Fall at Faneuil Hall: Fall Festival Brings beat, market and fun to Boston

On Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 27–28, Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall Marketplace hosted its annual Fall Festival, a weekend celebration that drew families, shoppers, history buffs and seasonal revelers alike to the South Plaza next to the Wagamama patio.

The event, free and open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, offered live performances, local vendors, fall-themed refreshments and festive activities in one of Boston’s most storied settings.

Highlights include live beat from local acts like as Bos beat Project and Madison Powers, seasonal vendors like Hip Hop Ehoorah, QuinoHome, and CraftZone Boston, cornhole games, a “festive photo opportunity,” face painting and fall treats and refreshments.

Crowds wandered between cobbled walkways, stopping at market stalls, snapping photos near fall foliage-themed backdrops, and enjoying the tastes and sounds of the season.

Faneuil Hall itself carries a history that adds depth to the festivities.

Gifted to the city in 1742 by merchant Peter Faneuil, the hall was designed as both a marketplace and gathering place. The ground floor bustled with vendors, while the Great Hall above became a meeting space where Samuel Adams, James Otis and others rallied colonists to oppose British rule, earning it the nickname “The Cradle of Liberty.”

Expanded by architect Charles Bulfinch in 1806 and joined by Quincy Market in 1826, the site has long been a hub for both commerce and civic discourse.

Over the years, Faneuil Hall has been rebuilt after fire, expanded and reimagined. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it hosted abolitionists, suffrage leaders and political rallies, while by the mid-1900s the marketplace buildings had fallen into decline.

A sweeping 1976 restoration transformed the complex into one of the nation’s first “festival marketplaces,” blending historic preservation with shopping, dining and public gathering spaces. Today, the marketplace welcomes millions of visitors annually.