Pennsylvania’s festival year starts on New Year’s morning, when thousands of Mummers in feathers and sequins strut up Broad Street, and a month later a crowd stands in a dark Jefferson County clearing waiting for a groundhog. In between and after come a flower show older than most states, ten days of free music in the shadow of Bethlehem’s blast furnaces, the world’s most famous Little League games and a Christmas season that fills three counties with lights. This is our month-by-month calendar of the best festivals in Pennsylvania, with confirmed dates where they’ve been announced, and a straight “not announced yet” where they haven’t.
Quick answer: The big five are the Mummers Parade (January 1), the Pennsylvania Farm Show (January 9-16, 2027), Groundhog Day at Gobbler’s Knob (February 2), Musikfest in Bethlehem (August 5-15, 2027) and the Little League World Series in late August. Add the Philadelphia Flower Show in March and the Christmas markets and light shows of November and December. Book rooms months ahead for Groundhog Day, Musikfest and Little League week.
Last updated September 24, 2026. Dates, prices and ticket rules were checked that day against the festivals’ and organizers’ own websites. Where a 2027 date hasn’t been announced, we say so and give the usual timing instead.
- The Kutztown Folk Festival has ended. Its final edition ran in 2024. The Eastern PA Homestead Festival, which pays homage to it, held its second year at the same fairgrounds on July 2-5, 2026.
- Musikfest 2027 is August 5-15, 2027, and the Pennsylvania Farm Show is January 9-16, 2027.
- The 2027 Philadelphia Flower Show runs March 12-21, 2027, in the 200th-anniversary year of its organizer, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
- Hershey Sweet Lights won’t return in 2026 after 20 seasons, while Hersheypark grows its Christmas Candylane.
- The 2026 semiquincentennial events are over. America’s 250th birthday year brought extra parades and fireworks; 2027 calendars are back to normal.
On this page: At a glance | Planning | January | February | March | April and May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December | Pairings | What’s changed | FAQ
The Best Festivals in Pennsylvania at a Glance
Twelve events carry the state’s calendar. Dates are the next confirmed ones as of late September 2026; where 2027 dates haven’t been announced, the dates column gives the usual timing.
| Festival | Where | Next dates | Cost | Drive from nearest hub |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mummers Parade | Philadelphia | January 1, 2027 | Free on the street; Fancy Brigade shows ticketed | In Center City |
| Pennsylvania Farm Show | Harrisburg | January 9-16, 2027 | Free admission | 10 min from downtown Harrisburg |
| Groundhog Day | Punxsutawney | Tuesday, February 2, 2027 | Free | 1½ hr from Pittsburgh |
| Philadelphia Flower Show | Philadelphia | March 12-21, 2027 | Ticketed | In Center City |
| Three Rivers Arts Festival | Pittsburgh | Early to mid June; 2027 dates not announced | Free | Downtown Pittsburgh |
| Wawa Welcome America | Philadelphia | Late June to July 4 in recent years; 2027 dates not announced | Free | Citywide |
| Musikfest | Bethlehem | August 5-15, 2027 | Free stages; paid headliners | 1¼ hr from Philadelphia |
| Little League World Series | South Williamsport | Late August; 2027 dates not announced | Free admission and parking | 1¾ hr from Harrisburg |
| Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire | Manheim | Weekends to October 25, 2026 | Tickets online only | 35 min from Harrisburg |
| Bloomsburg Fair | Bloomsburg | Through October 3, 2026; late September each year | Gate admission | 1¾ hr from Harrisburg |
| Christkindlmarkt | Bethlehem | Weekends, November 13 to December 20, 2026 | Admission; cashless | 1¼ hr from Philadelphia |
| Koziar’s Christmas Village | Bernville | November 7, 2026 to January 2, 2027 | $11-$13 standard nights | 1 hr from Harrisburg |
How we chose: every festival here draws visitors from across the state or beyond, is run by an established organizer, and has either announced its next dates or kept a steady place on the calendar for years. County fairs, church picnics and town days are the backbone of a Pennsylvania summer, and there are hundreds of them, but they are best found locally. This calendar is for the events worth planning a trip around.
How to Plan Around Pennsylvania’s Festival Calendar
The festivals themselves are the easy part. The hard part is a bed. Small towns like Punxsutawney, Bloomsburg and Williamsport host crowds many times their size, so rooms within a half hour vanish months ahead, and the nearest open hotel can be an hour away. Big-city events are easier: Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have enough rooms, but prices jump on parade and marathon weekends.
| Event | Book lodging | Tickets | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groundhog Day | As early as you can; the town is small | None needed | Park in town and ride the shuttles to the Knob |
| Little League World Series | Months ahead in Williamsport | Free admission; check for any ticketed games | Free parking; arrive early for the hill |
| Musikfest | Two to three months ahead | Only for the paid headliner stage | Shuttles and lots around Bethlehem’s two sites |
| Mummers Parade | A few weeks ahead | Fancy Brigade shows go on sale in November | SEPTA’s B line runs under Broad Street |
| Farm Show | Easy midweek | Free general admission | Weekends are the most crowded |
| Christmas markets and lights | Easy midweek | Timed or dated tickets at the popular ones | Weeknights are calmer than Saturdays |
Three rules save most festival trips. First, check the date on the organizer’s own site before you book: festivals move when fairgrounds are rebuilt or a weekend collides with a holiday. Second, carry a card. Christkindlmarkt is cashless, while the Mushroom Festival takes only cash and Venmo, so bring both. Third, watch the weather page on the day. Pennsylvania’s outdoor festivals run rain or shine, but thunderstorms close stages and the Mummers have been postponed for wind before.
Families and dogs need a little extra planning. Daytime events like the Farm Show, the Little League World Series and the Christmas light shows suit small children best, while Halloween Nights and the late Musikfest stages are for teens and adults. Many festivals ask you to leave pets at home, among them the Bedford Fall Foliage Festival, where the sidewalks are packed, so check the rules before you bring a dog. For accessibility, the indoor events (the Farm Show and the Flower Show) are the easiest, and fairgrounds and hillside venues are the hardest, with grass, gravel and long walks from parking.
January: Mummers and the Farm Show
Pennsylvania opens the year with its two most local traditions: a costumed parade that belongs only to Philadelphia and a farm fair that belongs to the whole state.
1. Mummers Parade
Free on the street; New Year’s Day. Nothing else in America looks like it. Clubs of Comics, Wenches, Fancies, String Bands and Fancy Brigades spend the whole year building costumes and routines, then strut, play and dance through Center City on January 1. Visit Philadelphia describes a route of about 1.5 miles that starts near 17th and Market, passes City Hall and runs south on Broad Street to Washington Avenue, with performance spots on Broad at Sansom, Pine and Carpenter streets. The String Bands are the sound of the day. The Fancy Brigades are the spectacle, and they perform indoors at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which is ticketed. Tickets for the 2027 Brigade shows go on sale in November, the sale date is announced in October, and there’s no waitlist. Wind and weather have pushed the parade to another day before, so check the morning of. When the judging is done, the party traditionally moves to Two Street, 2nd Street in South Philadelphia, where the clubs have their halls and the celebrating goes on well into the night.
Plan it: Broad Street, Center City Philadelphia. SEPTA’s B line (the Broad Street Line) runs underneath the route. Free to watch; Fancy Brigade tickets through the Philadelphia Visitor Center. Dress for standing still in January. Allow most of the day. Best for: anyone who likes noise, glitter and cold coffee. For the rest of the city, see our guide to things to do in Philadelphia.
2. Pennsylvania Farm Show
Free admission; January 9-16, 2027. Every January the state brings its farms indoors in Harrisburg: cattle, sheep, rabbits and poultry in the barns, tractors and sheep-to-shawl contests in the arenas, a rodeo that hosts the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s Frontier Circuit Finals, and a food court that is the real reason half the crowd comes. Order a milkshake from the dairy stand and a potato doughnut, then go see the butter sculpture, carved from about 1,000 pounds of butter in recent years and unveiled before the show opens. It’s one of the best free days out in the state, and midweek mornings are the time to go if you want to see the animals without a crowd.
Plan it: Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, 2300 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg. About 10 minutes from downtown Harrisburg, 2 hours from Philadelphia and 3½ from Pittsburgh. General admission is free; some events are ticketed. On the January 8 preview day only the Expo Hall food court opens (noon-9pm), with free parking that day; check the Farm Show’s plan-your-visit page for show-day parking and the daily schedule. Allow half a day. Best for: families, food lovers.
February: Groundhog Day
February belongs to one small town and one very famous rodent. The rest of the state hibernates, or goes skiing.
3. Groundhog Day at Gobbler’s Knob
Free; Tuesday, February 2, 2027, at dawn. In the dark before sunrise, thousands of people pack a wooded clearing outside Punxsutawney for music, fireworks and a countdown, and then the top-hatted Inner Circle pulls Punxsutawney Phil from his stump and announces whether he saw his shadow. It’s absurd, and it’s wonderful. Groundhog Day 2026 was the first with Phil’s new habitat, which the organizers call the zoo, at Gobbler’s Knob; he now splits his time between the Knob and his longtime home beside the town library. Alcohol is no longer allowed at the Knob.
The ceremony is only the peak of a week of events in town, and Phil is easier to see the rest of the year than most visitors realize: when he isn’t at the Knob, he lives in his burrow beside the Punxsutawney Memorial Library, where you can see him through the window. If you can’t face a middle-of-the-night start, come another day and see him there, then eat breakfast in town. If you can, the atmosphere in the clearing at dawn, cold and loud and a little ridiculous, is the whole point.
Plan it: Gobbler’s Knob, Punxsutawney (Jefferson County). About 1½ hours from Pittsburgh, 3 from Harrisburg and 4¾ from Philadelphia. Free. Most visitors park in town and ride the shuttle buses up to the Knob, or walk. Book a room as early as you can, because Punxsutawney’s are gone months ahead; look in DuBois, Brookville or Indiana if they are. Dress for standing in the snow for hours. Best for: bucket-listers, families with hardy kids.
March: The Flower Show and St. Patrick’s Day
March is the month the state shakes off winter. Scranton, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia all hold big St. Patrick’s Day parades, usually on the weekend before March 17, and Philadelphia hosts the country’s most famous flower show.
4. Philadelphia Flower Show
Ticketed; March 12-21, 2027. First held in 1829, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s show fills the Pennsylvania Convention Center with whole gardens, floral sculptures and competitive displays, and walking in out of a gray March day is the point. 2027 is PHS’s 200th anniversary, so expect the society to go big; check the society’s site for the 2027 theme and ticket prices. The show opens with a Members’ Preview on March 12. Weekday mornings are the least crowded; weekends and evenings are busy. Buy tickets ahead rather than at the door, wear comfortable shoes for the concrete floors, and leave your coat in the car or check it, because the halls are warm.
Plan it: Pennsylvania Convention Center, Center City Philadelphia; SEPTA’s Jefferson Station is next door. Buy tickets ahead through PHS. Allow 3-4 hours. Best for: gardeners, anyone tired of winter.
April and May: Relays and a Quiet Spring
Spring is the calm before the season. April has one great sporting festival; May is mostly local fairs, garden weekends and the first outdoor concerts, and a good month to visit the parks and waterfalls before the summer crowds.
5. Penn Relays
Ticketed; late April. Held at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field since 1895, the Penn Relays pack high school, college and professional runners into three days of relay races, and the crowd, with big contingents cheering Jamaican high school teams, makes it feel like a festival as much as a track meet. The 2026 edition ran April 23-25; the 2027 dates hadn’t been posted in September 2026, but the meet traditionally falls on the last full weekend of April.
Plan it: Franklin Field, University City, Philadelphia. SEPTA’s L line to 34th Street, or a walk from 30th Street Station. Check pennrelays.com for 2027 dates and tickets. Allow a day. Best for: sports fans, families of runners.
June: Arts, Racing and the Run-Up to the Fourth
June is when Pennsylvania moves outdoors: Pittsburgh’s arts festival downtown, NASCAR in the Poconos and Philadelphia’s two-week build-up to the Fourth of July.
6. Three Rivers Arts Festival
Free; early to mid June. For about ten days in June, downtown Pittsburgh fills with an artist market, public art, performances and nightly concerts. The 2026 festival ran evening headliners on the Dollar Bank Stage from June 11 to 14, and Visit Pittsburgh describes 400-plus artists and musicians and free admission. It’s the easiest festival in the state to stumble into: you can walk it from any downtown hotel, and the big installations, like 2023’s giant inflatable hands, are half the fun.
Plan it: Downtown Pittsburgh around Point State Park. Free. The 2027 dates hadn’t been announced in September 2026; check the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s festival site in spring. Allow an afternoon and an evening. Best for: families, art buyers, a Pittsburgh weekend.
7. NASCAR at Pocono Raceway
Ticketed; June. Pocono Raceway, the “Tricky Triangle” in Long Pond, now has one NASCAR Cup race a year, in June. In 2026 it was the Great American Getaway 400 on June 14, the finale of a June 12-14 tripleheader weekend. Camping at the track is a big part of the culture, and race-weekend traffic on the roads into the Poconos is heavy, so arrive early or stay close.
Plan it: Pocono Raceway, Long Pond (Monroe County). About 1¾ hours from Philadelphia and 2 from Harrisburg. Tickets and camping through the raceway; check the raceway for the 2027 date. Allow the weekend. Best for: race fans, campers.
8. Wawa Welcome America
Free; late June to July 4. Philadelphia turns the Fourth of July into a festival of free concerts, museum days, neighborhood events and fireworks that runs for about two weeks in recent years and ends with a big concert and fireworks on July 4. The organizers call the events “always fun and always free.” The 2026 edition, for the country’s 250th birthday, is over, and 2027 dates weren’t posted in September 2026.
Plan it: Citywide, Philadelphia, with the July 4 finale on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Free. Book hotels early for July 4 week. Details at welcomeamerica.com. Best for: families, history fans.
July: Arts Fest and a New Folk Festival
July is peak summer and the calendar thins out after the Fourth, which makes the two big festivals of the month easier to enjoy.
9. Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts
Free to walk; July 7-11, 2027. State College’s Arts Fest takes over downtown and the edge of the Penn State campus with a juried sidewalk sale of artists’ work, stages of music and a children’s day, in the quiet weeks when most students are gone. In 2026 the Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition ran July 9-12. The 2027 dates are already set: July 7-11, 2027. It’s the rare big festival in a college town that doesn’t collide with a football weekend.
Plan it: Downtown State College (Centre County). About 1½ hours from Harrisburg, 2½ from Pittsburgh and 3¼ from Philadelphia. Free to walk; see arts-festival.com, which updates its details by June 1, 2027. Allow a day. Best for: art buyers, a Penn State summer visit.
10. Eastern PA Homestead Festival
Tickets online and at the gate; early July. For 74 years, the Kutztown Folk Festival was Pennsylvania’s best-known celebration of Pennsylvania Dutch culture: quilts by the thousand, crafts, food and music at the Kutztown Fairgrounds. Its final edition ran in 2024. The Eastern PA Homestead Festival, which pays homage to it, has taken over the fairgrounds in early July, with crafts, demonstrations, food and competitions. Its second year ran July 2-5, 2026, from 9am to 6pm (9pm on the Fourth). It isn’t the old festival, and it doesn’t pretend to be, but it’s the closest thing left.
Plan it: Kutztown Fairgrounds, 450 Wentz Street, Kutztown (Berks County). About 1¼ hours from Philadelphia or Harrisburg. Tickets online and at the gate through easternpahomesteadfestival.com; 2027 dates not announced yet. Allow a day. Best for: craft lovers, families.
August: Musikfest, Little League and the Faire
August is the state’s busiest festival month, and the one where planning ahead matters most. Musikfest, the Philadelphia Folk Festival and the Little League World Series fall within weeks of each other, and the Renaissance Faire opens mid-month.
11. Musikfest
Free stages, paid headliners; August 5-15, 2027. For ten days and more every August, ArtsQuest turns Bethlehem into one giant music festival: hundreds of free shows on stages along historic Main Street and around SteelStacks, the arts campus built in the shadow of Bethlehem Steel’s rusted blast furnaces, plus paid headliner concerts on the Wind Creek Steel Stage. Most people never buy a ticket. They wander from stage to stage, eat, and find a band they’ve never heard of. The 2027 dates are August 5-15, 2027.
Plan it: Historic Main Street and SteelStacks, Bethlehem (Northampton and Lehigh counties). About 1¼ hours from Philadelphia and 1½ from Harrisburg. Free stages; headliner tickets through ArtsQuest. Book rooms two to three months ahead. Allow a day or a weekend. Best for: music fans, food lovers.
12. Philadelphia Folk Festival
Ticketed; mid-August. One of the longest-running folk festivals in North America, running since 1962, the Philly Folk Fest isn’t in Philadelphia at all: it’s on the Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford Township, Montgomery County, where thousands camp for the weekend. The 2026 festival ran August 14-16, with a lineup that stretched from bluegrass and zydeco to singer-songwriters. The campground culture is the heart of it; day tickets get you the music, and camping gets you the late-night jam sessions.
Plan it: Old Pool Farm, Upper Salford Township (Montgomery County). About 45 minutes from Philadelphia. Tickets and camping through folkfest.org; 2027 dates not announced yet. Allow a day or the weekend. Best for: music lovers who don’t mind mud.
13. Little League World Series
Free admission and parking; late August. The best free sports event in the country. Teams of 12-year-olds from around the world play at the Little League International Complex in South Williamsport, in Howard J. Lamade Stadium and Volunteer Stadium, while families picnic on the grass hill beyond the outfield and trade collectible pins. The 2026 series ran August 19-30, and admission and parking were free. The 2027 dates hadn’t been announced in September 2026. Go on a weekday early in the tournament for the best seats and the most games.
Plan it: Little League International Complex, South Williamsport (Lycoming County). About 1¾ hours from Harrisburg, 3 from Philadelphia and 3½ from Pittsburgh. Free admission and parking. Book lodging in Williamsport months ahead, or stay in Lewisburg or Lock Haven. Bring a blanket for the hill and sunscreen. Best for: families, baseball fans.
14. Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire
Tickets online only; weekends to October 25, 2026. On the grounds of Mount Hope Estate and Winery near Manheim, the Faire runs Saturdays and Sundays from mid-August through late October, with jousting, stage shows, costumed characters and a different theme each weekend. Costumes are encouraged, and many of the crowd take the invitation seriously. The 2026 season runs August 15 to October 25, 11am to 8pm. Tickets are sold online only, not at the gate.
Plan it: Mount Hope Estate and Winery, near Manheim (Lancaster County), off the Turnpike. About 35 minutes from Harrisburg and 1½ hours from Philadelphia. Buy tickets online before you go. Allow a full day. Best for: families, cosplayers, anyone who likes a turkey leg.
September: Mushrooms and the Big Fair
After Labor Day the fairs take over, and the weather is the best of the year for standing outdoors.
15. The Mushroom Festival
$5 entry; the weekend after Labor Day. Kennett Square calls itself the mushroom capital of the world, and once a year it throws a two-day street festival about it: mushroom cooking contests, farm displays, a culinary stage and food stands serving everything from fried mushrooms to mushroom soup. It’s always the weekend after Labor Day, and the 2027 dates are already set: September 11-12, 2027, Saturday 10am-6pm and Sunday 9am-4pm. Entry is $5 a person, and vendors take cash and Venmo only.
Plan it: Downtown Kennett Square (Chester County). About 45 minutes from Philadelphia and 1½ hours from Harrisburg. Details at mushroomfestival.org. Pair it with Longwood Gardens, a few minutes away. Allow half a day. Best for: food lovers.
16. Bloomsburg Fair
Gate admission; late September into early October. Pennsylvania’s big agricultural fair runs nine days at the fairgrounds in Bloomsburg: livestock barns, a midway, grandstand concerts, motorsports and fair food in every direction. The 2026 fair runs September 25 through October 3, with advance tickets sold at a discount, and the fairgrounds host a Winterfest on November 27 and 28, 2026. Weekdays are calmer; the grandstand shows sell separately.
Plan it: Bloomsburg Fairgrounds, Bloomsburg (Columbia County). About 1¾ hours from Harrisburg and 2¼ from Philadelphia. Tickets through bloomsburgfair.com. Book rooms early, or stay in Danville or Hazleton. Allow a day. Best for: families, fair food fans.
October: Fall Festivals and Haunts
October belongs to the fall festivals: apple harvests, craft fairs and foliage weekends in towns across the state, with the Renaissance Faire still running through October 25 and Halloween events building toward the end of the month. Our fall guide covers the season in depth, from peak color to hayrides, so start with where to see fall foliage in Pennsylvania and use the two big harvest festivals below as anchors.
17. National Apple Harvest Festival
$15; October 3-4 and 10-11, 2026. Adams County grows more apples than anywhere else in Pennsylvania, and on the first two October weekends the South Mountain Fairgrounds near Arendtsville fill with apple butter kettles, cider, pies, crafts and orchard tours. It runs rain or shine, 8am-6pm on Saturdays and 8am-5pm on Sundays. Admission is $15 for ages 12 and up, $13 for seniors 60+ and free under 12, with a $26 two-day pass, and parking and the shuttle are included.
Plan it: South Mountain Fairgrounds, Arendtsville (Adams County), about 20 minutes from Gettysburg. About 1 hour from Harrisburg. Allow half a day. Best for: families, pairing with a Gettysburg weekend.
18. Bedford Fall Foliage Festival
Free; October 3-4 and 10-11, 2026. The 62nd Bedford Fall Foliage Festival fills downtown Bedford with more than 400 vendors on the first two October weekends, 9am-5pm, with the hills around town turning color. No tickets are needed. The organizers ask visitors to leave pets at home, because the sidewalks are packed.
Plan it: Downtown Bedford (Bedford County), just off the Turnpike. About 2 hours from Pittsburgh or Harrisburg, with Turnpike traffic heavy on festival weekends. Free. Allow half a day. Best for: a Turnpike road trip, fall color.
19. Jim Thorpe Fall Foliage Festival
Free to walk; October 3-4, 10-11 and 17-18, 2026. Jim Thorpe, the old railroad town squeezed into the Lehigh River gorge, fills its Victorian streets with craft and food vendors and music on three October weekends, with the mountains around it at or near peak color. It’s the most scenic of the fall festivals and the most crowded: the town adds extra lots, shuttles and reserved parking on October weekends, and traffic builds by late morning. The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway’s Autumn Leaf trains leave from the station in the middle of town; presale tickets cover departures up to 3pm, and later trains are sold the same day, in person, first come, first served.
Plan it: Downtown Jim Thorpe (Carbon County). About 1½ hours from Philadelphia and 1¾ from Harrisburg. Free to walk; arrive before 10am or use the shuttles from the outer lots. Allow a day. Best for: fall color, train rides, a stop at the Old Jail Museum.
20. Halloween Nights at Eastern State Penitentiary
Timed tickets; select nights, October 2 to November 7, 2026. Philadelphia’s ruined 1829 prison is the state’s most atmospheric Halloween setting, and Halloween Nights leans into it with five haunted houses, historic tours and bars inside the walls on select nights from October 2 to November 7, 2026. Entry is timed every half hour, and buying ahead is the only way to guarantee a slot. It’s aimed at teens and adults; the daytime history tours suit younger kids better.
Plan it: Eastern State Penitentiary, 2027 Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia. About 5 minutes from Center City by car. Buy timed tickets in advance. Allow 2-3 hours. Best for: horror fans, a Philadelphia weekend in October.
November: Lights, Markets and a Parade
The Christmas season in Pennsylvania starts early and runs long. By mid-November the light shows are on, the markets are open, and the biggest parade of the year steps off on Thanksgiving morning.
21. Koziar’s Christmas Village
$11-$13 on standard nights; November 7, 2026 to January 2, 2027. Drive over the last hill on a dark country road near Bernville and a whole valley lights up: Koziar’s has been covering a farm in Christmas lights for 79 seasons, with displays, a lake reflecting the lights and walk-through buildings. It opens Saturday, November 7, 2026 and closes Saturday, January 2, 2027. Standard pricing is $11 for ages 4-10, $13 for 11-64 and $12 for seniors 65+, with ages 3 and under free; listed prime nights cost more. Payment is cash or Visa, Mastercard and Discover.
Plan it: Koziar’s Christmas Village, 782 Christmas Village Road, Bernville (Berks County). About 1 hour from Harrisburg and 1½ from Philadelphia. Check the prime-night calendar on koziarschristmasvillage.com before choosing a date. Go on a weeknight to skip the traffic. Allow 2 hours. Best for: families, light-show lovers.
22. Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem
Admission; weekends, November 13 to December 20, 2026. Bethlehem calls itself the Christmas City, and ArtsQuest’s German-style market under heated tents at SteelStacks is its centerpiece, billed as one of the largest and most-attended Christmas markets in the nation: handmade ornaments, glassblowing, candles, pretzels, and mulled wine. It’s open weekends from November 13 to December 20, 2026, and it’s cashless: admission, food, drinks and merchandise are paid by card or ArtsQuest CashCard, though some artisans take cash.
Plan it: SteelStacks, Bethlehem (Northampton County). About 1¼ hours from Philadelphia and 1½ from Harrisburg. Tickets and hours through ArtsQuest. Combine it with a walk through Bethlehem’s historic Moravian district. Allow half a day. Best for: gift shoppers, couples.
23. Hersheypark Christmas Candylane
Ticketed; select dates, November 13, 2026 to January 3, 2027. Hersheypark turns into a holiday park for the season, with select family rides, the TREEville trail, an all-new Fire & Ice Experience, the Twinkling Thru Time show and characters, all included with admission. One change: Hershey Sweet Lights, the drive-through light show, won’t return in 2026 after 20 seasons while the park grows Candylane. Dates are select, not daily, so check the calendar.
Plan it: Hersheypark, Hershey (Dauphin County). About 25 minutes from Harrisburg and 1¾ hours from Philadelphia. Tickets through Hersheypark. Allow an evening. Best for: families with young kids.
24. Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade
Free; Thanksgiving morning, November 26, 2026. Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving parade, first held in 1920, is the oldest in the country, and it’s the local way to start the holiday: giant balloons, marching bands and floats heading up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway toward the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Stake out a spot on the Parkway early, or watch the finish near the museum steps.
Plan it: Center City and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia. Free. Take SEPTA; parking near the route is scarce. Allow the morning. Best for: families, balloon fans.
December: Christmas Villages and Conservatory Lights
December is the peak of the season. The markets are busiest on Saturdays, the light shows on the week before Christmas, and the conservatories sell out their weekend slots. Philadelphia’s free Wanamaker Light Show and Dickens Village returned in 2025 under the Philadelphia Visitor Center, but check the Philadelphia Visitor Center for 2026 dates, and in Lancaster County, Sight & Sound Theatres listed Miracle of Christmas performances through December 2026. The Comcast Holiday Spectacular, a free 15-minute show on the lobby video wall of the Comcast Center at 1701 JFK Boulevard, played hourly from late November to January 1 last season; confirm its 2026 dates before you plan around it.
25. Christmas Village in Philadelphia
Free entry; November 21 to December 27, 2026. A German-style Christmas market fills LOVE Park and the plaza around City Hall with wooden huts selling ornaments, crafts, bratwurst and hot drinks, plus a Ferris wheel lit up against the City Hall tower. The 2026 market runs November 21 to December 27. It’s crowded on weekend evenings and much easier on a weekday afternoon.
Plan it: LOVE Park and City Hall, Center City Philadelphia. SEPTA’s B and L lines stop at City Hall. Allow 2 hours. Best for: couples, shoppers, a Philadelphia weekend. For the rest of the city’s season and sights, see our Philadelphia guide.
26. A Longwood Christmas
Timed tickets; late November into January. Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square lights its outdoor gardens and fills its conservatories, including the 32,000-square-foot West Conservatory that opened in November 2024, with decorated trees and flowers for the holidays. Timed admission tickets must be bought in advance, and Christmas weekends sell out, so book early and take the price from Longwood’s own site.
Plan it: Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square (Chester County). About 45 minutes from Philadelphia. Buy timed tickets in advance from Longwood. Allow 3 hours. Best for: couples, garden lovers, a grown-up holiday outing.
Pair a Festival With a Weekend
The big festivals are worth a trip on their own, but most sit close enough to something else that a day becomes a weekend. These are the pairings that make the drive count.
- Philadelphia Flower Show: Reading Terminal Market is right next to the Convention Center for lunch, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Foundation are a short ride up the Parkway.
- Pennsylvania Farm Show: Hershey is a short drive east of the Farm Show Complex, and Hershey’s Chocolate World and its free chocolate tour ride are open year-round, with no ticket needed.
- Musikfest and Christkindlmarkt: Bethlehem’s historic Moravian district, with its 18th-century stone buildings, is a walk from Main Street, and Lost River Caverns in Hellertown sits just south of town for a rainy morning.
- Little League World Series: the Pine Creek Rail Trail starts at Jersey Shore, a short drive west of Williamsport, and runs 62 miles north to Wellsboro Junction through the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. A morning ride and an afternoon game make a good late-August day.
- The Mushroom Festival and A Longwood Christmas: Kennett Square and Longwood Gardens are a few minutes apart, and the town’s restaurants make a good dinner stop after the gardens.
- National Apple Harvest Festival: the Gettysburg battlefield is about 20 minutes south of the fairgrounds. Drive the park roads in the morning and eat your way through the festival in the afternoon.
- Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire: Lititz and the city of Lancaster are within half an hour of Mount Hope, with plenty of places to stay that aren’t on the Turnpike.
What’s Changed, and What to Skip
- The Kutztown Folk Festival is over. Its last edition ran June 29 to July 7, 2024. Don’t book a July trip for it; go to the Eastern PA Homestead Festival at the same fairgrounds instead.
- Hershey Sweet Lights is on hiatus. Hersheypark says the drive-through won’t return in 2026 while it grows Christmas Candylane.
- Philadelphia’s Wanamaker Organ concerts are suspended while the building’s retail floors are renovated. The free Light Show returned in 2025 under new management; check 2026 dates before you plan around it.
- The semiquincentennial is done. The special 2026 events for the nation’s 250th birthday are over, so don’t expect the extra fireworks and parades in 2027.
- Skip the drive to Punxsutawney on a whim. Without a room booked, you’ll be driving in the dark from an hour away to arrive by early morning. Plan it or watch the livestream.
- Skip Saturday nights at the light shows if you can. Weeknights are shorter lines, lighter traffic and, at Koziar’s, cheaper tickets.
Best Festivals in Pennsylvania: Your Questions
What are the biggest festivals in Pennsylvania?
By crowd size, Musikfest in Bethlehem, the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, the Little League World Series, Philadelphia’s Mummers Parade and Welcome America lead the calendar. Groundhog Day draws the most famous crowd, packed into one clearing at dawn. The Christmas markets and light shows draw steady crowds from mid-November to New Year’s.
What festivals are in Pennsylvania in October?
The National Apple Harvest Festival and the Bedford Fall Foliage Festival run October 3-4 and 10-11, 2026, and Jim Thorpe’s Fall Foliage Festival adds October 17-18. The Renaissance Faire runs weekends through October 25, the Bloomsburg Fair ends October 3, and Eastern State’s Halloween Nights start October 2.
What festivals are in Pennsylvania in July?
Philadelphia’s Welcome America finishes with free concerts and fireworks on July 4. Early July brings the Eastern PA Homestead Festival to the Kutztown Fairgrounds, and State College’s Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts follows, set for July 7-11, 2027. Summer weekends also fill county fairs across the state.
What happened to the Kutztown Folk Festival?
It ended. After 74 years, the Pennsylvania Dutch folklife festival ran its final edition from June 29 to July 7, 2024, and its board closed it that November. The Eastern PA Homestead Festival, which pays homage to it, now runs at the Kutztown Fairgrounds in early July.
When is Groundhog Day 2027?
Tuesday, February 2, 2027, at dawn at Gobbler’s Knob outside Punxsutawney. It’s free. Crowds arrive in the dark hours before the prediction, most by shuttle bus from town, and alcohol is no longer allowed at the Knob. Book a room months ahead, or stay in a nearby town.
Are Pennsylvania festivals free?
Many are. The Mummers Parade on the street, Farm Show admission, Groundhog Day, the Little League World Series, Musikfest’s free stages, the Three Rivers Arts Festival and Welcome America cost nothing. The Flower Show, the Renaissance Faire, the Bloomsburg Fair and most Christmas light shows charge admission.
What is the best Pennsylvania festival for families?
The Little League World Series is hard to beat: free admission and parking, a grass hill for picnics and pin trading with kids from around the world. The Farm Show is free and full of animals, and in November and December, Koziar’s Christmas Village and Hersheypark Christmas Candylane are built for younger children.
When do Christmas events start in Pennsylvania?
Early. Koziar’s Christmas Village opens November 7, 2026, Hersheypark Christmas Candylane and Bethlehem’s Christkindlmarkt open November 13, and Philadelphia’s Christmas Village opens November 21. Most run through late December, and Koziar’s and Candylane continue into early January 2027.
Related Pennsylvania Guides
- Where to See Fall Foliage in Pennsylvania: October’s festivals, drives and peak color.
- Things to Do in Philadelphia: the city behind the Mummers, the Flower Show and Christmas Village.
Sources and How We Checked
Everything on this page was checked on September 24, 2026 against the organizers’ official websites below and compiled from them; we don’t claim first-hand visits. Drive times are free-flow estimates from OpenStreetMap-based routing (the Valhalla engine) from downtown Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, rounded to the nearest 15 minutes, so add time for festival traffic.
- Pennsylvania Farm Show, plan your visit: the 2027 dates, free admission and the preview day.
- ArtsQuest, Musikfest and Christkindlmarkt: the 2027 Musikfest dates, the 2026 market dates and the cashless policy.
- Philadelphia Visitor Center, Mummers tickets: the 2027 ticket timing.
- Bloomsburg Fair: the 2026 dates and Winterfest.
- Koziar’s Christmas Village: the 2026-27 season and prices.
- Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts and the Mushroom Festival: 2027 dates and entry rules.
Also used: the websites of the Eastern PA Homestead Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Three Rivers Arts Festival, Welcome America, the Penn Relays, the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, the National Apple Harvest Festival, the Bedford Fall Foliage Festival, Hersheypark, Longwood Gardens, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, plus Visit Philadelphia and Visit Pittsburgh for event descriptions.
Pennsylvania Tourism Guide is an independent publication. We are not affiliated with any festival, fair, parade, organizer, visitors bureau or venue named here, including ArtsQuest, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Farm Show, Hersheypark and Longwood Gardens, and no one paid to be included.
Photo Credits
- Christmas Village in Philadelphia at LOVE Park: photo by Prphilachristmas, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- 2026 Pennsylvania Farm Show butter sculpture: photo by USDAgov, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
- Fireworks at Gobbler's Knob, Punxsutawney: photo by Anthony Quintano from Mount Laurel, United States, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
- Philadelphia Flower Show 2011: photo by Mary Mark Ockerbloom, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh: photo by Cbaile19, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
- Musikfest at SteelStacks, Bethlehem: photo by Hunter Kahn, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Howard J. Lamade Stadium, Little League World Series: photo by User:Ruhrfisch, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Christmas City Village sign, Bethlehem: photo by Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)