest celebrations to make you feel as if you’ve been transported to Munich, one of the most authentic options in Philadelphia is the Armory Oktoberfest hosted by German beer hall Brauhaus Schmitz. The celebration transforms the Armory into a Bavarian-style Oktoberfest beer tent, hosting three sessions over two days with plenty of German beer, food, and music. General admission is $25 and includes your first liter of beer. Prost (cheers)!
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.
