Macungie Memorial Park's Fall Season Moves Into Memorial Hall
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
Macungie Memorial Park gets no tax money. Since 1944 it has been run by the Macungie Memorial Park Association, a private nonprofit that pays for the park itself. In practice, the events calendar keeps the park going. In late October that calendar heads indoors, into Memorial Hall, with bingo nights and craft shows that run through November.
So the next four weeks mark a handoff. The final food trucks and the final farmers market of the year happen in the same week. Halloween falls on a Saturday packed with events. Then the activity moves into the hall. Here's how it lines up and why the park is set up this way.
The Association's own description lays out the arrangement: "We depend on our community as we are not tax-supported. Every bit matters!" It holds 501(c)(3) status, which makes donations tax deductible. It also hosts its own events, rents out its space and partners with outside groups that want to hold events on the grounds. Its rentals include pavilions, the grounds, meeting rooms and a gym.
That model goes back to the start. The Association was set up as a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation in 1944 and bought the park's original 22 acres in 1946. According to a history published by Ontelaunee Region AACA, the August car show everyone knows, Das Awkscht Fescht, came out of an effort to pay off the bonds that built the pool. It made a profit in its first year and every year after. The same history describes how the work is split today. Ontelaunee Region runs the car show, and the Association handles the other activities with volunteer help.
Volunteers still do a lot of the work. The Lehigh Valley Press reported on Oct. 8 that volunteers help with the pool, the playground, grounds maintenance, repairs and overhead, and that high school students can earn volunteer hours there. Read with that in mind, the fall calendar is the park keeping itself open between summers.
Two outdoor series end within eight days of each other. If either is part of your week, these are the final dates of 2026.
| Date | Event | Time | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Oct. 22 | Macungie Farmers Market | 4–7 p.m. | Lumber Street, just off Main Street |
| Wednesday, Oct. 28 | Food Trucks in the Park, final night | 5–8 p.m. | Macungie Memorial Park |
| Thursday, Oct. 29 | Macungie Farmers Market, final day | 4–7 p.m. | Lumber Street, just off Main Street |
The Oct. 22 market is the second to last. The Macungie Farmers Market has been open Thursdays since May 21, so Oct. 29 closes a season that ran a little over five months. The market posts updates on its Facebook page, which is the place to look if the weather threatens a Thursday.
Oct. 31 is a Saturday this year, and the park has events from morning on. Its events calendar lists a Halloween Bash Model Show from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and an Outdoor Craft Show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Lehigh Valley Press lists a Fall Fest Craft and Vendor Show at the park that day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., so check the park's calendar for the start time before you head over. The calendar adds that all events are subject to change and depend on the weather, which matters most for the outdoor craft show.
Trick-or-treating that evening follows two schedules. The Borough of Macungie has Trick or Treat Night from 6 to 8 p.m. Lower Macungie Township runs its Trick or Treat Night from 6 to 9 p.m. Plenty of homes in the area have a Macungie mailing address but sit in the township, so whether porch lights stay on until 8 or 9 depends on which municipality you're actually in. If your trick-or-treaters plan to cross the line between borough and township, the township's later end time only applies on the township side.
Once the outdoor events wrap up, the calendar doesn't empty out. It moves inside, mostly to Memorial Hall. The weekly constant is cash bingo every Saturday night downstairs. Doors open at 4:30 p.m., card sales start at 5 p.m. and play begins at 6:30 p.m. Around that, the park's calendar fills in through late November.
The list shows how the park's model works. Two of these afternoons are fundraisers for other community groups, held in a hall that a nonprofit park keeps running. The Friends of the Macungie Institute and Mandee's Lunchbox each get a room and an afternoon, and the park stays busy in months when the pool and bandshell sit empty. That's the arrangement described on the Association's homepage, hosting its own events and opening its space to partners, carried through the colder months.
Memorial Hall's lower level gets other use too. The Lower Lehigh AARP chapter meets there, and its next meeting is Nov. 5. The park's calendar currently runs through the Nov. 21 craft show, and its printable 2026 calendar and events page are where any later additions will show up.
Some of the season's best-known events happen elsewhere in town, put on by neighbors running their own programs.
The Macungie Minstrelaires perform "A Star-Spangled Celebration" on Oct. 23, 24, 30 and 31 at Lower Macungie Middle School, 6299 Lower Macungie Road, according to the Lehigh Valley Press. The Oct. 31 show falls on the same evening as trick-or-treating, so families who want both will need to plan around it.
Lower Macungie Township runs its own indoor and holiday events at the Community Center at 3450 Brookside Road. The Winter Craft Show runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 21, the same Saturday as the park's second indoor craft show. The park's show ends at 2 p.m. and the township's at 3 p.m., so one Saturday can cover both. The township's Christmas Tree Lighting follows on Friday, Dec. 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. It includes music, crafts, food trucks, ice carving and a snow zone, and the tree is lit at 7:45 p.m.
The park pays for its season by staying in use, whether through its own bingo nights, craft show vendors, a partner group's fundraiser or a pavilion rental come spring. When you buy a bingo card in Memorial Hall on a November Saturday, you're helping keep up a park that has paid its own way since 1946.
If you'd like to talk about Macungie, its seasons or what's ahead for your own plans, Jamie Elstner is always glad to hear from neighbors. Let's Connect.
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