Chestnut Hill Fall for The Arts Festival Review Fun Events

In the Spring and the Fall, Chestnut Hill has their own arts festival. I attended the fall festival and spent a good few hours there checking out the art, food, music and the neighborhood of Chestnut Hill itself.

I thought I would write a review on Chestnut Hill's Art Festival so you can see if this is a fun activity for you or not. Check out my review below to see if this event is right for you.

Chestnut Hill is perhaps the most affluent and suburban section of all of Philadelphia. It is a friendly and safe section of town, so for those of you worried about the intensity of the city or urban driving, you won't have this trouble here.

If you want to learn more about Chestnut Hill. I linked a separate review of this town for you to check out. This review focuses on the town on a typical weekend day when no special events are going on. The review is linked next to this paragraph

Basically if you can find Germantown Pike or Germantown Avenue (the same road) you can find this event. The Chestnut Hill Arts Festival extends the length of Germantown Avenue from where it intersects at Rex Avenue down to about Willow Grove Avenue .

If you are coming from Norristown, Collegeville, Blue Bell, etc. take Germantown Pike east all the way into Chestnut Hill. Coming off Blue Route or Route one. Get off at Plymouth Meeting and take Germantown Pike East.

I'll link directions to Chesnut Hill besides this paragraph.

The look of the Chesnut Hill arts festival is very much like most community fair events. There are booths densly lining both sides of Germantown Avenue right in the midst of downtown Chestnut Hill.

The pediestian traffic is heavy.

The quaint stores and restaurants that are open all year round in Chestnut Hill are open on this day and welcoming to customers.

The crowd is dense but moves along nicely. If you are in a hurry, you can easily get out of the crowd in the middle of Germantown Avenue by moving to the adjacent sidewalks were there is little foot traffic, but plenty of open stores for visit or window shopping.

I'd say it is a pretty diverse age group. From early 20's through 60's, 70's and up. I didn't get the impression any age group would feel 'left out' at this event.

Don't ask me how I know this (and I could be wrong) but I get the impression that the demographic of the crowd is the generally art appreciating, middle upper class, suburbia folks to who appreciate attending art and music fairs to pass the time more than actually buying anything.

Friendly and low-key crowd.

Paintings: If you enjoy looking at paintings and photographs by local artists you'll enjoy this event. I was happy that most of the paintings were not the typical, dull, landscape paintings and fruit sold my so many wanabees. Some interesting works on canvass.

Photography: The photographs leaned toward cityscapes and nature images. Nothing particularly edgy but still nice to look at on a beautiful day out in Chestnut Hill.

Crafts/Other Art: Other art, such as woodcraft was offered as well. Not as prevalent as paint and photo but definitely present

Beer: While this event is not at all a drunk fest or even a social-drinkers event, I was surprised that you are allowed to carry beer with you as you stroll around. Local bars are open along Germantown Avenue to sell you beer in a plastic cup as well as some beer vendors on the street.

Music: There could have been a bit more of this but there was a definite live music presence. There was one blues band and a couple of solo musicians playing along Germantown Ave

Fun For Kids: Not a lot of fun for kids but the festival did dedicate a parking lot to an area were the kids could bounce around in one of those balloon tents and other activities.

Shopping: All of the shops and restaurants along the Arts Festival were open for business.

The vibe was low key but fun and positive. The event was very crowded and things moved slowly on foot up and down Germantown Avenue but no one seemed to mind.

Musicians and local radio played music, the vendors seemed upbeat and happy to be there and the crowd seemed to enjoy the scenery.

A pleasant, overall feeling in this quaint section of Philadelphia.

You'll like The Arts Festival if you enjoy:

Strolling quaint towns

Peaceful afternoons

Events that are not edgy or a big party scene

You enjoy art and photography but are not particularly picky.

You won't like this event If you:

Are looking for a beer fest

Don't like window shopping

Detest art.

Love art but only if it takes artistic risks