Summer Festivals in Pennsylvania

From the cities to the towns of Pennsylvania, festival season draws crowds looking for fun, food, and entertainment. You can find all of those things throughout the summer months, and if your thing is covered bridges, you are really in luck.

Nationality Days, a celebration honoring ethnic diversity, takes place from May 18 - 20, 2007 in Ambridge, PA. Continuous live entertainment, with an emphasis on ethnic performers, and over eighty booths of arts and crafts and food, bring in a crowd of up to forty thousand for this popular event.

Celebrating its fiftieth year in 2007, the Western Pennsylvania Laurel Festival on June 19 - 24 in Brookville, PA includes concerts, a fashion show and tea, a car cruise, a parade, and on family night closes down all of Main Street for the festivities. Get more information at http://brookvillechamber.com/html/events.php

The Pittsburgh International Children's Festival takes place in West Park on Pittsburgh's North Shore during May 16 - 20, 2007. The festival offers live theater, crafts, culture, and education, plus activities that keep the event entertaining for even the youngest kids. Performances will be held in neighboring venues, such as the Hazlett Theater and the Children's Museum Auditorium, and features performers such as Jabali African Acrobats and The Dirty Sock Funtime Band. See more at http://www.pghkids.org/

One of the most unique, and regionally-themed, festivals offered in any state this summer is the Bucks County Covered Bridges Festival. The festival takes place in Erwinna, PA on June 9^th and 10^th at Tinicum Park. Guides will lead festival-goers on walking tours of two covered and trolley tours of five additional bridges. The festival also offers jugglers, a jug band, a petting zoo, hot air balloon rides, and more. A special goal of the festival is to raise money to install fire-deterrent devices in the eleven covered bridges that remain in the region to protect them from arsonists who have struck the bridges. Find out how you can help in this noble endeavor at http://www.buckscountycoveredbridgesfestival.org/

The Tune Town Concert Grounds in Titusville will play home to Summer Frolic from July 26 - 30, 2007. This alternative/inter-faith gathering brings together people from all walks of life to celebrate the summer harvest. A Middle Eastern belly dancing troupe and Folk and Celtic bands will perform on the festival stage. Get more information on this family event at http://www.frolicproductions.org/SummerFrolic.html

Historic Vernon Park, located at the intersection of Germantown and Chelten in Philadelphia, will host the People's Festival August 4^th and 5^th. Live music from local bands, a poetry reading, food, and information on health bring the crowds out in Philly for this community event. Get the scoop at http://peoplesfestival.org/