Concord's Harvest Festival Happens on a Farm the Township Is Still Rebuilding, One Barn at a Time
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
On Saturday afternoon, Concord Township's Harvest Festival, Pet Costume Contest and Halloween Parade fills Bush Hill Farm at 30 Bethel Road from 1 to 3 p.m. The township describes the property as a 40-acre site. Behind the costumes are two barns, one from 1791 and one from 1834.
The township has been working on this property in a clear order. Barn restoration has moved, spent money and won a county preservation award. The park features in the 2023 master plan have barely started spending. That includes the lawn, the playscape, the trailhead and the welcome center. Saturday's festival happens in the gap between the two.
Concord's own listings put two events on back-to-back days, and the rain plan stacks them:
On a rainy weekend, you could catch the market's last morning on Smithbridge Road and then head to Bethel Road for the parade. The township says on its activities list that dates can change, and its events page is the place to check Saturday morning.
Bush Hill wasn't bought as a park. The township's master plan says Concord bought the original 23-acre parcel from Mary Ann Wilkes in 1998 and added two more parcels later, of 9 and 8.6 acres. Today the township's Bush Hill Farm page lists trails, large fields, dog enclosures, a rented horse pasture, a goat enclosure and barn, and a Parks & Recreation building.
The farmhouse is gone. According to the master plan it burned down, and the barns and outbuildings survived. The plan's account of the property as of November 2023 describes two barns:
| Barn | Date | Use in the 2023 plan | Condition noted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Palmer barn, red | 1791 | Inside the horse-pasture lease | Stabilized in 2018, still needed significant repairs |
| Wilson/Palmer barn, gray | 1834 | Goats, under a tenant lease | Needed repairs |
The animals on the property belong to private tenants. Concord's resolution listings show ground-lease resolutions for Bush Hill in both 2025 and 2026. The plan calls the site's history a dog park, informal walking area and occasional event venue. It wants to keep it passive and rural, with animal husbandry continuing only as long as responsible tenant partners stay on.
Council accepted the Bush Hill Farm Master Plan as complete at its November 2023 public meeting. The barn work had started before that and has kept going since. In order:
The spending follows the same order. In its report for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, the township showed $256,720 spent of a $373,460 budget, or 69%, on a line combining barn revitalization at Garnet Mine and Bush Hill. In the same report, Bush Hill master-plan implementation showed $1,624 spent of $307,000, or about 1%.
The 1% figure reflects how the schedule has moved. Concord's FY2024–28 capital plan put Bush Hill master-plan implementation in 2025. The FY2025–29 plan moved it to 2026 through 2029. The adopted 2026 budget spreads it across 2026 through 2030.
Here's what that implementation covers, using the master plan's phasing and its order-of-magnitude capital estimates:
| Phase | Plan years | Highlights | Estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Years 1–2 | Barn repairs, dog-park upgrade, paddock repairs, pond basics, perimeter fence, "Bush Hill Commons" lawn, furnishings, Featherbed Lane trailhead, volunteer task force | $545,000 |
| 2 | Years 3–5 | Driveway, Bethel Road crossing, parking, utilities, ADA welcome center, playscape, dock, signs, trail connections | $910,000 |
| 3 | Years 5–10 | Further upkeep, review of partnerships and programs | $150,000 |
Barn work accounts for $250,000 of that estimate. The dog park gets $30,000, and walking trails get $20,000 in each phase.
The details show what would change on a festival afternoon. The "Bush Hill Commons" lawn is a flexible mown space, set alongside a natural-material playscape and picnic groves with shade shelter. The central driveway would become the public entrance, with an exit-only lane about 50 feet south and a larger main lot with accessible paved spaces. The plan also proposes a natural-surface trail to Featherbed Lane with a small trailhead lot, and an internal link to a proposed Bethel Road crossing toward Clayton Park. The Parks & Recreation building could get ADA restrooms, a modernized kitchen and a conversion into a welcome center.
None of that appears in the township's reported spending through June 30, 2026, beyond the $1,624 figure.
Some smaller pieces are already in place. Concord's July 2026 council packet announced a Keep PA Beautiful grant for a pollinator garden. Citizen Portal reported the amount as $2,000. Before the master plan was even accepted, council recognized Girl Scout Troop 5607 for "Goat-topia," a Bronze Award service project at the farm. The plan notes that local scout troops use the property and that the dog park has a loyal local following.
That is the Bush Hill festivalgoers will walk on Saturday. The barns are getting attention that has earned county recognition, the animals and pasture are run by tenants, and the dog enclosures are in their current form. The lawn, playscape and welcome center from the plan sit in a capital budget that has been pushed back year after year.
The master plan's trailhead would sit on Featherbed Lane, and that corner currently has PennDOT work nearby. ChaddsFordLive's road report lists utility work bringing daytime lane closures on Conchester Highway between Mattson/Featherbed Lane and Merion Drive in Concord Township through Oct. 30. The same report notes that Bethel Avenue between Conchester Highway and Cherry Tree Road is fully closed around the clock through late 2026 for intersection reconstruction, with posted detours. Bush Hill's address is on Bethel Road, so check the detours against your route before you head out.
The rest of the township calendar runs into November:
If you want to follow the Richardson Barn bid and the rest of the Bush Hill work, Concord posts its council agendas and packets on the township website. That's also where the master plan and the quarterly financial reports live. More of our Garnet Valley coverage is on our Garnet Valley neighborhood page.
Open space like Bush Hill Farm is one of the local details we account for when we value a home near it. If you own in Concord or Bethel Township and want to know how your home's setting affects its value right now, The John Bell Team can prepare a free home valuation built on that local detail. Request Your Free Home Valuation.
Stay up to date on the latest real estate trends.
Get assistance in determining current property value, crafting a competitive offer, writing and negotiating a contract, and much more. Contact John today so he can guide you through the buying and selling process.