There’s always that one thing that makes it official.
Maybe it’s the first Sunday you need a jacket on the walk to the Linc. Maybe it’s apple cider donuts eaten warm from the bag, the leaves changing along the Wissahickon, or pulling the Halloween decorations out a little earlier than necessary.
We asked the Philly Home Collective team about the traditions that make fall feel like fall to them. As it turns out, we have a lot of opinions about apples, pumpkins, football, foliage, and Halloween.
Apple Picking Day
For Zoe Fox, fall means one thing: Apple Picking Day.
For the past 14 years, Zoe has organized a big annual picking trip, usually to Weaver’s Orchard in Morgantown, her longtime favorite. The day doesn’t end when the apples are picked, either. The group follows it up with a late lunch at an Amish smorgasbord.
Fourteen years in, it’s less of an outing and more of a fall institution.
Corn Mazes, Cider Donuts + a Little Nostalgia
Julie Froelich heads back to a place she remembers from her own childhood: Duffield’s Farm in New Jersey.
The corn maze is the main event, but Duffield’s checks pretty much every fall box: apple picking, pumpkin picking, cider donuts, pony rides on Saturdays, and a petting zoo.
For Julie, part of the appeal is getting to revisit a place that already holds fall memories and experience it all over again.
Eagles Sundays + Linvilla Orchards
For Sheena Marziano, fall arrives in two stages: Eagles football and Linvilla Orchards.
There’s something about putting on a jacket and walking toward the stadium on a crisp Sunday that feels like the official start of the season. Sheena and her family know the regulars in their section, so every home game feels a little like a family reunion.
Once fall is really underway, a trip to Linvilla in Media is non-negotiable.
The warm apple cider donuts are, according to Sheena, the best. Period.
Then there’s Pumpkinland, with pumpkins of every shape and size, jack-o’-lantern displays, a giant scarecrow, hayrides, apple shooters, pony rides, a train, playground, barnyard animals, a hay maze, and a kid-friendly beer garden.
Their family favorite is the hayride to the witch’s house: silly, sweet, and decidedly not scary.
The Sounds, Smells + Little Rituals of Fall
Stefania Zuccarini loves fall less for one specific outing and more for all the little things that come with it.
Crisp air. Sweater weather. Kids walking to school. Roasted chestnuts. Butternut squash soup. Halloween costumes and decorated houses. Eagles fans dressed head to toe in green.
And then, of course, the annual return of pumpkin spice season.
She may not drink pumpkin spice coffee herself or have Eagles tickets, but she loves watching everyone else fully commit to the season.
It’s the collective shift that she looks forward to most: everyone coming back from summer, refreshed and ready for fall.
A Pumpkin Pie Recipe Worth Keeping
Some traditions are about a place. Others are about a person.
For Dan Giannetto, fall brings back memories of his dad making pumpkin pies completely from scratch.
He would boil the pumpkin, then use a giant strainer to mash the pulp for the filling. According to Dan, the boiling pumpkins smelled terrible. The pies, however, were always worth it.
His dad made them for more than 30 years using the same recipe. On years when he threatened to skip it, the family complained until he gave in.
Dan still has that giant strainer and plans to keep the tradition going, hopefully passing it along to Lily someday.
Hiking the Wissahickon
When cooler weather arrives, Heather Ruthrauff wants to be outside.
One of her favorite fall rituals is hiking through the Wissahickon, whether she’s walking along Forbidden Drive or heading up into the trails.
Crunching leaves underfoot, crisp air, cooler temperatures, and a few hours surrounded by trees are really all she needs.
A Cozy Weekend in the Poconos
Every October, Carly Harris plans a weekend in the Poconos with friends.
The fall foliage starts before they even arrive, with the drive itself becoming part of the tradition. Once there, the agenda is intentionally simple: a rustic cabin, a few hikes, s’mores by the fire, and lots of time spent being cozy together.
In Carly’s words, it’s the ultimate hygge weekend.
Amy Reese is right there with her. Fall leaf-peeping in the Poconos is one of her favorites, too.
Harvesting Pumpkins at Home
For Emily Nussbaum, the fall tradition starts months earlier.
For the past two summers, her family has planted pumpkins at their little farm so they can harvest them together in the fall.
When the pumpkins are ready, friends and the kids’ friends come help pick them, turning the harvest into a celebration of its own.
They even leave some pumpkins on the front stoop for neighbors to take.
There’s something especially satisfying about decorating for fall with something you grew yourself and then getting to share the extras.
Halloween Through the Years
For Missy, Halloween has always been more than one night.
Her oldest daughter was born October 28 and came home from the hospital on Halloween wearing her very first costume: a tutu, shirt, and crown.
With three kids, Halloween became a full family production over the years. There were school parades and classroom parties, butterflies, superheroes, Egyptian princesses, Star Wars characters, pizza with neighbors before trick-or-treating, wagons overflowing with candy, and spiked apple cider for the adults.
As the kids grew up, the tradition changed with them. Trick-or-treating gave way to Halloween parties and college celebrations, but the holiday never really got smaller.
Missy still decorates the house every year, starting in late September and keeping everything up well into November.
These days, Halloween includes a newer tradition with good friends Bill and Sheena and their son, Robbie Joe. Sheena and Missy walk the neighborhood helping Robbie build his candy stash, while Dan and Bill stay by the driveway fire pit with scotch and full-sized candy bars.
Yes, they’ve officially become that house.
Maybe that’s what all of these traditions have in common.
Whether it’s a pie recipe passed down through generations, an annual orchard trip, a hike through the Wissahickon, football with familiar faces, a pumpkin harvest, or Halloween traditions that grow and change with the family, fall gives us an excuse to return to the things we love.
And maybe pull on a sweater while we’re at it.
