Thousands expected at fall festivals in Zelienople, Harmony
Two events are set to draw thousands of people to two small Butler towns this weekend.
An organizer for the 40th annual Zelienople Fall Festival couldn’t guess the number of people expected to pass through the borough Saturday, Oct. 11 and Sunday.
In Harmony, about 3,000 guests are expected to pass through on Saturday alone for its 14th annual Sleepy Hollow Festival.
Both festivals, with Zelienople’s running 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, and Harmony’s running 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, attract autumn enthusiasts looking to start their spooky season with crafts, concessions and a sense of community that consumes both locals and tourists.
“Everybody knows what to expect,” said Matt Edwards, executive director of the Zelienople Area Business Association, which organized the Zelienople event. “It’s fall-themed, it’s pumpkins, it’s corn stalks, it’s cold weather, flannel shirts, fire pits and all that fun stuff.”
Edwards said this year is the first fall festival for many businesses on Zelienople’s Main Street. He said the “Route 66” vibe between boroughs Zelienople and Harmony right off the highway can make it difficult to attract customers to local businesses, but the fall fest gets people off I-79 to see those businesses.
While the 40th year for the festival is a notable milestone, Edwards said it wouldn’t have been possible without Ethel Mae Hall. She organized the event as a local business owner for 35 years before she died Oct. 3, 2020, according to Edwards and her obituary.
“As cool as it is to be the director of the director of the 40th one, all the credit for that goes back to her,” Edwards said.
Less than a mile away, Harmony’s Sleepy Hollow Festival began after seeing the success of Zelienople’s Fall Festival to both highlight its businesses and build relations between the two boroughs, according to MJ McCurdy, the organizer and owner of Bottlebrush Gallery & Center for the Arts.
“If it’s on the same weekend, they have a big draw over there, we have big draw here, we can bring these things together again, building community,” McCurdy said.
She said the Sleepy Hollow Festival started as a lone farmers market stand in the town square with pumpkins for children to paint before ballooning into what it is today. It ran as a standalone event its first two years before they two festivals began coordinating.
To help with coordination, McCurdy facilitated a shuttle to run from the square outside the Harmony Museum to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Zelienople.
The Sleepy Hollow Festival organizers also fundraise for a project or organization each year. This year’s project is My Dog’s Park coming to Harmony in Spring of 2026.
The dog park, organized by nonprofit Paws With Purpose Community Association, will be located at the end of Spring Street and will tie into the larger comprehensive park and trail system being developed in Jackson Township.
Organizers said the township donated the land and fencing for the park, and funds raised by the festival’s annual pumpkin race, where small pumpkins can be bought for $1 to race down Connoquenessing Creek for a prize, will be allocated toward the dog park.
