Around the Valley
Late September in Nazareth and Easton: Easton Out Loud, football at home, and an October preview
This post looks at the week of September 21 through 27, the stretch after the festival weekend, and ahead into October. The big night lands on Friday, September 25, when the Nazareth Blue Eagles and the Easton Red Rovers both play at home and Easton Out Loud takes over downtown at the same time. There are school board meetings, an Easton in-service day, a Crayola critter visit, and the first taste of fall festival season. Everything below was checked against live sources and each date is worth a final confirmation on the official calendar before you go.
Friday, September 25: football at home, downtown Easton Out Loud
The week builds to one very full Friday. The Nazareth Area Blue Eagles are home at Andrew S. Leh Stadium at 7:00 p.m. against Emmaus, the third home Friday of the month. Across town, the Easton Area Red Rovers host Allentown Central Catholic at Cottingham Stadium, also at 7:00 p.m. If your evening holds only one, they kick at the same time, so pick your side and catch the recap for the other.
Then the night stretches downtown. Easton Out Loud, the Fourth Friday street festival, runs 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. through the Centre Square circle and Northampton Street with live music, galleries, shops, and sidewalk vendors. A late-September Fourth Friday often carries a seasonal theme, so it pairs well with a pregame dinner in the circle and a walk past the monument after. If you want both football and the festival, the practical move is dinner downtown, the second half on a phone, and the festival after the whistle.
The markets keep their Saturday rhythm
The Nazareth Farmers Market stays on its every-Saturday run at the Circle at Main and Center Streets from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. through October, a producer-only market of 20-plus vendors with live music most weeks. The Easton Farmers Market, billed as the nation's oldest continuously operating open-air market, fills Scott Park on the riverfront at the same Saturday hours. Late September is peak apple and mum season, so the stands are at their fullest right now.
Crayola: a critter visit, then the spooky season
The Crayola Experience at 30 Centre Square closes out Color Days with a special stop: the Creepy Critter Visit runs Saturday, September 26 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., included with admission, a chance to meet live critters and spiders up close. Just after, the Screamin' Green Hauntoween season gets underway for the fall, adding themed scavenger hunts, crafts, and trick-or-treat stations to the usual four floors of hands-on color. The Hauntoween page and the general events calendar list the exact start date, so check before you plan the trip. It is the all-weather anchor of the circle when the fall showers roll in.
School district notes
The Easton Area School District uses Monday, September 28 as a teacher in-service day, so Easton students have that day off and the week before is the last full run of class days for a while. The Easton Area School Board holds its regular meeting Tuesday, September 29 at 7:00 p.m. at the Easton Area Education Center, 1801 Bushkill Drive, with standing committee meetings earlier that evening at the same building.
In Nazareth, the Nazareth Area School Board holds its regular voting meeting on its fourth-Tuesday round, so Tuesday, September 22 at 6:00 p.m., with agendas posted on the district site ahead of time. On the field, the Blue Eagles are home Friday the 25th against Emmaus at Leh Stadium, and the Red Rovers are home the same night against Allentown Central Catholic at Cottingham. Full district calendars live on both district sites.
Municipal meetings for residents
Here is what is on the books for the week and into October across the boroughs and townships. Meeting rooms and times move in the fall, so each one is worth a final confirmation on the municipality's own website.
- Nazareth Area School Board regular voting meeting, Tuesday, September 22 at 6:00 p.m.; agendas on nazarethasd.k12.pa.us.
- Easton City Council regular meeting Wednesday, September 23 at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at 123 South 3rd Street, with committee meetings the night before; meetings stream online.
- Lower Nazareth Township Supervisors follow the twice-monthly round posted in the township newsletter, so confirm the exact September date on lowernazareth.com.
- Easton Area School Board regular meeting Tuesday, September 29 at 7:00 p.m. at the Easton Area Education Center, 1801 Bushkill Drive.
- Bushkill Township Supervisors meet on the first Thursday at 6:00 p.m., so the next session is Thursday, October 1 at bushkilltownship.com.
- Forks Township Supervisors hold a workshop the first Thursday and the regular meeting the third Thursday, both 7:00 p.m.; next up is the first-Thursday workshop on October 1 at forkstownship.org.
- Upper Nazareth Township Supervisors sit on the first-and-third-Wednesday round at 7:00 p.m., so look to Wednesday, October 7 on uppernazarethtownship.org.
- Nazareth Borough Council business meetings take the first Monday at 6:00 p.m. in Borough Hall at 159 West Center Street, so the next is Monday, October 5 at nazarethboroughpa.com. Palmer Township keeps a Monday-evening round, and Stockertown Borough asks residents to call the borough office to confirm its council dates.
Agendas for most of these bodies post in advance on each site, and Easton City Council meetings are streamed, so it is easy to follow local government without leaving home.
An October preview
October is when the festival calendar really turns. The Easton Garlic Fest, the city's annual celebration of all things garlic, takes over Centre Square for a weekend in early October with free admission, food vendors, and live music. The Nazareth Fall Festival and the borough's Halloween parade return to South Main Street in mid-to-late October, the annual street festival that closes out the season with crafts, food, and family activities. The Nazareth Farmers Market keeps its Saturday run through the end of the month, and the Crayola Experience runs its Screamin' Green Hauntoween programming into early November. Then the big one: PA Bacon Fest packs Centre Square on its usual early-November Saturday, one of the busiest food weekends of the year in the city.
For a quieter October anchor, the C.F. Martin & Co. visitor center at 510 Sycamore Street in Nazareth keeps its weekday rhythm: a free museum and the 1833 Shop, with guided factory tours by advance online registration on weekdays. It is a good mid-week, all-weather outing in the middle of Nazareth when the October weather turns.
Good places to eat this week
In Nazareth, Bella Bean Coffee Shop on South Broad Street is the dependable morning stop, the Nazareth Diner on South Broad is the standby for any meal, and Paradise Dogs handles the casual end near the circle. The newer Circle Cafe on Main sits right on the circle itself, handy before a market walk.
Downtown Easton for the Easton Out Loud evening: Josie's New York Deli on Centre Square is the quick, no-nonsense stop, Pearly Baker's Alehouse pours a cold pint in the circle, and Billy's Downtown Diner on South 3rd handles the diner side of downtown. The Easton Public Market at 325 Northampton Street remains the easy indoor option, from noodles to pastry to the farmstand, and ThreeBirds Coffee House on Bushkill Street is the coffee anchor near the circle.
On the horizon
Circle two dates now. Easton Out Loud on Friday, September 25 is the last Fourth Friday before the October festivals begin, and the weekend right after it, early October, brings the Easton Garlic Fest to the circle. If you are planning around the bigger food events, PA Bacon Fest lands on its usual early-November Saturday at Centre Square, so it pays to book early. For everything this week, the Easton city events page and each township site stay more current than any single post can.