Take a Delicious Drive Through the North East Firemen's Cherry Festival

TUESDAY, JULY 13 - 17

For generations, the North East Firemen's Cherry Festival has sweetly filled the second full week of July with food and fun, as well as the funding coffers of North East's volunteer fire departments. Although organizers are absolutely pitted that the traditional rides and entertainment will be absent for a second straight year, they're positive the 2021 drive-thru event will still be well worth the pit stop. 

Why? First off, the pies. If you're not already familiar, lattice tell you about them — they're hand-formed every morning and freshly baked every afternoon of the festival, with a signature criss-crossing crust made from scratch. But please save some room for dinner. The menu features fairground favorites such as sausage subs, French fries (curly and straight-cut), chicken tenders, hamburgers, and hot dogs. 

With any luck, conditions will be ripe for a complete rebound in 2022. The festival's usual amusement provider is still dealing with operating difficulties stemming from the pandemic, namely the cancelation of the Crawford County and Chautauqua County Fair legs of their tour, which makes the logistics of setting up for just one week in North East cost-prohibitive. 

Until then, it's on you to remain in complete control while operating your own rides for the duration of the roughly 20-minute loop through Heard Memorial Park. Volunteers will be standing by with the goods every evening Tuesday through Friday, and all afternoon Saturday. Both cash and credit/debit cards will be accepted, so bring your preferred form of payment — and, of course, your appetite.

Thank you, thank you cherry much. 

Tuesday through Friday, 5 to 8 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 8 p.m. // Heard Memorial Park, 40 N. Lake St., North East, PA 16428 // facebook.com/necherryfestival