Click HERE for the Brews & Broomsticks Pub Crawl page

Event Details:

When: Saturday, October 19 – 12 pm – 5 pm (Pub Crawl October 18, 2019)

Where: Throughout Chestnut Hill

Cost: Free to attend. Festival includes both free and paid/ticketed activities.

Festival Registration & Tickets:

This fall, Chestnut Hill renews its seasonal tradition for the charming urban village that unites mischief and ghosts of wizards-past, with family fun for an action-packed Witches & Wizards Festival weekend. Kicking off with Brews and Broomsticks Pub Crawl on Friday, October 18 and continuing with a day full of family-friendly programming on Saturday, October 19 – the 2019 Witches & Wizards Festival promises spooktacular entertainment and activities in a whimsical community setting.

Fun for the entire family, Witches & Wizards is a day full of autumnal festivities for a pre-Halloween celebration. Locals and visitors can enjoy hands-on craft activities, live entertainment, themed shops, and more throughout the Chestnut Hill community. Other perennial favorites include the 10th Annual Brotherly Love Cup Quidditch Tournament and Woodmere Art Museum’s Straw Maze.

Festival Map:

Click HERE for a PDF of the 2019 Witches & Wizards Day

Festival Activities:

A complete listing of confirmed Festival activities can be found here. 

  • Wizarding Run  **NEW!   Saturday, October 19,  9 a.m., 8000 St. Martins Lane
    • The Wizarding Run is coming to Chestnut Hill! Grab your wand, hop on your broom, and join fellow witches and wizards on a magical 1 mile or 5K journey through Chestnut Hill with wizardly sights and sounds along the way. Every registrant receives a one of kind event shirt in 4 color options, a custom wand, a commemorative bib, and a FREE butterscotch soda. Participants of the 5K will also receive an amazing owl finisher medal at the finish line.  Register today!
  • 10th Annual Philadelphia Brotherly Love Cup Quidditch Tournament: Saturday, October 19, 10 am – 4 pm, Chestnut Hill College, Cost: Free to attend.
    The 10th Annual Philadelphia Brotherly Love Cup Quidditch Tournament returns with teams from visiting colleges and the local community team competing in round-robin style Quidditch matches.  Visit https://www.chc.edu/quidditch-tournament-information in the coming weeks for additional details and a list of participating teams.
  • 8th Annual Harry Potter Academic Conference: A non-profit annual academic conference hosted by Chestnut Hill College, this interdisciplinary conference provides a forum for scholarly presentations arising out of J.K. Rowling’s literature.  The conference is open to the public, with a registration donation required. See http://www.harrypotterconference.com/ for more information.
  • The Wizard’s Warehouse **NEW!: A one-stop pop-up shop for all of a witch or wizard’s needs, at 8532 Germantown Avenue. Featuring magical maps, goblets, cloaks, and more at special discounted prices.  Get them before they disappear!
  • The Jenks Academy for Witchcraft and Wizardry will feature bouncies, a DJ, arts and crafts stations, games, food trucks, a bake sale, wizard chess, face painting, and cotton candy.
  • Chestnut Hill Escape Room will test your fear level with a haunted adventure at Chestnut Hill Escape Room, visit the The Haunting of Chestnut Hill, the spine-cHILLing mystery room).  If you’re a fan of scary movies or TV shows, This is the adventure for you. Just the right mix of fun and fear in a ghostly adventure you won’t soon forget! (purchase tickets at https://www.chestnuthillescaperoom.com/)
  • Woodmere Straw Maze: An afternoon of fun and performances in and around Woodmere’s Straw Maze! Throughout the afternoon, performers from Circadium: School of Contemporary Circus will demonstrate world-class juggling, acrobatics, and balancing skills for audiences of all ages. Come see the next generation of circus artists and their extraordinary talents. And at 2:00 and 3:30 p.m., watch short performances by the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts Youth Troupe (children ages 10–18 years practicing circus in Northwest Philadelphia’s very own after-school circus recreational program).$5/CHILD OR FREE WITH TICKET TO THE STRAW MAZE
  • Hocus Pocus Headquarters: Market at the Fareway Parking Lot- 8221 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118

Fun for the entire family, Chestnut Hill’s annual Witches & Wizards is a pre-Halloween celebration full of spooky and magical autumn festivities. Hocus Pocus Headquarters sold out in 2018, so reserve your child’s magical wristband now to take part in the kids’ crafting activities at Hocus Pocus.  $10 in advance and $12 day of.

Magical Wristbands entitle you to activities including: 

  • Bat Pumpkin Crafting
  • Spooky Spider Making
  • Ping-Pong Pumpkin
  • Insectarium 
  • Monster Dig
  • Complimentary popcorn
  • Witches Brew in Souvenir Goblet available for $2 

The Festival celebrates all things mystical and enchanted Saturday, October 19 from noon to 5 pm. Enjoy favorite traditions such as the 10th Annual Brotherly Love Cup Quidditch Tournament and Woodmere Art Museum Straw Maze, along with live circus performers, an archery range, mad science demonstrations, shopping, delicious treats, beer gardens and more throughout the Chestnut Hill Business District.

  • Costumed Actors on the Avenue: An annual tradition from festivals past, our troupe of professional actors fans out across Germantown Avenue in spooky and magical attire, offering free scares and photo ops for participants.
  • Professional Caricaturists: Take home a keepsake sketch from one of our two professional caricaturists.
  • Secret Circus Aerialists: An annual tradition returning again in 2019, our circus aerialists put on an impressive street show featuring aerial feats, trapeze, and dance.
  • Slow Motion Booth: Act out scary and magical fantasies with your friends in slow motion at this unique video booth by SlowMo2Go.  Additional props and costume accessories are available on-site.
  • Fire-Breather: Spinning torches and blowing fire are some of the daring feats demonstrated by our stunt performer, a fan favorite in 2018.
  • Face Painter: Kids can impersonate their favorite spooky or magical character with the help of our two professional face painters.
  • Philly Ghostbusters: Complete with their unmistakable car and costumes, the Philly Ghostbusters are returning to the 2019 festival to rid Chestnut Hill of supernatural visitors.
  • CH DanceFit Performance: Don’t miss the talented dancers of Chestnut Hill DanceFit
  • The Insectarium: If creepy and crawly is a must for your Halloween  fun, don’t miss this station by The Philadelphia Insectarium, the city’s only bug-centric science museum.
  • OWLS: 1PM and 3PM The Venetian Social Club 8030 Germantown Avenue
  • NEW! Dark Magic Scavenger Hunt:
    There’s sinister stirrings in Chestnut Hill at the Wizards and Witches Weekend! A series of dark and cursed items have made their way into the shops and stores, and your help is needed to locate them all before the evil awakening spell is activated.
    Grab your wand, broomstick, and your friends, and prepare to race through the streets, follow the clues, and find all of the items before it’s too late.
    TICKETS INCLUDE:
    – Game admission
    – Magical map of the area
    – “Magic Words Daily” Newspaper containing clues to the locations
    – A magic spell sheet with information about the dark objects you’re searching for
    – Prizes for successful completion of the game!
    *Note: there is no limit to the number of participants who can work together, but each individual must purchase their own ticket.
  • Sorcerer’s Spotlight Stage with MC D.J. Jamie Grimble

Spooky Shopkeeper Specials

Visitor Experience

Chestnut Hill is hard at work creating another year of fun for visitors during Witches & Wizards. As in 2018, please note that Germantown Avenue will not be closed to traffic for the 2019 event.

Parking

Six (6) public paid parking lots will be open throughout Chestnut Hill during the event. Lot locations and pricing can be found at chestnuthillpa.com/parking. Limited street parking is also available.   Parking for the Quidditch Tournament will be available on the grounds of Chestnut Hill College.  As parking capacity is limited, visitors traveling to Chestnut Hill for Witches & Wizards are strongly encouraged to utilize public transportation.

Transportation

Public transportation is the most convenient way to travel to and from Chestnut Hill. SEPTA (Philadelphia’s regional transit system) has two station stops in Chestnut Hill located just a short walk from the heart of the community: Chestnut Hill West and Chestnut Hill East. This train system provides roundtrip transportation from Center City Philadelphia and Chestnut Hill. Visit www.iseptaphilly.com for complete schedules and details.

Join the conversation on social media with @chestnuthillpa and be sure to share the love with the hashtag #chestnuthillpa.

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Sponsors

Thank you to our corporate sponsors, whose generous support makes the 2019 Witches & Wizards Festival possible!

About the Chestnut Hill Business District

The Chestnut Hill Business District is dedicated to supporting the area’s businesses through economic development, retail attraction, and promotion of the neighborhood as an attractive destination to live, work and visit.