Events to enjoy in Mars area this summer and fall
Most of summer, the Fourth of July and America’s 250th anniversary may have passed by and a new school year may be just around the corner, but there are still plenty of fun events to sample in the Mars area in the coming months.
May 23-Oct. 31: Advance Community Church, on Crowe Avenue in Mars, is hosting a farmers’ market each Saturday until Halloween from 9 a.m. to noon, featuring contributions from local artisans and food growers.
Aug. 1: Glade Run Lake Park is hosting its second annual Celebrate the Lake, a free community event to promote Glade Run Lake and all that the 52-acre lake has to offer. The event will feature live music, food trucks, a beer and wine tent, basket raffles and a silent auction.
Sept. 19 to 20: Evans City welcomes Pumpkinfest back to the borough for its fifth edition this September. Pumpkinfest is a celebration of all things pumpkin and all things fall. While a schedule for this year’s event has yet to be released as of June, the event typically features live music, dozens of food and craft vendors, pumpkin carriage rides and tractor pulls. There is no application deadline for food and craft vendors — applications are open until all slots are filled.
Oct. 3: A fall tradition returns with the 41st annual Mars Applefest — one day only, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event, hosted by the Rich-Mar Rotary Club, attracts an estimated 9,000-10,000 visitors to Mars’ downtown area each year. Last year’s Applefest brought in 145 food and craft vendors. The deadline for vendor application is July 31.
Oct. 9-11: The weekend of Oct. 9-11 will feature two events. The Sleepy Hollow Festival is set for Oct. 10 in Harmony, and the Country Fall Festival will run from Oct. 9-11 in Zelienople.
Nov. 14-15: The holiday season begins with a German Christmas Market in Harmony on Nov. 14 and 15.
Nov. 20: Cranberry Township’s annual Christmas kickoff event is set for Nov. 20.
Nov. 29: Light Up Mars marks the semiofficial beginning of the holiday season. Further details will be available later.
Dec. 31: The Silvester New Year’s Eve celebrates the start of a New Year, on German time, with a ball drop at 6 p.m. in Harmony annually.
June 2027: One of Mars borough’s signature events — Mars New Year — returns for its sixth iteration in June 2027. Held once every two years to mark the start of the new year on the red planet, the festival, which started in 2015, is a two-day celebration of science, technology and outer space.
While plans have yet to be announced for the 2027 event, the previous Mars New Year in 2025 featured esteemed guests from the aerospace field, a 2,000 square-foot Robotics Village, nightly drone shows featuring 200 drones lighting up the sky over the borough and a space-themed concert led by Dr. John M. Kennedy, among other science-themed attractions.
