Your Guide to Fall Festivals in the Western Suburbs

Fall is when the western suburbs really come alive. The humidity breaks, the farmers markets fill up with apples and mums, and towns up and down Route 30 and the Main Line roll out their biggest street festivals of the year. If you like to plan your weekends around good food, live music, and an excuse to wear a flannel, here are three fall festivals worth putting on your calendar this September and October.

West Chester Restaurant Festival: Sunday, September 20

This one's the granddaddy of the bunch. Now in its 45th year, the West Chester Restaurant Festival takes over Downtown West Chester from noon to 5:30pm with local and regional restaurants, food trucks, and artisan vendors lining the streets. There are three stages set up around town with bands playing all afternoon, plus a beer and wine garden on North Church Street if you want to sip something cold between bites. It's free to attend and it's a genuinely walkable event, so park once (check downtownwestchester.com for parking options) and spend the afternoon grazing your way through downtown. If it rains, the festival moves to the following Sunday, September 27.

Tredyffrin Township Community Day: Saturday, October 3

Wayne, Berwyn, and Devon families know this one well. Tredyffrin Township's Community Day runs from 1 to 5pm at Wilson Farm Park and it's built for kids as much as adults: inflatables, pumpkin decorating, rock painting, and face painting keep the little ones busy while the grown-ups line up for Kona Ice, Philly Funnel Cake, and Mr. Softee. A handful of food trucks (Epicurean Garage, Buddy's Burgers, and Dominic's Tavern among them) handle the actual meal, and there's a beer garden pouring from Locust Lane if you want to make an afternoon of it. It's free, low-key, and about as close to a small-town fall fair as you'll find this close to Philadelphia.

Downingtown Fall Fest: Sunday, October 4

Round out the weekend with a trip to Downingtown, where the Downingtown Area Chamber of Commerce partners with Victory Brewing Company for Fall Fest along Green Street and East Pennsylvania Avenue from 11am to 4pm. Expect the usual fall festival lineup of food and crafts, but the real draw is Victory's beer garden, which tends to be the busiest corner of the whole event. It's a shorter, more compact festival than the West Chester one, which makes it an easy add-on if you're already out and about in Chester County that weekend.

Plan your fall weekends

Three festivals, three towns, three completely different vibes: West Chester for the full restaurant crawl, Wayne for a family-friendly afternoon, and Downingtown for a laid-back beer garden hang. All three are free to attend, so the only real cost is deciding how many festival foods you can reasonably eat in one weekend. Keep an eye on downtownwestchester.com for their annual Oktoberfest specials too, which usually pop up sometime this fall with $6 beers and ciders at participating restaurants around town.

Have a favorite fall event we didn't mention, or know of one happening in your town? Let us know and we'll help spread the word.