The Final Jenkintown Market of the Season, Firehouse Open Houses Across Abington, and Ghostbusters in Concert at the Keswick: Your Late-September Guide for Rydal

Think Rydal trades its summer energy for quiet the moment the leaves start turning? Not a chance. This Thursday, September 24, the Jenkintown Farmers Market pours out its final market of the season from the library parking lot. A week later, all five of Abington’s volunteer fire companies throw open their bays for Fire Prevention Week open houses. And on October 19, Ghostbusters returns to the Keswick marquee with a live orchestra playing the score under the film. One last market, one family favorite, one iconic movie night, all of it minutes from your front door.

This is the stretch of September when the boroughs around Rydal take turns showing off. The oaks along Meetinghouse Road are just starting to blush, the evenings stay crisp and clear, and the calendar fills with the exact kind of outings that make families fall for this area: a hometown market finale, fire trucks kids can actually climb, and a full-scale movie concert under a historic marquee. Whether you have lived here for decades or you are weighing whether to call this neighborhood home, here are the three plans to make this week and next.

🎬 Hand-held slow walk into the Jenkintown Library parking lot on a Thursday afternoon in late September, white canopies and crates of heirloom tomatoes and apples in sharp focus, shoppers as distant silhouettes, a brick facade and turning trees at the edge of frame, the low golden sun flaring between the stalls. Text overlay: "THU SEP 24 | FINAL MARKET OF THE SEASON | JENKINTOWN FARMERS MARKET."

01 The Final Jenkintown Farmers Market of the Season: Thursday, September 24

Start with the one that closes out this week. The Jenkintown Farmers Market, the borough’s open-air market that was long known as the Jenkintown Night Market, holds its final market of the 2026 season this Thursday, September 24. It runs every Thursday, 3:00 to 7:00 PM, through September in the Jenkintown Library parking lot, where vendors load their tables with peak-harvest produce, flowers, and fall tabletop decor as the season winds down.

A final-Thursday market has a particular magic: the apple bins are at their fullest, the mums have just arrived, and everyone you run into is stocking up for the weekend. Bring a canvas bag and a plan to stop by the library while you are there. From Rydal it is a short drive down Old York Road, and it pairs perfectly with an early dinner on Jenkintown’s town square or an evening walk around the borough.

It is the kind of small-town ritual that new residents discover and never let go of, and it is the last chance to catch it until spring. Do not let the season end without one visit.

🎬 Hand-held evening shot across the open bays of a brick volunteer firehouse in Abington, the big red truck gleaming under warm floodlights, kids on shoulders reaching up to touch the cab as distant silhouettes under string lights, pumpkins and a ladder display beside the bay, the blue dusk going purple behind the roof. Text overlay: "OCT 4-10 | FIRE PREVENTION WEEK | 5 FIRE COMPANIES OPEN HOUSE."

02 Fire Prevention Week Open Houses: Sunday, October 4 through Saturday, October 10

The hands-down favorite for families with little ones is Fire Prevention Week, the nationally fixed week around October 9 that falls on Sunday, October 4 through Saturday, October 10 this year. Every October, each of Abington Township’s five volunteer fire companies (Abington, McKinley, Weldon, Edge Hill, and Roslyn) opens its doors to the neighborhood, with more than a thousand residents turning out across the week.

Picture the classic scene, every evening of that week in a different part of the township: bay doors rolled open, the big red trucks gleaming under warm floodlights, and kids lining up to climb into the cab, try on the helmets, and watch live demonstrations while volunteers hand out giveaways and talk fire safety. In recent years the companies have spread one open house per evening, 6:00 to 8:00 PM, and the township posts the exact nightly lineup at abingtonpa.gov in the final week of September, so bookmark it and pick the house closest to you.

For anyone considering moving to the area, this is the week that shows you how a real neighborhood works: volunteers, neighbors, and kids all out on a weeknight for no other reason than community. It is free, it is local, and it is the easiest evening of the year to meet your own firefighters face to face. Rydal’s closest of the five is the Roslyn company on Bradfield Road, a five-minute drive from the neighborhood.

🎬 Hand-held tracking shot along Easton Road in Glenside on a cool October evening, the Keswick marquee glowing warm white-gold through the trees ahead, families as small distant figures crossing under the canopy, autumn leaves on the sidewalk, a quick push-in on the glowing blade sign before you head through the doors. Text overlay: "MON OCT 19 | GHOSTBUSTERS IN CONCERT | KESWICK THEATRE."

03 Ghostbusters in Concert at the Keswick: Monday, October 19

And save the date for the biggest-screen family night of the season. On Monday, October 19, the Keswick Theatre presents Ghostbusters in Concert: the beloved 1984 classic projected on the big screen while a live orchestra performs Elmer Bernstein’s iconic score in real time. When Ray’s theme swells over Manhattan’s skyline and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man lumbers into frame, the room turns into one giant shared pop-culture moment.

It is a perfect first-concert for kids and a nostalgia trip for grown-ups, and the Keswick is the ideal room for it: the restored 1920s movie palace at 291 N. Keswick Avenue, Glenside, with a marquee that lights up Easton Road and the Glenside Regional Rail Station right beside it if you would rather ride in from Rydal. Tickets are on the Keswick website, and orchestra-in-concert nights tend to find their audience fast, so grab seats early.

A Monday night of movie magic under a vintage marquee, minutes from home, is exactly the kind of memory families build here. It closes out the next month the right way.