Clifford, candy, and a corn maze at night

The best of the Lehigh Valley, every Thursday · Issue #7 · October 15, 2026

Happy Thursday, Lehigh Valley!

This is a big Halloween weekend. Trunk or treats, parades, a pumpkin train, and the real Clifford the Big Red Dog are all happening, from Slatington to Coopersburg. We built a Saturday in Easton by the clock, then a quick plan for every other corner of the Valley.

Weather: mostly sunny and 65 today. Showers move in overnight, and Friday brings showers and thunderstorms, 80% chance, high of 78. Saturday clears out but turns cold, mostly sunny and 52, with patchy frost possible overnight. Sunday is sunny and 56, Monday sunny and 62.

- Joe Roller

Saturday in Easton has a farmers market apple party, the real Clifford the Big Red Dog, trick-or-treating inside Crayola, and a corn maze you walk with a flashlight after dark. Here it is by the clock.

9am: the Apple Jam. The Easton Farmers' Market throws its Apple Jam at Scott Park, 9 to 1: cider donuts, caramel apples, apple pie, and the yearly apple tasting. Dozens of authors from the free Easton Book Festival set up tables there too.

11am: Clifford. The real Clifford the Big Red Dog visits the Book Festival tents at the market for a dog storytime, 11 to 11:30. It is free, and your dog is invited too.

Noon: Crayola. Walk up to Centre Square for Screamin' Green Hauntoween at Crayola Experience. Saturdays and Sundays have trick-or-treat stations all through the building, it is the last weekend of superhero week, and the characters come out at 2. Crayola is open until 6 Saturday. Tickets are $27.99 online, $3 less than at the door, and kids 2 and under are free.

Costumes are welcome, but no masks. One heads-up: Crayola's elevator has been out since September 8, so plan on stairs and leave the big stroller in the car.

2:30pm: draw with a Spider-Man artist. Comic book inker Scott Hanna, who has worked on Spider-Man, teaches a drawing class inside Crayola, 2:30 to 3:15. It is included with your ticket, and space is limited.

Or 3pm: make a puppet. Done with Crayola? The Book Festival's puppet storytime at the Easton Public Market's Kidzone has kids make their own puppets, free.

5pm: the corn maze in the dark. Drive 10 minutes south to Olde Stone Farm's Harvest Nights in Williams Township, open 5 to 9. Your $10 ticket gets a flashlight corn maze, a jack-o-lantern straw maze, a moonlight hayride, and games. Kids 4 and under are free. Bring flashlights, and bundle up: it will be about 45 degrees by 7 and dropping. The hayride skips muddy nights, so check the farm's page after Friday's storms.

What it costs: about $152 plus tax for a family of four, not counting food or parking. Park once in a downtown garage and walk from the market to Crayola.

Sunday in Easton: the free Book Festival's small press fair fills the Sigal Museum noon to 4. The museum is usually free on Sundays but can charge during special events, so call 610-253-1222 first. Clifford makes one more stop at 1:30 at the Boys & Girls Club of Easton, 210 Jones Houston Way.

Click here: To see Crayola's Hauntoween schedule!

Pick your corner. One easy plan for each part of the Valley this weekend.

If Friday storms: Friday is an 80% rain day, so here is where to go indoors. The Da Vinci Science Center is open 10 to 5 ($24). America On Wheels in Allentown is open 10 to 4, with a big LEGO transportation display. Lost River Caverns in Hellertown is underground, so rain does not matter (reservations required). Sky Zone on Schoenersville Road in Bethlehem opens at 4.

WEST: Emmaus and Lower Macungie

Saturday, start at Lower Macungie's Trunk or Treat, noon to 2 at Quarry Park, 7909 Quarry Road. It is free, with decorated cars, candy, music, and games.

At 4, the Emmaus Theatre shows "Hotel Transylvania" for free (grab a free ticket now; doors at 3:15). Walk out to seven food trucks at 313 Main Street, then the Emmaus Halloween Parade at 7.

The organizers' tip for families: watch from Walnut Street between Macungie Avenue and 9th. The rain date is Sunday at 6:30.

Sunday: the Emmaus Farmers' Market at Triangle Park, 10 to 1, then dig your own potatoes at Grim's Orchard and they fry them on the spot.

Cost: $0, plus whatever you spend at the trucks and Grim's.

CENTRAL: Bath and Nazareth

Saturday morning, Unangst Tree Farms in Bath has free admission, free weekend hayrides to the patch, a $4 kids' story maze, and face painting from 11.

Ten minutes away, Valley Fruits & Veggies has a barrel train, a jump pad, and goats, with a $20 kids' wristband for the rides.

Then head into Nazareth for the Halloween Parade and Fall Festival on Main Street, with music, 40-plus vendors, and a kids' ice cream cone holding contest. A Chamber announcement in The Valley Ledger says the parade steps off at 1 and the festival runs 2 to 5, but the borough's calendar shows a morning time, so call the borough (610-759-0202) Thursday or Friday to be sure.

Sunday: kids 12 and under get in free for S.T.E.A.M. Adventures at the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, 11 to 3. Train fans can step inside Northampton's old Siegfried Railroad Station, free, 1 to 4. It is the last open house of the year.

NORTH: Slatington, North Whitehall, and Schnecksville

Thursday night, the Fall Foliage Jam at the Schnecksville Fire Company is free, 6 to 10, with two bands, vendors, food trucks, and family activities.

Friday night has two trunk or treats, but watch the storms. Northern Lehigh's at Eagle's Nest Park in Slatington is free, 5:15 to 7 (more than 600 kids came last year, and there is no rain date). North Whitehall's at Kolapechka Park runs 5:30 to 8, with free candy, face painting, and a stilt walker (no rain date posted yet).

Saturday, Boo at the Zoo opens at the Lehigh Valley Zoo, with trick-or-treating 10 to 3:30, the Ghostbusters 11 to 2, and a costume contest at 12:30. Tickets are $18 for adults and $14 for kids 2 to 11, and you bring your own bag. Then, from 1 to 3, two churches next to each other on Route 873 near Schnecksville, Union UCC and Union Lutheran, hold a free trunk or treat with hot dogs and pretzels.

SOUTH: Hellertown and Coopersburg

Book the first tour at Lost River Caverns (9:30 Saturday and Sunday). It is 30 to 45 minutes underground. Adults are from $17.50 and kids 3 to 11 are $12.50. Then ride a wagon out to the pumpkin patch at Bobwhite Acres near Coopersburg (Saturday 10 to 4, Sunday noon to 4, last ride at 3:30).

ALLENTOWN

Saturday at the Da Vinci Science Center, kids in costume can march in the Parade of Witches at 1:30. There are spooky science shows at 11, 1, and 3:30, all included with the $24 ticket. The spiral parking deck is closed this week, so park in the Maple deck. Little ones can also catch a free story time at the Allentown Public Library, Thursday and Saturday at 10, and kids 12 and under get into America On Wheels free every Thursday.

SLATE BELT: Bangor

Bangor's Octoberfest is Saturday 4 to 8, and the Bangor Halloween Parade is Sunday, noon to 3. In between, walk among the giant standing stones at Columcille Megalith Park, open dawn to dusk, free.

Brianna Clough, a senior at Northampton Area High School, spent her Girl Scout Gold Award project building a small memorial bridge at the Walnutport Canal.

It has rainbow boards, paw prints, and a sign that reads "Where memories remain and love lives on." You can leave a collar or a toy for a pet you lost, and scan a QR code to share their story. It sits near the Lock Tender's House and the canal pavilion.

"It will serve a great purpose for pet owners who have lost their animals," she said.

Click here: To read her story!

Coopersburg's first family came home. About 30 descendants of Johann Georg Bachman, who gave Coopersburg its start, gathered last Saturday to unveil a plaque that will hang in Borough Hall. Then they went to see the family Bible, which dates to the 1500s. "Eleven generations later, we felt it was time to honor that heritage and return to the place where our American story began," said Don Baughman, one of the descendants. The story.

Your iced coffee might start here. Kerry Group's new plant in Hanover Township can roast 22 million pounds of coffee a year. Its 52 workers make the coffee flavor that goes into canned drinks and ice cream. The story.

One-liners: The Baum School of Art in Allentown turns 100 and throws its centennial gala Saturday at 6 on the expanded Linden Street campus ($250). Blue Mountain and Camelback are both up for USA Today's best snow tubing award, and you can vote once a day until November 9. A 6-by-7-foot "Made in Lehigh Valley" sculpture, built by an Emmaus sign shop, went up Wednesday in the middle of the Lehigh Valley Mall, made for selfies. And glow-in-the-dark Cosmic Baseball is coming back to the IronPigs' park in 2027, when it will be called Jefferson Park. There are no dates yet, but the ticket lottery is open.

Three homes, three budgets, three corners of the Valley. This week: four bedrooms each, with room for the kids. Live at send time.

Halloween is a Saturday this year, so towns split between Friday and Saturday.

Friday, October 30:

Saturday, October 31:

Your town not here? Hit reply and we'll add it next week.

More Halloween on the calendar: Whitehall's free parade is Thursday, October 22 at 6 (no rain date). Allentown's Halloween Walking Parade is Saturday, October 31, 11 to 2 on Hamilton Street. Salisbury holds its first Trunk or Treat that day too, 2 to 4 at Salisbury Middle School. Want to decorate a car and hand out candy? Sign up by this Friday.

Running festival road closures. The Jefferson Bethlehem Running Festival closes streets around SteelStacks and the South Side Saturday about 7:30 to 10:30am. Sunday's half marathon, about 8 to 11:30am, also crosses the Fahy Bridge to the north side, including Eaton Avenue and Schoenersville Road. Each street closes about 15 minutes before the first runners.

Route 22 East at Route 191 in Bethlehem Township: the ramps close every night, 9pm to 5am, October 20 to 27. Detours run through the Route 512 and Route 33 exits.

Route 33 southbound is still down to one lane near Tatamy, all day and night, until about November 9, with two ramps closed.

Good news in Lower Saucon: the Black River Road bridge reopened Tuesday after four and a half months.

Salisbury leaf pickup starts Monday, October 26.

Click here: To see this week's Lehigh County roadwork! · Northampton County roadwork

Triple Sun Spirits in Emmaus turned 10 and opened The Railyard at 518 Bank Street. It has a dining room for smoked meats, a game room with two pool tables, darts, and pinball, a speakeasy, and a beer garden, with seats for nearly 200 people.

"So, you really can choose your fun," said manager Dave McAdoo. It is open Wednesday to Saturday 4 to 10 and Sunday 11 to 4.

Click here: To read about it!

Every DOG!, a locally owned pet supply store, opens Saturday at the Promenade Saucon Valley, right in the middle of Barktoberfest. The Promenade also turns 20 that day, with a ribbon cutting at 2 and ten $200 gift cards drawn at 2:15 (you have to be there).

Good Times, a new cafe in Wilson at 2001 Fairview Avenue, has a kids' play corner and a quiet library room with a soundproof door. Weekday hours grow to 7am to 2pm at the end of October.

Coming: Bethlehem Coffee Co. at 9 W Fourth Street hopes to open as soon as this weekend, with cold brew on tap. Brothers Tacos is aiming for the week of October 25 in Coopersburg's old bagel shop. Birriaholic brings its birria tacos back to Bethlehem inside Lost Tavern on Main Street in late October or early November. The Inspiration Co. opens at the Lehigh Valley Mall November 1. T-Rex Sports Cards & Gaming opens on Main Street in Hellertown November 14, with Pokemon tournaments planned.

Closing: Piscitello's Home Center in Wilson closes October 30 after 68 years. Everything is 20% off, and gift cards have to be used by the last day. White Sewing Center in downtown Easton closes October 31 after 64 years, with everything left half off.

One way to help the Valley each week, plus the nonprofit events worth knowing about.

On Saturday, October 24, families carry glowing lanterns on a one-mile walk around Grange Park in Upper Macungie. The fun starts at 5:30, and the walk steps off around 7.

It is free to sign up, and kids 12 and under walk free without registering. Strollers and dogs are welcome, and there is a Kids Zone.

The Valley walk is at just 32% of its $485,000 goal, so a family team from your street really counts.

Click here: To sign up your family!

Thank you: Making Strides picked up about $17,000 since last week's feature. The walk is Saturday at noon at SteelStacks (check-in 10:30), and you can still join.

Is your nonprofit doing something? | anywhere in the Valley
Fundraiser, walk, drive, gala: hit reply and we'll list it here, free.

FREE means free. Prices are listed where the organizer posts them. Double-check times before heading out!

MARKETS

Bethlehem Farmers Market FREE | Thu 10am to 2pm, Farrington Square, South Bethlehem
Live music every Thursday, and the season runs through November 12.

Allentown Fairgrounds Farmers Market FREE | Thu 9 to 7, Fri 8 to 7, Sat 8 to 6, 1825 Chew St
Indoors, so Friday's storms do not matter.

LIVE & FREE MUSIC

Shepherd Hills pavilion | Fri + Sat 6 to 9pm, Wescosville
Burn "Rocks" Friday and The BC Combo Saturday, outside (Friday depends on the storms).

Vynecrest | Sat 1 to 4, music bingo Sun 1 to 4, Breinigsville
Music by RED Saturday afternoon. Sunday is music bingo with an empanada truck, and the $20 Spooky Flight pairs four wines with fall bites.

Penn's Peak Fall Deck Party FREE | Sun 1 to 4pm, Jim Thorpe
The M80 Trio plays the deck, no cover, rain or shine. Easy to pair with a foliage drive.

ARTS & CULTURE

Community Art Lab FREE | Thu 5 to 7:30pm, Allentown Art Museum
Make art with artist Rosa Camacho. The museum stays open until 8, and parking in the Linden Street lot is free.

"Revolution Retold" FREE | through Sun, Allentown Art Museum
Last weekend to see it.

Matilda | Fri 7:30, Sat 3 + 7:30, Sun 3, Civic's 19th Street Theatre, Allentown
$35 adults, $30 seniors and students, and kids 13 and under are $13 (plus a $4 fee). Runs through October 25.

Allentown Band Family Concert | Sat 2pm, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown
"Yankee Doodling!" A one-hour show where kids meet every instrument, plus a fife and drum corps.

Talks in the Tavern FREE | Thu 7pm, Heller-Wagner Grist Mill Tavern, Hellertown
See real colonial money up close. Only 45 seats.

Spooky Nazareth Walking Tours | Fri + Sat 8:15pm, Moravian Historical Society, Nazareth
The 7pm ghost walks are sold out, but the 8:15s still have room. $15, kids under 5 free, rain or shine.

Root Cellar Remedies | Sat noon, Burnside Plantation, Bethlehem
Dig horseradish and learn how Revolutionary War soldiers used it as medicine. $25.

George Taylor House | Sat noon to 4, Catasauqua
Tour the home of a Declaration of Independence signer for a $10 donation; kids under 12 free. Last month of the season.

Helfrich Springs Grist Mill FREE | Sun 1 to 3, 501 Mickley Rd, Whitehall
Peek inside a historic mill.

"From Mash to Microbe" | Sat 1 to 3, National Museum of Industrial History, Bethlehem
The science of how barley, hops, and yeast turn into beer. Museum admission is $18 for adults; call to ask if the talk is included.

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra | Fri 8pm, Williams Center, Easton
The famous orchestra with no conductor plays Mozart with two piano-playing brothers. $33, $6 for kids.

Lightwire Theater: Tortoise and Hare | Sun 3pm, Williams Center, Easton
Glow-in-the-dark puppets race in a one-hour show. $20, $6 for kids.

Vanessa Collier | Fri 7:30pm, Musikfest Cafe, Bethlehem
Blues sax with a Memphis soul sound. $34.25 to $47.75.

Come Back To Earth: A Live Mac Miller Tribute | Sat 7:30pm, Musikfest Cafe
A full live band. $24.90 to $39.50.

Vitamin String Quartet and Girl Named Tom | Sun 7:30pm, Musikfest Cafe
Pop hits on strings, plus the trio that won "The Voice." $53 to $151.

The Rocket Man Show | Sat 7:30pm, State Theatre, Easton
Elton John's biggest hits. $50 to $80.50, fees included.

Postmodern Jukebox | Sat 8pm, Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem
Today's pop songs played as 1920s jazz. Seats from about $53.

Mis Raices Latinas | Sat 8pm, PPL Center, Allentown
Frank Reyes, Yenddi, DJ Adoni, and El Blachy. Seats from about $63.

Antje Duvekot and Robby Hecht | Sat 8pm, Godfrey Daniels, Bethlehem
Two folk songwriters in a tiny listening room. $35.98, and only a few seats are left.

The Kennedys | Sun 2pm, Godfrey Daniels
An afternoon folk show, home by dinner. $30.78.

FAMILY & OUTDOORS

Tricks and Treats at Dorney Park | Sat + Sun 11am to 5pm, Allentown
A trick-or-treat trail, a costume contest, and Planet Snoopy rides. Family Pack tickets start at $35 each online for four or more if you get in before 2. Leave before dark, when the scary Halloween Haunt starts at 6.

Seiple Farms | Fri flashlight maze 6 to 9, Sat + Sun 10 to 6, Bath
Free hayrides out to a 40-acre pumpkin patch on the weekend. The corn maze is $10 (the Friday flashlight maze is $13, storms permitting). Cash only for most things.

Steel Ice Center | Sat + Sun 1:30 to 3pm, Bethlehem
Public skating: $10 for kids 10 and under, $15 for everyone else, $5 skates.

FOOD & DRINK

Coffee Festival at Blue Mountain | Sat 10am to 2pm, Palmerton
Sip local coffee and vote for your favorite, with music by Wonton Soups. $12, or $22 with a fall chairlift ride. Kids 12 and under are free.

Clover Hill Feel Good Friday | Fri, all Clover Hill locations
$6.50 glasses of wine all day.

Crayola After Dark: Halloween Edition | Fri 6 to 9pm, Easton
Grown-ups only (21+). Coloring with alcohol markers, a DJ, a costume contest, and drink samples. Early-bird tickets are $39.99 plus tax.

COMEDY

Bobby Collins | Fri 7:30pm, State Theatre, Easton
$34.25 to $48.95, fees included.

SPORTS

Jefferson Bethlehem Running Festival FREE to cheer | Fri to Sun, SteelStacks, Bethlehem
The 5K and 10K are Saturday morning and the half marathon is Sunday at 8. The cheer zone is at Main and W Walnut. The IronPigs Kids Run is Friday at 5:30 ($10, 45 spots left Wednesday).

Muhlenberg Football vs McDaniel | Sat 2pm, Scotty Wood Stadium, Allentown
The only local college football game at home this weekend.

WORTH THE DRIVE

Jim Thorpe Fall Foliage FREE | Sat + Sun, downtown Jim Thorpe
The last weekend of the festival, with free music in four spots. Parking fills fast, so go early.

Old Crow Medicine Show | Sat 8pm, Penn's Peak, Jim Thorpe
$47.50 in advance.

WK&S Pumpkin Patch Train | Sat + Sun 1, 2, 3, 4pm, Kempton
Ride a real train to the pumpkin patch, and every rider picks a pumpkin. $18, and $2 for kids 2 and under. Reserve ahead.

Knoebels Hallo-Fun | Fri 6 to 10, Sat 2 to 10, Sun noon to 6, Elysburg
Free admission and parking, so you only pay for rides.

Heritage Day at the Daniel Boone Homestead | Sun noon to 4, Birdsboro
Blacksmiths, candle dipping, and pumpkin painting. $12 adults, $5 ages 6 to 17.

Hawk Mountain | daily 9 to 5, Kempton
Hike up and watch the hawks fly south. $10 adults, $5 kids 6 to 12. Saturday will be windy at the top, so bring layers.

Breakfast with Bluey and Bingo is Sunday, November 22 at the Musikfest Cafe, $31 a person with Christkindlmarkt admission included. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10am, and we expect them to go fast.

Breakfast with St. Nick at Christkindlmarkt goes on sale at the same time: four Saturdays starting November 28, $31, and kids 12 and under get a photo, a craft, and a gift bag.

The Lights in the Parkway 5K on Thanksgiving Eve had 215 spots left Wednesday, down 90 in one day. It has sold out five years in a row, and the price goes up after October 29.

The Phil Collins tribute at the State Theatre on Saturday, October 24 is buy one, get one free right now, with seats from $39.

Art of the Dollhouse opens next week at Bethlehem's Kemerer Museum: 44 dollhouses and more than 6,000 tiny things. The opening party is October 29, $10.

Haunted Illusions is a family magic show at the State Theatre on Halloween at 4pm, before most trick-or-treat nights start at 6. Kids 12 and under are $27.95.

The Winter Light Spectacular opens at the zoo Friday, November 13, with a new Candy Land display. Every ticket is $13 on opening night if you buy ahead.

Illumination, the walk-through light show at the IronPigs' park, opens November 13. Tickets are $11 in advance on November 13, 14, 15, 25, and 26.

The Lehigh Valley Turkey Trot runs the Ironton Rail Trail in Coplay November 21. The 5K and 10K are $40, and the half marathon is $85 until November 3.

Grille 3501 in South Whitehall turns 25 with a party Monday, November 16, $150 plus a $5.50 fee, to help local kids play sports. Seating is limited.

The Pennsylvania Youth Ballet's Nutcracker has just four shows, December 12 and 13 at Zoellner, from $35. The same day, a sensory-friendly Polar Express plays at SteelStacks for $7.

Know someone who is always asking "what's going on this weekend?" Send them the Loop. When one friend signs up through your link, you get The Lehigh Valley Fall Guide: 40 fall events across the Valley in one place.

That's the Loop. Know about something happening in the Valley? Hit reply, we read everything. See you next Thursday.