Every October, the brick walkways of Peddler's Village fill with straw-stuffed figures in flannel and denim, some grinning, some menacing, all of them handmade. For six weeks each fall, more than 150 scarecrows lean against lampposts and shopfronts across the 42-acre property in Lahaska, a Bucks County crossroads about 40 miles north of Philadelphia. The display, now in its 47th year, is free and open every day through Oct. 26.
For one weekend in the middle of that run, the scarecrows get some company. OctoberFeast returns Saturday, Oct. 10, and Sunday, Oct. 11, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days, bringing German-style food and drink, a beer garden, live brass bands and a spread of family activities to the village. Now in its 10th year, the festival is free to enter, with free general parking; a limited number of VIP parking spaces can be reserved in advance. Some of the children's activities cost extra.
The music leans heavily on the oompah tradition. The Philadelphia German Brass Band, a regional ensemble that has long supplied the soundtrack for Oktoberfest celebrations around the Delaware Valley, performs on the main stage both afternoons, while the Galena Brass Band holds down the gazebo. On Sunday, the Give & Take Jugglers add a roving performance. Visitors can wander between sets with a stein in hand, sampling local beer, wine and spirits in an outdoor Food & Drink Garden, with food trucks and the village's own restaurants filling out the menu. Shops stay open until 8 p.m. on Saturday.
Families get their own slate of activities, much of it spread across the Red Barn Field and Street Road Green: pumpkin painting, face painting, sand art, gem mining, lawn games, hay piles, axe throwing and a petting zoo from noon to 4 p.m. There is even a scarecrow-making station, where visitors can assemble a figure of their own to take home.
That the scarecrows and the beer garden share a weekend is no accident of scheduling. Scarecrows in the Village is the older and larger of the two traditions, a six-week exhibition that turns the whole property into an open-air gallery. The scarecrows are made by residents and organizations from around Philadelphia, and visitors can vote for their favorites through the Peddler's Village mobile app or with paper ballots available in each shop, with prizes going to the winning creators in each category. The village also runs a separate Scarecrow Festival in September, with scarecrow-making workshops that let participants build a life-size figure from a kit of clothing, decorations and straw.
Both events sit on ground with a longer history than either. Peddler's Village was founded in June 1962 by Earl Jamison, a lifelong Bucks County resident who bought a run-down property at the intersection of Routes 202, 263 and Street Road. Locals knew the spot as "Hentown," after the chicken hatchery, coops and barn that had occupied it. Jamison, whose family had been in the hospitality business since 1763 — when an ancestor, Henry Jamison, ran a tavern on the stagecoach line between Philadelphia and New York — turned the old farm buildings into 14 shops and the Cock 'n Bull Restaurant, which he ran himself in the early years.
The design was deliberate. Inspired by a trip to Carmel, California, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Jamison built in the style of 18th-century colonial America: clapboard siding, wooden shutters, hand-painted signs, buildings clustered along winding brick paths with no parking lots cutting through the center. He and his wife Sheila were both horticulturists, and the landscaping they planted became as much a draw as the shops. The property opened on six acres; it now covers 42, with more than 60 shops, seven full-service restaurants, tasting rooms, the Golden Plough Inn and Giggleberry Fair, an indoor family entertainment center built around a restored 1922 carousel.
The bet on atmosphere paid off. Peddler's Village was the third most-visited attraction in the Philadelphia region as of 2018, and it draws roughly two million visitors a year — all of whom walk in free, as they have since the gates first opened. Jamison received numerous business and community awards over the decades, and in 2004 the Solebury Township Historical Society named him an honored citizen. His daughter, Donna Jamison Cave, took over as CEO in 2025.
OctoberFeast is a relative newcomer to that long run, launched a decade ago as the village's answer to Oktoberfest season. It has grown into one of the property's bigger autumn weekends, timed to land squarely inside the scarecrow display so that a single visit covers both. The scarecrows stay up through Oct. 26; the beer garden and the brass bands are gone by Sunday evening.
For anyone planning the trip: admission and general parking are free, the festival runs rain or shine, and the scarecrow display is on view every day regardless of the weekend crowds. VIP parking can be purchased online but is shut down at 2 p.m. the day before the event, or earlier if it sells out.