Step back in time at Fort Hunter Day

Welcome fall with a festival celebrating the old-time ways of life. Join us for the 68th annual Fort Hunter Day presented by UPMC! 

Sixty-eight years?! That’s older than my laundry pile, and that’s saying something. This is basically the Beyoncé of fall festivals in Harrisburg.

Visitors will find arts and crafts, children's games and activities, historic demonstrations and exhibits, live entertainment, a bake sale, festival food, and more! Gain knowledge about native foods - pawpaws, persimmons, hickory and shagbark hickory nuts, and sassafras. Vintage vehicle enthusiasts will love the antique cars and tractors on view. Go inside the Centennial Barn to see the Fort Hunter antique carriage collection not normally on public view. Mansion tours are available at $5 per person.  

Translation: bring cash for mansion tours and maybe also for bribing your kids with soft pretzels when they insist they’re “too tired” to walk but mysteriously have energy for the hayride. Also, pawpaws = the banana’s cooler cousin. Don’t sleep on them.

Get a peek inside the historic Heckton Church and enjoy entertainment throughout the day by Forbes Road Frolic and St. Thomas Dulcimer Society. Line up for a hayride then enjoy lots of your food truck favorites! Throughout the day enjoy musical entertainment on the corncrib stage, in partnership with the Susquehanna Folk Music Society. 

Corncrib Stage. That’s not just a vibe—it’s a whole aesthetic. Imagine live bluegrass with a side of kettle corn and a hayride dusting your shoes. Peak Pennsylvania, folks.

Corncrib Stage Music Schedule: 

• 10 AM - 12 PM      Susquehanna Folk Music Society Jam Session 
• 12 - 12:45 PM     Van Wagner 
• 1 - 1:45 PM         Fire in the Glen 
• 2 - 3 PM              Hammer Creek Bluegrass 
• 3- 3:15 PM          Presentation 
• 3:15 - 4 PM         Hammer Creek Bluegrass 

If your kids say they’re bored, plop them down in front of Fire in the Glen or Hammer Creek Bluegrass and watch them go from Fortnite to foot-tapping in under ten minutes.

Fort Hunter Day history programming is supported by The M&T Charitable Foundation. The Corncrib Stage is sponsored by BRP Entertainment.

Highlights:

• Arts and Crafts Show
• Dairy Cow and Goat Milking
• Antique Tractors, Vintage Cars, Antique Military Equipment
• Children’s Hands-on Activities
• Heckton Church Concerts
• Walking Tours
• Hayrides
• Children’s Crafts, Games, and Play Area
• Quilt Exhibit: African-American Quilters Gathering of Harrisburg
• Soft Pretzel Purveyors
• Food Trucks
• Mansion Tours
• Craft Demonstrations - native foods demonstration, apple butter making, spinning, quilting, candle making, woodworking, beekeeping, open-fire cooking, artisan leather working, wheat weaving and straw art.

Yes, you read that right. Goat milking. Apple butter. Antique tractors. Honestly, this is like the Pinterest board of fall festivals come to life. And I don’t even have to drive the kids all the way to Williamsburg!? Sign us up.

Everyone will find something to enjoy at this parkwide festival! Fort Hunter Park is located at 5300 N. Front Street in Harrisburg. The section of Front Street that runs through the park will be closed beginning at 9 AM through the festival. Access to event parking is available before the road closure.

Pro tip: don’t argue with Google Maps when it tells you the road is closed. Trust the nice people in orange vests. They know things. Like where the soft pretzels are.

For more on Fort Hunter Park, Fort Hunter Mansion, and festival activities visit the Park’s website at forthunter.org.

👉 Macaroni KID Mom Takeaway: If you only go to one Harrisburg-area fall festival this year, Fort Hunter Day is basically the pumpkin spice latte of the bunch—classic, cozy, and guaranteed to give you all the seasonal feels.