Looking for some fun and unique fall things to do in Philly this weekend? We’ve got you covered.
Fall First Friday
This weekend holds the inaugural Fall First Friday from East Passyunk Avenue’s Business Improvement District. The new monthly activation will kick off Oct. 4 and continue throughout the season on Nov. 1 and Dec. 6. The event takes place on those select nights from 5 to 9 p.m. between the 1300 and 1900 blocks of East Passyunk and features different businesses showcasing specials and offering various activities.
Participating businesses include: A Novel Idea, Eastern Pass Tattoo Co., Frame Fatale, Headhunters Hair Design, Latchkey Records, Minimal Chaos, Occasionette, Pace Architecture and Design, Pistola’s Del Sur, Sermania Jewelry, Stogie Joe’s Tavern, Studio South Philly at Capri Dessecker Remax, The Bottle Shop, Townsend and more. A full list of offerings can be found online.
GOAToberFEST
This isn’t your typical Oktoberfest celebration. On Sunday, Oct. 6, Philly Goat Project will throw its third annual GOAToberFest. The event will feature goat art raffles, historic cemetery tours, signature cocktails, yard games, s’mores by the fire pit, snacks, plus, plenty of time to spend with the Goat Project’s 13 beloved goats.
The fundraising festival is open to everyone 14 and older, and those who attend will also be among some of the first to check out the 2025 Goat Calendar, which features the Project’s goats posing at iconic Philadelphia landmarks like the Orchestra’s stage at the Kimmel Center and Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles. Costumes (either Oktoberfest or Halloween) are welcome, and tickets ($75) are available online.
Laurel Hill West Conservatory, 215 Belmont Avenue, Bala Cynwyd, phillygoatproject.org
Betsy Ross House
The Betsy Ross House will be hosting an al fresco screening of ‘Night of the Living Dead’ this Friday, Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m. Locals can head to the venue’s courtyard early however to try some libations from a pop up bar presented by Art in the Age (with cocktails crafted with seasonal spirits like the Graverobber Unholy Rye and Siege of Wolves spiced rum.) Tickets are $8 and include a “spooky, shadowy after-hours tour of the House” as well.
While at the Betsy Ross House, as a release notes, Philadelphians can also check out the debut of ‘Bloodletting & Burials.’ The tour shares some of the city’s gruesome history of infection and inoculation including smallpox, yellow fever and more. Along the way, visitors will meet “real” people who lived in the 18th century and then head inside the House for a candlelit tour. Tours run every Saturday in October at 6 and 8 p.m. Tickets, $20 each, are available online.
239 Arch St., historicphiladelphia.org
True Crime Tour
Back for another season in Philadelphia, Founding Footsteps is once again launching its successful “Philadelphia True Crime Tour”—which features live music and storytelling performances on their signature haunted BYOB trolley. As a release states, topics covered range from our nation’s first serial killer, H.H. Holmes, whose misdeeds began and ended in Philly, to the nation’s first bank robbery which took place right in Old City.
Less dark topics include the debate over the city’s famed Barnes Foundation and more. The tour runs every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening until Oct. 26. Each night holds two options (7 or 9 p.m.), and tickets are $55. The tour starts and ends at 901 N. Delaware Ave.
Chestnut Hill Conservancy’s 7th Annual Night of Lights Streetscape Exhibition
This highly-anticipated event will kick off on Oct. 3, and run nightly until Oct. 9. From 7 to 9 p.m. every evening during its run, Germantown Avenue will turn into an exhibition of local histories and illuminated architecture. As a release notes, seven storefront windows will project archival images from the Conservancy and other archives, including Historic Germantown and Springfield Township Historical Society. Colorful lights will also theatrically highlight often-overlooked architectural features of neighboring historic buildings as well.
The opening ceremony will take place on Oct. 4, from 6:45 to 7 p.m. with some festivities to follow. In addition to the projections, this year’s event will also feature a brand-new digital laser show on the 8300 block of Germantown Avenue by Mid Atlantic FX, and for the first time since the exhibition began, Night of Lights will also feature archival films digitally mapped to project onto 8318 Germantown Ave. More information can be found online.
