Fall in Hershey & Harrisburg is not a season. It is a scheduling challenge involving pumpkins, festivals, parades, food trucks, hayrides and children who will absolutely insist they are not tired right up until they fall asleep in the car.
And I am here for ALL OF IT.
Central PA takes fall very seriously. Harrisburg kicks things off with a three-day riverfront festival. Hummelstown fills Main Street with artists. Middletown has a pumpkin cannon. Hershey puts hundreds of painted pumpkins in a garden. Linglestown apparently looked at the existing fall calendar and decided what it really needed was a climbing wall and ZooAmerica animals.
So consider this your 2026 Hershey & Harrisburg fall festival game plan, covering Harrisburg, Hershey, Hummelstown, Middletown, Linglestown, Lower Paxton and plenty of nearby fall fun worth putting on the calendar.
This guide grows all season. Organizers are still announcing fall events, so bookmark this page and come back. We'll keep adding confirmed festivals, fairs and other pumpkin-adjacent festivities as they appear. (Last update 10/3)
Willing To Cross A Bridge?
We made you a whole other fall festival guide.
Looking for festivals west of the Susquehanna? Our Carlisle & West Shore guide is packed with more fall fun in Carlisle, Mechanicsburg, New Cumberland, Enola, Shippensburg, Dillsburg and beyond.
Explore the West Shore Fall Festival GuideOctober: Peak Pumpkin Chaos
October has arrived. The pumpkins have achieved complete decorative dominance and every Saturday now requires choosing between approximately six excellent reasons to leave the house.
October 10 Decisions
Chocolate, ZooAmerica animals or horses?
Hershey has Choctoberfest. Linglestown has a brand-new October Jamboree. The PA National Horse Show has Family Fun Day. You may need to become the kind of family that attends multiple festivals in one day.
Very Hershey
Choctoberfest • Downtown Hershey
October 10, 2026 • 11 AM–6 PM • ChocolateTown Square Park
Bands. Bites. Chocolate. Fall activities. And yes, beer for the grown-ups.
If Hershey were asked to invent an October festival from scratch, this is pretty much exactly what I would expect them to produce.
Choctoberfest DetailsBrand New For 2026
October Jamboree • Linglestown
October 10, 2026 • 1–6 PM • 5834 Linglestown Road
Linglestown Fire Company is launching its first outdoor October Jamboree, and they did not ease into this gently.
There's a National Guard climbing wall, bounce house and maze, ZooAmerica live animal presentation, pumpkin painting, costume contest with cash prizes, local vendors, food trucks and live music from Smooth Like Clyde.
Admission and parking are free.
October Jamboree DetailsFree Family Fun
PA National Horse Show Family Fun Day • Harrisburg
October 10, 2026 • 1–4 PM • PA Farm Show Complex
One of the country's biggest horse shows is opening the doors for a free afternoon built especially for families, and they are not being subtle about it.
There will be face painting, wagon rides, arts and crafts, goat snuggling, behind-the-scenes tours, a scavenger hunt, horse meet-and-greets and PA Dairymen's Association milkshakes. Families can also watch the horse show at no cost.
Basically: horses, goats and Farm Show milkshakes. This feels less like an event description and more like someone read my children's group chat.
Family Fun Day DetailsMore Fall Fun Worth Putting on the Calendar
Not everything worth doing in October technically qualifies as a festival. I refuse to let semantics stand between us and a good time.
Hersheypark Halloween
Weekends September 12–November 1, 2026 • Hershey
Treatville, Hershey characters in costume, ZooAmerica's Creatures of the Night, rides after dark and plenty of candy make this considerably more than a regular park day with some pumpkins sitting near the entrance.
Hersheypark Halloween details →PARTNER EVENT
Night at the Nature Center • Wildwood Park
October 24, 2026 • 5:30–8 PM
Wildwood's Olewine Nature Center stays open after hours and the Exhibit Hall critters come to life. Kids can meet talking animals, make s'mores around the campfire, sip apple cider, make a craft and hear a not-too-scary Halloween story.
Night at the Nature Center details →PARTNER EVENT
Our Family Tradition
Trick or Treat Trek • Fort Hunter Park
October 25, 2026 • 2–5 PM
We've attended this one every year since it started, and Macaroni KID will be back as a treat stop again this year.
Kids 12 and younger follow clues through Fort Hunter Park, collecting goodies along the way, with family entertainment, lawn games, character appearances and Wildwood's Creepy Crawly Critters mixed into the adventure.
This one requires advance timed tickets and has sold out before. Children 12 and younger need tickets; accompanying adults and older children do not.
This is one of those events I would not put in the "we'll decide that morning" category.
Trick or Treat Trek DetailsEven More Fall Fun
The big festivals are only the beginning. Browse our live local calendar for fairs, pumpkin adventures, community events, trunk-or-treats and newly announced family fun happening throughout the region. Organizing an event? Use the Add Event button inside the calendar to share it with us.
Already Happened This Fall
Looking back for a favorite event, or wondering what you missed? These festivals have already wrapped up for 2026, but I'm keeping them here because fall festival season has receipts.
Harrisburg Tradition
Kipona Festival
September 5–7, 2026 • Riverfront Park & City Island, Harrisburg
Harrisburg's giant Labor Day weekend celebration returned for its 110th year, with three days of family fun along the Susquehanna.
Kipona Festival Details
Pumpkin Fest at The Middletown Home
September 18–20, 2026 • Middletown
Three days of fall fun, including the detail that immediately earned this one a place in the guide:
WORLD FAMOUS PUMPKIN CANNON.
Pumpkin Fest DetailsHummelstown Arts Festival
September 19, 2026 • Downtown Hummelstown
The 44th annual festival filled East and West Main Street with more than 150 juried artists, local makers and plenty of downtown wandering.
SteeltonFest
September 19, 2026 • Steelton
Steelton's community celebration returned for an afternoon and evening of local food, entertainment and community fun.
PARTNER EVENT
Fort Hunter Day
September 20, 2026 • Fort Hunter Park, Harrisburg
The 69th annual Fort Hunter Day brought hayrides, historic demonstrations, antique tractors, live music, hands-on activities and, importantly, goat milking.
PARTNER EVENT
Celebrate Wildwood
September 26, 2026 • Wildwood Park, Harrisburg
Wildwood celebrated one of Harrisburg's coolest natural spaces with pumpkin painting, wildlife encounters, guided walks and hands-on activities.
Hershey FCU Fall Fest • Hummelstown
September 26, 2026 • Schaffner Park
A free family-friendly afternoon with activities, food trucks, local vendors and raffles benefiting participating local charities.
Lower Paxton Fall Fest
October 3, 2026 • George Park
Lower Paxton's annual community Fall Fest returned to George Park for an afternoon of local fall fun.
Now go forth and acquire an unreasonable number of pumpkins.
We'll keep updating this guide as new events are announced, so bookmark it and check back throughout the season.
Event dates, times, activities, admission information and availability can change. Always confirm details directly with the organizer before heading out.
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