Why Ligonier is the best small town in Pa. to spend a fall day in
Visit the small town of Ligonier this fall to enjoy colorful foliage, a happening town festival, and autumnal activities like a corn maze.
There’s nothing quite like the magic of fall: colors turn, spooky season descends, and pumpkin-scented candles pop up in your house out of thin air. But the crisp and colorful tableau of fall won’t last forever, so make the most of the fall season in the small town of Ligonier, located in the Laurel Highlands in western Pa.
Roughly an hour from Pittsburgh, Ligonier is a tiny town with a lot of charm, starting in the picturesque town diamond and spreading outward toward its borders. In Ligonier this fall, you can admire changing foliage, enjoy a fall festival, and get lost in a corn maze — in short, everything you need to savor the season.
Take part in a fall festival
As the temperature drops in the fall, the festival tents rise in Pennsylvania, where communities usher in the season with fall festivals. The Ligonier community hosts a jam-packed, three-day fall festival that officially commemorates the French and Indian War’s Battle of Fort Ligonier. Against a backdrop of the autumnal Laurel Highlands, more than 100,000 people flock to the small town’s famed Fort Ligonier Days to visit hundreds of vendors, nosh on local food, and enjoy a parade. Events take place both at the reconstructed Fort Ligonier and the cute town center framed by local shops and cafes. This year, the festival takes place October 11 through October 13.
For a smaller-scale festival atmosphere, also catch the Ligonier Country Market through the end of September for fun crafts, gifts, and tastes of local treats like cider from Tattiebogle Ciderworks.
Visit Cairns Pumpkin Patch and Chad’s Corn Maze
On their Green Mead Farm, the Cairn family provides ample autumnal activities for the Ligonier community. Cairns Pumpkin Patch sells pumpkins for prospective jack-o’-lantern carvers and fall decorators every October. A separate business — but located just behind the pumpkin patch — Chad’s Corn Maze invites kids and adults to navigate walls of corn to solve a circuitous puzzle and find the way out of the maze. You can even walk the maze at night — and the cornfield is not haunted! The corn maze opens for the season in late September.
Wander The Diamond
Ligonier’s town square is known not as the square but as “The Diamond,” and it’s surrounded by fun shops and delicious local eats. It’s the perfect destination to while away a beautiful fall day. Skip Starbucks and get a fall-flavored beverage, like a caramel pumpkin pie latte, at local Abigail’s Coffeehouse. You can also search for literary treasures at Second Chapter Books or hidden and vintage treasures at On the Diamond Antiques. Then, warm up with lunch or dinner at a great local restaurant like El Vaquero Mexicano (get the apple churros) or Carol & Dave’s Roadhouse.
See fall colors on a fall hike
The best place to see Western Pennsylvania’s stunning fall colors is within the forests themselves. So, take a hike! Ligonier is near a number of Pennsylvania State Parks, like Laurel Summit State Park, Linn Run State Park, and Laurel Ridge State Park. Any of these parks will allow you to revel in the beauty of fall foliage. In Western Pa., you can expect peak fall foliage in mid- to late October — check out the Pa. fall foliage report webpage to track the fall colors in the state! The 70-mile Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail runs through Laurel Ridge State Park and north toward Laurel Summit State Park — you can, of course, hike just a portion if you’re on a day trip! And Wolf Rocks Trail, with its trailhead in Laurel Summit State Park, offers an easy, roughly 4-mile loop with a beautiful view of fall colors below.
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