MANAYUNK

Fall is a notorious as a season of change. The leaves on the trees turn to bright and beautiful colors, a new school year starts, and the weather begins to change to warm sun with crisp breezes. Manayunk has been taking advantage of the wonderful weather and celebrating all that this great season has to offer! Let’s take a walk down memory lane and relive some of the excitement that took place during September and October here in Manayunk!

Each day thousands of cars drive up and down the famous Main Street but not on Sunday, September 28th! For the 5th StrEAT Food Festival 30,000 people and over 40 food trucks and vendors ruled the street, which was closed down for the day for the first time in festival history. From 11am to 5pm people from all over the Philadelphia region came to taste the mouthwatering dishes offered from the trucks and Manayunk’s own delicious restaurants. Although the 92 degree weather didn’t exactly feel like fall, the apple themed dishes crafted by the featured food trucks as well as the seasonal colors of the new Manayunk T-Shirts helped to get the town in the autumn mood.

Some other fantastic additions to the day included “Recess”, a fun section of the street with bubbles, face paint, and a bounce house for the MiniManayunkers thanks to Destination Schuylkill River. For the Mature Manayunkers, this Fall’s StrEAT Food Festival had its own section for the adults to have fun, the Beer Garden! That Sunday was the kick starter to Manayunk’s Restaurant Week which took place from September 28th to October 10th. Feeling like you missed out? Don’t worry! Manayunk’s StrEAT Food Festival and Restaurant Week will be returning in the spring!

         

One of the biggest changes to Manayunk that occurred this fall season was the grand opening of Venice Island Performing Arts and Recreation Center! The ribbon on the 10 year project was cut on Tuesday October 7th and had its grand opening celebration on Saturday October 11th with live music from the Roxborough Symphony Orchestra, dance performances from Merge Dance Studios as well as a show from The Manayunk Theatre Company. Not only does this new facility benefit the community socially but also environmentally, with the new pump house and subsurface basin that can store nearly 4 million gallons of water during rainstorms.

Speaking of care for our environment, Destination Schuylkill River has also been a busy bee this autumn! They hosted Fall Equinox Fires which featured a birds of prey demonstration, performance of WolfSongs drum circle, a wish stick ceremony and of course floating bonfires on the canal. The wishing sticks were picked up by community members, placed into the communal fire barrels and burnt to signify their intentions for the next season. Destination Schuylkill River also held a Halloween Fire to close up the activities from Halloweekend in Manayunk this past weekend.

Halloween came early this year for Manayunk with thrilling and fun activities taking place all weekend long from Thursday, October 23 to Saturday, October 25! Venice Island’s theater was busy with Thursday’s performance of “Splatter” the one-act psychological thriller and the showing of the classic Halloween film “Hocus Pocus” on Friday. On Saturday the street was filled with kids and pups dressed up as all sorts of spooky and adorable characters looking for treats. Over 20 Manayunk business owners offered their shops and restaurants as trick-or-treating stops for these friendly costumed guests. Pretzel Park hosted their Fall Harvest celebration as well as the last regular Farmer’s Market of the season. 

If you thought September and October were exciting in Manayunk, just wait for what the holiday seasons of November and December have in store!