Midtown Village cancels its fall festival after 20 years, citing rising costs

The Midtown Village Merchants Association has canceled its annual Fall Festival for the first time since the pandemic, citing rising city costs and a drought of sponsors.

The festival dates back to 2004.

“We regret to inform you that the Midtown Village Fall Festival is taking a year off due to rising costs and corporate sponsorships being down,” the association posted to Facebook. “We are not taking the decision lightly … We would like to take a year off to restructure [and reimagine] the festival in a way that is affordable and feasible to all.”

The festival is plagued by debt, said merchants association president Fergus Carey, who owns Fergie’s Pub — the Irish watering hole at 1214 Sansom St. — among other popular bars.

The Midtown Village Fall Festival began when the now-shuttered German bar Ludwig closed streets in the neighborhood for its annual Oktoberfest celebration. Soon after, the merchants association joined, growing the festival to cover several blocks between Broad and 12th Streets and Locust and Market Streets.

The festival reportedly attracts tens of thousands of attendees to Center City every autumn, drawn by a mix of street vendors, food and drink deals, live music, and the occasional oversized beer pong or sumo wrestling match.

“We do it for the love of the neighborhood. It’s a lot of hard work and maybe not that profitable, but it makes us look great,” Carey said. “But it seems like we’re always in debt.”

The Midtown Village Fall Festival is not the first beloved street fair to shut down or consider scaling back, as the cost of services provided by city agencies such as the Philadelphia Police Department or the Streets Department has skyrocketed.

The Northern Liberties Arts and Commerce Alliance canceled its night market in July after the city told them it would cost $24,600 to close three city blocks for food trucks and craft vendors. The organizers of Manayunk Arts Festival and East Passyunk’s Flavors on the Avenue have also considered scaling back operations after the cost of police patrols more than doubled to cannibalize the events’ budgets.

» READ MORE: Street festival organizers say the rising costs of Philadelphia police patrols are crushing them

Street festivals differ from more casual neighborhood block parties, which only require a $25 to $150 permit. They involve working with the Office of Special Events to contract out different city departments to cover security, emergency services, sanitation, and health inspections, a process that can cost thousands of dollars on top of staffing and marketing expenses.

And yet these events can revitalize neighborhoods or boost businesses that just weathered the post-Shore summer slump.

Carey said that the merchants association was exploring a smaller, more kid-friendly footprint as part of the Center City District’s Open Streets program for next year. Still, he’s concerned that nothing may be viable as the city prepares for several large events to celebrate the Semiquincentennial in 2026.

“It’s these small neighborhood festivals that are taking the hit ... [The city] is going to spend big to celebrate 250 years of America, but could they help the little guy?” Carey asked. “We’re losing a sense of life in the city.”

Carey estimates that police patrols take up the largest portion of the fall festival’s budget, though the merchants association failed to provide supporting financial documentation after several requests from the Inquirer.

The merchants association owed the city about $12,000 after the 2023 fall festival for the services it used, Carey said, until a major corporate sponsor chipped in to cover the tab. The association still owes the city over $22,000 from the 2024 festival, Carey said.

They’ve been unable to cover it, Carey said, after several corporate sponsors — including the one who bailed them out in 2023 — didn’t sign on for this year.

» READ MORE: The Northern Liberties Night Market is canceled after the costs of required police patrols and sanitation services have more than doubled

“There’s money in the bank. But it’s not 22 grand. It’s not half that,” said Carey. “It’s not a good idea to throw a party when you still owe for last year’s party.”

Carey contacted City Councilmember Mark Squilla — whose district includes Midtown Village — to help tame the rising costs. Anne Kelly, Squilla’s chief of staff, confirmed that their office helped the merchants association “navigate city services ... and tried to bring rational problem solving to [the festival’s] cost situation,” but was unable to reduce the city’s fees.

Carey feels beholden to the police for security, even though they’re the festival’s largest expenditure: “It’s not like we can decide to not use the police. We can’t close the street down and not have a police presence.”

There is no written policy that requires special events organizers to use the Philadelphia Police Department as their sole security provider, police spokesperson Eric Grip previously told The Inquirer. Police have the final say over a festival’s security requirement, which Gripp said is determined based on the event’s size and history of crime.

Police bill festival organizers for labor, equipment, and fuel costs, Gripp said. Right now, police can only patrol special events on a voluntary overtime basis due to persistent staffing shortages, Gripp said, which can drive up costs. The department has about 1,300 vacancies, Gripp said, or around 20% of the force.

» READ MORE: The Philadelphia Police Department is still short 1,200 cops. Leaders say it will take ‘years of momentum’ to fix.

Hi-Lo Taco Co. owner Jeff Newman is dismayed by the festival’s cancellation. The Tex-Mex restaurant last participated in 2023, when they set up a dunk tank and a wheel of taco-related prizes to advertise before opening a few weeks later. This year, they were planning to sell margaritas.

“We got regulars out of it,” Newman said. “Anything like that in our neighborhood helps lift us all up.”