Two school buses on a Manayunk corner and a free 1865 science museum

Forbidden Drive, Wissahickon Valley Park (Northwestern Ave in Chestnut Hill down to Valley Green, and on to the Ridge Ave trailhead)

Forbidden Drive in fall - a walk down the Wissahickon to Valley Green

Late October is when I finally get myself back to the Wissahickon. Forbidden Drive is about five miles of flat gravel along Wissahickon Creek, from Northwestern Avenue in Chestnut Hill down toward Ridge Avenue, and it's gentle enough for a stroller.

There are no cars on it because of a 1921 protest. When park leaders floated opening the road to cars, hundreds of riders and carriage drivers paraded down it, and the plan died. Walk downstream past the 1855 Thomas Mill Covered Bridge and turn around at the Valley Green Inn.

The full guide has parking and bus tips, plus the Friends of the Wissahickon hikes going on this week and next.

A comedian from out of town came to hate on Fishtown and mostly just agreed with us. Plus two school buses against one Manayunk corner, and a video game orchestra at Porchfest.

Harrison Plaza's first new building gets its design review next week, so here's what's planned. And since every Philadelphia voter gets the same two charter questions on Nov 3, I've laid those out too.

Lower North Philly (10th & Thompson) · Wed Nov 4 · 1pm · in person and on Zoom

Harrison Plaza's first new building goes to Civic Design Review

Mission First Housing Group's plan for 1300-50 N 10th St is scheduled for the city's Civic Design Review committee on Wednesday, Nov 4, at 1pm, at 1515 Arch St, Room 18-029, with a Zoom option. It's 50 affordable apartments for seniors in a four-story building with a roof deck and a community room. It would replace ten existing PHA townhomes and flats at 10th and Thompson, and the plan has no parking. The packet calls it the first phase of redeveloping the whole Harrison Plaza public housing site. Civic Design Review is advisory, so nothing gets approved at this meeting. The Zoning Board hearing is scheduled for Jan 13, 2027. If you want a comment read into the record, email cdr@phila.gov before noon on Tuesday, Nov 3. Civic Design Review

Citywide · Tue Nov 3 · on your Nov 3 ballot

Two city charter questions on your Nov 3 ballot

Every Philadelphia voter gets the same two questions about the Home Rule Charter, which works like the city's constitution. Question 1 asks whether to change the city's contracting rules so it can give bid preferences and set-asides to small businesses and expand them for local businesses, with a piece about bond requirements on some construction projects. The Committee of Seventy and PhillyVoice both say it would let the city award contracts between $75,000 and $500,000 to small and local businesses even when their bid isn't the lowest. The question itself doesn't set aside any new money. Question 2 asks whether to write Creative Philadelphia, the arts and culture office headed by the Chief Cultural Officer, into the Charter. The city says the office already exists, and Seventy says it runs today under a mayor's executive order. There's no dollar amount on that one. A yes on either question amends the Charter, and a no leaves it as it is. Read the official text before you go. Official ballot questions · Committee of Seventy

A horror art night kicks off Halloween weekend on Ontario Street, and the following weekend the Northwest gets a wreath class at Weavers Way Farm and a gallery full of fiber art in Roxborough.

North Philly (W Ontario St) · Fri Oct 30 · 8pm-11:59pm · 21+

Glitch: Fear Fest 5

215fashionmag throws Fear Fest 5 at 172 W Ontario St, billed as a horror and art experience, from 8 until just before midnight. It's 21 and up. Tickets are on Eventbrite, with no refunds. Treat it as the dress rehearsal for whatever you're wearing Saturday. Eventbrite

Wagner Free Institute of Science · 1700 W Montgomery Ave, North Central (between 17th and Bouvier, a few blocks west of Temple)

The Wagner Free Institute of Science - a free science museum at 17th and Montgomery since 1865

A merchant named William Wagner started giving free science lectures at his house in the 1800s, using his own specimens. By 1865 he had a building for them at 17th and Montgomery, and it's still there teaching for free.

Upstairs, the museum cases still stand in roughly the order the naturalist Joseph Leidy set them in around 1890, so a walk around the hall moves you from simple life to complex. In 1892 the building also opened the city's first public library branch.

The full story has a myth check on the "buried in the building" line and the details for the Saturday, Nov 7 open house, noon to 4.

You have until Sunday to see the scarecrows at Morris Arboretum. And the Chestnut Hill Farmers Market keeps its 9am Saturday start for one more month before winter hours.