Around the Valley
Friday, September 25 in Nazareth and Easton: homecoming, Autumn Fest, and a PorchFest weekend
This is the Friday, September 25 roundup for Nazareth, Easton, and the townships in between, checked this morning against live district, municipal, and venue calendars. The weekend runs homecoming to porches: Nazareth's Homecoming night against Emmaus and Easton's Autumn Fest on the square tonight, the 17th Hot Pepper Showdown at Scott Park Saturday, and College Hill PorchFest on Sunday. Garlic Fest is a week out, and the first week of October is already stacked with meetings.
Friday night: Homecoming at Leh, Central Catholic at Cottingham
Nazareth marks Homecoming Day today, September 25, with the district calendar closing out Spirit Week and the varsity Blue Eagles hosting Emmaus at 7:00 p.m. at Andrew S. Leh Stadium, an EPC Class 6A contest. Tickets are digital through the district's online box office on Hometown Ticketing, so buy ahead and skip the line. Easton makes it a two-town football night: the Red Rovers, 2-2 on the season, host Allentown Central Catholic, also 2-2, in a non-conference matchup at 7:00 p.m. at Cottingham Stadium at 1301 Northampton Street.
And downtown, the September edition of Easton Fourth Friday runs as Autumn Fest from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. around the Centre Square area, free and family-friendly, with street shopping, food, and live music, presented by SS Pension Consultants and Stateside Vodka. It is about a five-minute drive from the stadium, so the night can split cleanly: kickoff at 7:00, then the square after the game.
If staying in suits you better, the State Theatre wraps its biggest four-show run of the month this weekend: Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band played last night, Brian Regan takes the stage tonight, Martina McBride Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Three Dog Night closes it Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Single tickets were still listed for all four as of this morning.
Saturday: hot peppers at Scott Park, a double market morning, and the first pumpkin patch weekend
The Easton Farmers Market runs its 17th annual Hot Pepper Showdown on Saturday, September 26 at Scott Park, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Contestants start on jalapeños and climb through the ten deadly peppers, with market trivia, prizes, and live music around the contest. Up the valley, the Nazareth Farmers Market holds its own Saturday run on the circle at Main and Center Streets, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., where the Martin Guitar raffle keeps taking tickets at 2 South Main Street on market mornings.
At the Crayola Experience, the Creepy Critter Visit with Arachno-Showbia runs 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. as a weekend add-on during Screamin' Green Hauntoween, and Martina McBride plays the State Theatre at 7:30 p.m.
The fall farm season starts in earnest: Seiple Farms in Bath opens its 2026 autumn season Saturday, September 26 through November 1, weekends 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with hayrides to a 35-acre pumpkin patch, a 20-acre corn maze, and farm animals. Closer to Nazareth, Juniperdale Farms on Browntown Road is the nearest pick-your-own apple stop, and Raub's Farm Market on Tatamy Road in Easton sells pumpkins, mums, and corn stalks alongside its corn maze. Hours shift by week and weather, so glance at each farm's page before you drive.
Sunday: PorchFest fills College Hill
The eighth College Hill PorchFest takes over Easton's hilltop neighborhood on Sunday, September 27, with performers on porches, yards, and parks from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Music starts on the hour at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, and 4:00, and the organizers expect more than 50 performers across 31 porches, family-friendly and mostly acoustic. The day closes with the Second Line Parade at 5:00 p.m., stepping off from the College Hill Presbyterian Church yard at Reeder Park, 501 Brodhead Street, led by Big Easy Easton Brass; it winds through the festival area and ends back at the church, and anyone can join in. It is free, it is rain-or-shine with Sunday, October 4 as the rain date, and info booths with print maps are at the church and at Lafayette College. The practical play: park early on Northampton Street and walk up, or grab coffee downtown first.
Three Dog Night plays the State Theatre at 7:00 p.m. the same evening for a full-circle ending after the porches go quiet.
The week ahead: September 28 through October 4
Monday, September 28 is a teacher in-service day in the Easton Area School District, no school for students. On the Nazareth side, the district's activities calendar lines up a full Monday: varsity girls tennis plays its last home match of the season against Easton at 3:30 p.m., freshman football travels to Emmaus at 4:00 p.m., and middle school volleyball hosts Broughal while field hockey is at Stroudsburg, both at 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, September 29 the Easton Area School Board holds its regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. at the Easton Area Education Center, 1801 Bushkill Drive, with agendas on the district's BoardDocs portal. The same evening, Paxinosa Elementary hosts Reading Under the Lights from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., a family literacy evening that runs alongside the board meeting. The Nazareth district has no board date in this window: it runs Committee of the Whole on the second Tuesday, October 13, and its general voting meeting on the fourth Tuesday, October 27, with agendas on the Keystone Agenda platform.
Thursday, October 1 opens the municipal month. Bushkill Township Supervisors meet at 6:00 p.m. at the municipal building on Bushkill Center Road, and Forks Township Supervisors follow at 7:00 p.m., the first of their first-and-third-Thursday dates. Nazareth Borough Council holds its October business meeting on Monday, October 5 at Borough Hall, 159 West Center Street. Early October then stacks Upper Nazareth Township Supervisors on October 7 and 21, Lower Nazareth on October 14 and 28, and Palmer Township on its first, third, and fourth Monday pattern, October 5, 19, and 26 pending the posted schedule. Stockertown Borough does not publish a fixed calendar, so call the borough office to confirm its council dates.
In the city, Easton City Council returns October 14 and 28 at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall, streamed on the city site with agendas in the Agenda Center.
Eight days to Garlic Fest, and the week's fresh news
The Easton Garlic Fest fills Centre Square on Saturday and Sunday, October 3 and 4, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., free and rain or shine. One honest caveat: as of this Friday the festival had not posted its 2026 entertainment lineup, so plan around the food, the farm-to-fest vendors, and the square itself, and check the site before you go. Market regulars take note: the Easton Farmers Market sits out October 3 so vendors can staff the festival, and its next regular Saturday at Scott Park is October 10. The Nazareth Farmers Market stays on its weekly Saturday run in the circle through October.
Sunday, October 4 is also the PorchFest rain date, and Nazareth's marching band competes at Warwick that day. A few local news items worth folding into your week: Palmer Township supervisors reviewed plans on September 21 for a new Dunkin' drive-thru at 400 Trolley Line Drive, per LehighValleyLive; WFMZ has been covering lane restrictions on Route 33 where the bridge over Bushkill Creek is being replaced, worth knowing before you route a commute through the county; and The Morning Call reported another supplier acquisition for Lehigh Valley manufacturer Core Pipe Products, the kind of consolidation that keeps the region's industrial base busy through the fall.
Martin Guitar and Crayola: the standing plans
At C.F. Martin & Co. on Sycamore Street in Nazareth, the free museum, the 1833 Shop, and the Pickin' Parlor stay open weekdays, and the guided one-hour factory tour runs Monday through Friday in small groups by advance online reservation. The Martin Guitar raffle keeps its Saturday cadence through the market season, with the grand-prize drawing pinned to Halloween morning, October 31 at 2 South Main Street. In Easton, Screamin' Green Hauntoween at the Crayola Experience runs through November 1, with the mad-scientist storyline, weekend trick-or-treating stations, themed crafts, and family photo ops, and masks are the one thing the costume policy skips.
Good places to eat around the weekend
In Nazareth, Bella Bean Coffee Shop on South Broad is the dependable pre-market stop, the Nazareth Diner at 581 South Broad covers any meal, Paradise Dogs handles the casual end near the circle, Birthright Brewing Company pours at 57 South Main, Pizza Joe's at 550 South Main does the pizza-and-pasta side of town, Sicily Pizza covers East Lawn, The Farm & Table at 119 South Main pairs its restaurant with bowling lanes, and Los Compadres brings Mexican to East Lawn. The Circle Cafe sits right on the market circle itself.
Downtown Easton for the festival weekend: Josie's New York Deli on the square is the fast, no-nonsense option, Pearly Baker's Alehouse pours the classic circle pint, The Bayou Easton brings Cajun off the square, Rios Brazilian Steakhouse does the rodizio, and ThreeBirds Coffee House anchors the coffee end of Northampton Street. The Easton Public Market stays the easy indoor option, from noodles to pastry to the farmstand, a short walk from PorchFest parking.
On the horizon October 3 and 4 for Garlic Fest in the square; October 5 for Nazareth Council and the Palmer first-Monday round; October 7 and 21 for Upper Nazareth; October 14 and 28 for Lower Nazareth and Easton City Council; October 13 and 27 for the Nazareth school board; October 17 for the parade-plus-festival afternoon; October 24 for the Knauss Homestead Harvest Festival; October 30 for the Nazareth at Easton rivalry; and October 31 for the Martin raffle drawing.
The Memorial Library of Nazareth and Vicinity posts its October program calendars this weekend, a good glance for story times and book groups as the evenings cool. For anything dated, the Easton city events page and Downtown Nazareth's events listing stay more current than any single post can, so give them a final glance before you head out the door.