Bacon Fest weekend and when the leaf trucks hit your street

Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton · the curb in front of your house

Leaf pickup around the valley: when the trucks hit your street

The leaves are finally coming down, and all three cities started their leaf trucks this week. The catch is that every city does it a little differently, and if you rake at the wrong time, your pile just sits there until the next round.

In Bethlehem, the trucks skip today for Election Day and then work the West Side on Wednesday and the North Side on Thursday and Friday. The city wants leaves in the gutter before the crew gets to your street, cars moved if you can manage it, and no plastic bags at all. Allentown is working Districts 4 through 8 through Friday, then moves to Districts 10, 11 and 12 next Monday. Over there you keep the pile about a foot off the curb, and each district gets two passes plus a final sweep. Easton runs by ward, and it goes the other way on bags: the city will pick up leaves bagged in clear plastic if you call for an appointment, and it'll even hand you free bags.

Two cities a few miles apart with opposite rules on plastic bags is the most Lehigh Valley thing I've learned all year. The full guide has every district on this week's schedule plus the phone numbers to call.

It's Election Day, so polls are open until 8pm tonight if you still need to vote. Meanwhile, the city's paving schedule for Center Square runs out this week, and two big projects broke ground at opposite ends of Lehigh County.

Allentown · Center Square, 7th and Hamilton · paving scheduled through Fri Nov 6

Center Square's last paving stretch

The city's schedule for the Center Square realignment at 7th and Hamilton put the final paving phase, covering the full length of the project, from Sept 22 through this Friday, Nov 6. Every date on that schedule came with a weather caveat, so treat Friday as the target. The bigger plan includes plaza improvements on the square's northeast and southeast corners, plus new sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, trees and benches on the 600 and 700 blocks of Hamilton, and a raised crosswalk from Hall Street to the PPL Center. The Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority committed $3.3 million to the plaza and $1.7 million to that stretch of streetscape. After a whole season of lane closures at 7th and Hamilton, I'll take a raised crosswalk as a peace offering. Paving schedule · Street closures

Holiday shopping season starts for real this week, with Belleville Market's open house in Easton on Thursday night and a double craft-fair morning in Bethlehem on Saturday. There's also a brand-new mural in a downtown Bethlehem garage that you can go see any day.

Easton · Thu Nov 5 · 5pm to 8pm · free

Holiday Open House at Belleville Market

Belleville Market at 20 S. 3rd St. kicks off its holiday season Thursday night. The market says the whole place gets decked out for the holidays, with live music and tastings running through the evening, product demos, and holiday-inspired painting. You can meet the merchants and makers who sell there and get a free photo with Santa. Admission is free. A Thursday night with Santa photos and samples is the kind of holiday shopping I can actually commit to. Belleville Market

Bethlehem · Sat Nov 7 · 9am to 2pm · $2

NCC's Fall Craft Fair

The Northampton Community College Alumni Association fills the Spartan Center gym at 3835 Green Pond Road with about 190 crafters on Saturday, and the overflow spills into the College Center. Santa and Mrs. Claus are there from 10am to 1pm, and student clubs run a holiday craft table for kids. Admission is $2, or $1 for seniors and NCC students, and kids under 12 get in free. Proceeds go to student scholarships and internship awards. If 190 tables isn't enough, the School Sisters of St. Francis run their own Holiday Craft Fair & Bake Sale the same morning, 9am to 2pm, at Mullen Hall at Monocacy Manor, 395 Bridle Path Road, with more than 70 local crafters expected. Two craft fairs in one Bethlehem morning is how you end up with a car full of ornaments and zero regrets. NCC Craft Fair · School Sisters fair

Bethlehem · Walnut Street Garage, 33 W. Walnut St. · open now

Hector Castro's new garage mural

The Bethlehem Parking Authority unveiled a new mural inside the Walnut Street Garage on Monday, painted by Lehigh Valley muralist Hector Castro. He drew the Hill to Hill Bridge and the Moravian Church in black and white, then set three huge birds over them in yellow, red and blue. Castro told WFMZ the bridge stands for the connection between the North Side and the South Side, and the birds stand for freedom. It's the third Bethlehem garage to get artwork from the parking authority, and the mural is on the first floor of the garage. I never thought I'd tell anyone to go hang out in a parking garage on purpose, and here we are. WFMZ · TikTok

Catasauqua · Front Street along the Lehigh Canal, where the Crane Iron Works stood

The ironmaster of Catasauqua

David Thomas was born in Wales on Nov 3, 1794, so if he were still around he'd be blowing out candles today. In 1839 the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company brought him across the ocean to solve a problem American ironmakers kept failing at, which was making iron with the hard anthracite coal the canal boats were hauling down the Lehigh. He set up beside the canal in what's now Catasauqua.

On July 4, 1840, his furnace for the Lehigh Crane Iron Company made its first iron. The state historical marker on Front Street calls it the first long-term, commercially successful anthracite iron furnace in the country, and within a few decades the works had six furnaces going. The company built houses for its workers, and Thomas helped start the town's first church and its first fire company.

The furnaces are long gone now. Thomas's 1856 house still stands at Second and Pine, and the borough approved a master plan this fall to redevelop the old Iron Works land. The longer cut has the whole story, including why an iron town on a river ended up with a name usually translated as thirsty ground.

The leaves are coming down for real now, which is why the trucks are out (see the Field guide). The outdoor market season is winding down too, so this is the week to stock up while the tables are still out.

Bethlehem · Thu Nov 5 · 10am to 2pm · free

Bethlehem Farmers Market at Farrington Square

The Bethlehem Farmers Market sets up every Thursday at Farrington Square, where New and Morton streets meet on the South Side, and it's down to the last couple of Thursdays of its 19th season. It's producer-only, so the 15-plus vendors grew or made what's on the table, from vegetables and fruit to bread, eggs, honey and dog treats. There's live music every Thursday, and it's free to walk around. A weekday market at lunchtime is the closest I get to feeling like I live in a European movie. Bethlehem Farmers Market

Hellertown · Tue Nov 3 (today) · 8am to 6pm or until sold out

Election Day bake sale at the Heller-Wagner Grist Mill

The Hellertown Historical Society is selling homemade baked goods at the Heller-Wagner Grist Mill site, 150 W. Walnut St., today from 8am to 6pm or until it sells out. The Society asked neighbors to donate homemade cookies, cakes, pies and breads for it, and the money goes to the Society's general fund for its programs and preservation work. The sale sits near the polling place, and the Society's own pitch is that you can "cast your vote" for your favorite baked good. That's the only election pun I'll allow this year, and I'm allowing it because there's pie. Hellertown Historical Society · LVCiv