Cresheim Trail Fall Foliage Festival 2026

The Friends of the Cresheim Trail hereby humbly invite YOU, dear friends and neighbors, to join us and our NW Philly partners for the first ever Cresheim Trail Fall Foliage Festival! Fun, family friendly, FREE, Fall Foliage Festival. All the F’s for an A+ outing.

It’s happening Saturday, October 24th, 1–3pm, and it’s an activation of the Rail Trail corridor between Germantown and Stenton Avenues. (It’ll have a fresh cut by then.) Movement is encouraged, so wear your favorite fall boots or walking shoes. We’ll make use of the full Rail Trail “rough draft,” plus Ed’s Loop, plus Wissahickon East, with music, nature walks, and community partners. 

Wissahickon East Park Friends will be joining us to show what they’ve been up to, as will Friends of the Wissahickon, Chestnut Hill Conservancy, and Chestnut Hill Community Association. If you start at Germantown Avenue (on the ramp next to the former Trolley Car Diner site) and walk all the trails and back, it’s about a mile and a half. Lots to see — and hear!

Live music from local artists will happen in varying locations along the trail:

  • Steve Rice, accordionist, 1–1:30pm
  • Casual Fantastic, lounge-inflected folk, 1:30–2pm
  • Everyday Dirt, old time string band playing fiddle tunes sans fiddle, 2:15–3pm

Choose from three nature walks, which will meet in the tunnel under the SEPTA Chestnut Hill East Line.

  • Tree walk on Ed’s Loop with Kristina K-Slay, Landscape Ecology Professor, Jefferson East Falls, 1:15pm
  • Bird walk in Wissahickon East with Sara Whittington, Wissahickon East Park Friends, 2pm
  • Overtime walk with Brad Maule, Friends of the Cresheim Trail, 3pm

We’ll have Cresheim Trail gear, including something new for the cold season ahead, and our community partners will have info from their necks of the woods too. 

🍂 🍁 🍂