Springtime Fun at the Chestnut Hill Home & Garden Festival

Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill blossoms into an outdoor garden marketplace on Sunday, May 2nd, when Chestnut Hill hosts its 15th Annual Home & Garden Festival. The festival features over 150 home and garden vendors, artists, and craftsmen displaying their wares up and down Germantown Avenue. Gardening booths will include landscape displays, trees and shrubbery, hanging baskets and container gardens, orchids, garden pottery, sculpture and furniture, outdoor grills, handmade sprinklers, dried flowers and wreaths, bird friendly gardening, and landscape lighting. For the home, there will be vendors offering everything from roofing, basement renovations, granite, marble & tiles, teak furniture, window replacements and energy saving devices. In addition, the unique one-of-a-kind shops of Chestnut Hill open their doors and set up outside with their own merchandise, products and services. And, to cap it all off, there will be vendors offering jewelry, paintings, photography, hand-made quilts, clothing, and an array of other wonderful art & craft items.

The Bones ‘N Bonnets Pooch Parade has been a tradition at the Chestnut Hill Home & Garden Festival since 2001, and grows more popular each year. Pet owners seem to be looking for any excuse to dress up their family canines, and the festival provides the perfect opportunity. The parade begins at 2 o’clock in the 8000 block of Germantown Avenue and welcomes dogs of all shapes and sizes to compete for prizes in the categories of most creative, most comical, best bonnet for a large dog, best bonnet for a small dog and most likely to be invited for tea. Juan Varleta of B101 Radio, the media sponsor of the festival, hosts the parade and local judges decide on the winners.

Registration for the parade is $5 with all proceeds being donated to the Pennsylvania SPCA.

In addition to the myriad of shopping opportunities available, there will be lots of fun activities for children, including amusement rides, arts & crafts, a rock climbing wall, free train rides, face painting and scrumptious festival foods including funnel cakes, kettle korn, cotton candy and ice cream. And speaking of food…there will be al fresco dining up and down Germantown Avenue with delicious offerings from the restaurants of Chestnut Hill. Choose from a big juicy burger right off the grill at Solaris, a Schmitter from McNally’s, coconut shrimp from Chestnut Grill or a crab cake sandwich from Roller’s Restaurant at the Flying Fish. Or try a heaping plate of orange beef with fried rice and an egg roll from Cin Cin’s, a delicious vegetarian dish from Cafette or an Indian entrée from Bhagya’s Kitchen. And, of course, there’s always pizza, hot dogs, cakes, cookies and other delightful treats.

Music fills the air all day long as bands perform on the stage set up in the 8200 block of Germantown Avenue, while Six Pack, The Glensiders, and Red House share the stage up in the 8600 block.

So come on out, bring the family and enjoy a wonderful day in beautiful, historic Chestnut Hill. The festival is free and $5 all-day parking is available in several of Chestnut Hill’s lots. For more information, call 215-247-6696. 

Vendors can download an application here. Garden Festival vendor CONTRACT