Mark Your Calendars: Midtown Village Fall Fest
Boy, Midtown Village sure has changed in the eight years since it started throwing its annual Fall Fest. First of all, are we all really calling it Midtown Village now? Second, it had East Passyunk’s dining scene before East Passyunk did. Third, are we really calling it Midtown Village?
Anyway, the neighborhood’s fall fest has always been a fully legit event, regardless of the name, and this year may be even better. For one, Chestnut Street will be closed for the first time from 12th Street to Broad, and it’s being held on a Sunday – Oct. 6 – from noon to 7 p.m. Trivia tidbit: last year, 40,000 people showed up.
This time, one hundred businesses and vendors will be out on the street, as will bands playing two stages, including a 20-piece samba band. Raw is hosting sumo wrestling, Macy’s will be decked in Christmas fashions (ahem … did anyone tell them the holiday doesn’t happen until six weeks later?), and Nest is setting up a mini-village for the kids.
But the coolest haps will be at Bru, which is unveiling these dope pink key fobs that automatically deduct charity money from every self-poured pint of Free Will Saison de Rose, a pink grapefruit and ginger saison brewed to benefit the Rena Rowan Breast Center at Penn Medicine. The beer, which I collaborated on with three other local beer women (Erin Wallace, owner of Devil’s Den, Old Eagle Tavern and the forthcoming Barren Hill; master wine sommelier Marnie Old; beer writer extraordinaire Carolyn Smagalski) will pour out of electronic taps over pink ice. McGillin’s will also be serving Saison de Rose, as might some other Midtown Village bars, as well.
Bru is also designing a German pairing menu for the day that includes Fruh Kolsch with bacon flatbread, Ayinger Celebrator with fried chicken and a sticky bun with Russian Imperial Stout.
Midtown Village Fall Fest [official]
