Chestnut Hill, PA comes alive with winter celebrations, ice sculptures, ice carvings, ice skating, warming stations, yurt village, and selfie stations:

Chestnut Hill on Ice Festival.

Ice, Ice Baby

A friend and I planned to visit Chestnut Hill, PA and spend the day strolling through the town, visiting pop-up ice bars, and relaxing by the warming station fires.

The weekend was very mild so we didn’t spend much time seeking out the non fires. We certainly did enjoy the winter day strolling through town!

Chestnut Hill keeps the winter wonder alive during the grey months of January and February. The Ice festival invites you to explore the amazing Chestnut Hill area, watch artists create ice sculptures, sample local wares, food and drinks.  Stroll the festival grounds and stop by an outdoor bar made entirely of ice, then relax by a crackling fire at the many warming stations.

In addition to food, drink, and shopping, there was ice skating and yurt stations available during the 2020 festival. What fun!

Ice Bars

We arrived to find a very crowded town. It wasn’t hard to find the first Ice Bar and warming station.  The bar was quite crowded!  But as we approached we could see four very large ice blocks with flower arrangements frozen inside.  Capping these four blocks was a massive bar-top. Very busy but efficient ladies were manning this bar and quickly moving the bar line along.

Nearby was a fire crackling nicely in a fire pit, surrounded by seating and another large group of people. Folks were enjoying their drinks and kids were petting the fur-babies on leashes.  It was simply… festive.  We were happy just being there.

Paris

We explored Chestnut Hill’s festival area and ended up shopping – of course. After a few hours walking we settled down for a long, relaxing dinner at Paris, a French cuisine restaurant. Our longtime friendship took over the evening and we ended up spending hours at dinner, before we headed back out to finish shopping in town.

If you have the chance, visit Chestnut Hill during this festival weekend. The event runs throughout the day and most of the activities are available during daylight hours – making it a perfect family weekend.  At night, the neighborhood remains quietly festive and welcoming with plenty of restaurants, bars, and taverns to suit any taste.