Best of Philly Spotlight: How to Spend a Fun Day in Phoenixville

Explore our Best of Philly 2025 winner for Best Fun Day in the Suburbs: Phoenixville. / Illustration by Kati Lacker

This year’s Best of Philly winner for Fun Day in the Suburbs is Phoenixville. Here’s your ultimate itinerary.

❶ Make it a two-for-one: The year-round Phoenixville Farmers’ Market sits along French Creek Trail, so take a hike and load up on produce after shopping. Those fabulous local tomatoes are just starting to come in.

❷ Watch a movie at the majestic Colonial Theatre, which originally opened in 1902 as an opera house. Yes, you can see the new Superman there. But you can also see modern classics like Metropolis, Big, Witness, Jaws, and Night of the Living Dead. The Colonial also hosts comedy shows and concerts, including an upcoming performance from former Yes keyboardist extraordinaire Rick Wakeman.

❸ Explore the 119 acres of Black Rock Sanctuary, home to many animals — including the massive (but harmless) snake we once spotted there. Much more dangerous than the snake: all the goose poop. Beware!

❹ Get competitive over a game of pool (or one of the many other bar games) at Fun Dungeon. Anybody who wants to try to beat me at Galaga or Joust, just get in touch.

❺ Try to snag a table for Black Lab Bistro’s popular Sunday brunch, where you’d be a fool not to start with a grilled cinnamon bun to share. (Or not share — you do you.) Note that the Black Lab is BYOB, and we’ve been known to show up to brunch with a pitcher of homemade bloodies.

❻ Practice your swing at Pickering Valley Golf Club’s driving range. It’s public and offers gorgeous views of the Chesco countryside. Plus, this course is downright affordable. $35 for 18 holes is virtually unheard of.

❼ Pick up a box of buttercreams, truffles, or vegan sea salt caramels at Bridge Street Chocolates. They are also known for their chocolate-covered homemade marshmallows. Owner and chief chocolatier Gail Warner decided to leave behind twenty years in the corporate world and open this now-beloved spot in 2010. Sweet success!

❽ Shop for board games, stuffed animals, and classic wooden toys the old-fashioned way: at an actual toy store! Just walk into Generations. They gift wrap too, which is good because anytime I try to wrap a gift, it looks like a three-year-old kid let loose with some wrapping paper.

❾ Procure a new potted friend at Perch Plants & Odds & Ends, which hosts fun classes like candle making and DIY cactus gardening. You can also join their plant club and get a special surprise plant and other treats each month. If you’re headed to Europe for a month, they also provide professional plant care services so you don’t come home to a bunch of failing flora.

Bonus: Grab a frosty one at any of the nine breweries that Phoenixville has to offer, a huge number considering the town has roughly 20,000 residents. There’s a distillery and a cidery too.

Published as “Best Fun Day in the Suburbs” in the August 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.