Today State Street holds more than 170 vendors, two music stages and a kids' zone, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. That makes the State Street Fall Festival the busiest single day on Media's fall calendar. The change that will outlast it fits in one storefront. At 11 S. Orange St., in the stone building at South Orange and West Jasper streets, a family from Media is getting ready to open a restaurant. It will serve breakfast and lunch every day and stay open late three nights a week.
The festival packs downtown for one afternoon. The rest of October spreads out over the same few blocks: a parade that turns at Orange Street, a pumpkin stroll two blocks off State, and a theater season with overlapping runs. That steady foot traffic, on weekend mornings and weeknights alike, is what the new tenant at Orange and Jasper is counting on.
A corner with a long food history
The building's history explains why a new opening there gets attention. Patch reported that On A Roll, a well-loved sandwich shop, ran there from the early 1990s for about three decades. Sopra served Italian food upstairs for part of that time. DELCO Today said the stone building "has fed Media residents for decades."
Rivalry Cafe came next and stayed a much shorter time. It opened in early 2025 and closed suddenly in June 2026, about a year and a half later, without giving a public reason. Its farewell message described how the space had come to be used:
"The regulars who became familiar faces. The people who made this their office, their meeting spot, their quiet place."
That leaves three tenants in roughly 35 years, and the most recent handoff took only a few months. The corner has worked best as a daily habit for its customers: a sandwich counter people returned to for three decades, and then a cafe that people worked from. The incoming owners appear to be building on that track record.
What The Hungry Hub is planning
The Hungry Hub will be co-owned by Cassidy Moretti, who grew up in Media, and her mother, Glenda. According to the August reports in Patch and DELCO Today, the plan is breakfast and lunch every day and a later menu Thursday through Saturday.
The announced menu has three parts:
- Breakfast: eggs, pancakes, breakfast burritos
- Lunch: chicken salad, club sandwiches, wraps
- Late night, Thursday to Saturday: quesadillas, mozzarella sticks, cheese fries
The late-night service sets this tenant apart from the ones before it. DELCO Today called it "a nod to Media's nightlife scene, and a bet that hungry bargoers will want something more than a quick walk home." On A Roll and Rivalry Cafe both made their name on daytime regulars. The Hungry Hub is planning for those customers too, and also for the people still downtown after the bars close on weekends.
The grand opening was tentatively set for Oct. 1. As of this writing we have not confirmed that it opened on that date, and no hours have been posted. Check The Hungry Hub's own channels before planning a breakfast around it. All we know for now is the address and the plan.
Parade weekend runs through the same blocks
Three weeks after the festival, the Halloween Parade brings people back to the same streets. The Media Halloween Parade steps off Saturday, Oct. 24, at 11 a.m. The borough's recreation program lists it from 11 a.m. to noon and gives this route:
- Groups stage at Barrall Field.
- The parade heads down State Street from Monroe Street to Orange Street.
- It returns along Front Street.
Orange Street is where the route turns, the same street as The Hungry Hub's corner. If you'd rather not stand in the State Street crowd, the turn and the Front Street return leg give you other places to watch from.
The parade is older than most of the businesses along its route. By 2017 the Delco Times was counting it as the borough's 53rd Halloween parade. Visit Media's 2025 listing named the Media Recreation Board as the organizer. The borough is also signing up community groups that want to march this year, using a form on its event page.
The next day, Sunday, Oct. 25, the borough holds PumpkinPalooza on the Borough lawn and patio at 3rd and Jackson streets. It includes a jack-o'-lantern contest and stroll, yard games, fall treats and spots for photos. The parade fills State Street on Saturday morning. PumpkinPalooza moves the crowd to a quieter spot near borough hall on Sunday. Together they make up the busiest single weekend downtown this month, apart from today's festival.
The Media Theatre fills the weeknights in between
The parade and the festival cover weekend daytimes. The Media Theatre covers evenings. Its 2026/27 schedule lists a Broadway series run from Oct. 1 to 18. The poster filename on the schedule identifies the show as A Chorus Line. A Youth Ensemble production runs from Oct. 10 to 25. Its title doesn't show up in the schedule's text, so check the box office for the name.
The dates overlap in a useful way. For one week, Oct. 10 through 18, both productions are running. The Youth Ensemble's last weekend is parade weekend. A family could watch the parade Saturday morning, go to PumpkinPalooza on Sunday, and see a closing-weekend performance in between, all without leaving the borough.
November is lighter but not empty. The theatre has a Conklin and City Rhythm special event on Nov. 7 and Media Live! Talks on Nov. 17. Visit Media's November calendar had no listings when we checked, so the theatre's dates are the firmest ones for that month.
October and November at a glance
| Date | Event | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun., Oct. 4 | State Street Fall Festival | State Street | 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., 170+ vendors, two music stages, kids' zone |
| Oct. 1 to 18 | A Chorus Line | The Media Theatre | Broadway series |
| Oct. 10 to 25 | Youth Ensemble production | The Media Theatre | Title not listed in schedule text |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Media Halloween Parade | Barrall Field staging, State St. from Monroe to Orange, return on Front St. | 11 a.m. to noon |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | PumpkinPalooza | Borough lawn and patio, 3rd and Jackson | Jack-o'-lantern contest and stroll, yard games |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Conklin and City Rhythm | The Media Theatre | Special event |
| Tue., Nov. 17 | Media Live! Talks | The Media Theatre | Talk series |
After that, the next big outing on the county calendar is close by. Fare & Flair at Rose Tree Park is scheduled for Dec. 3, 5, 6, 12 and 13.
Planning the rest of the month
The calendar has a pattern. Weekend daytimes belong to the borough's own events on State Street and near 3rd and Jackson. Weeknight and weekend evenings belong to the theatre. If The Hungry Hub opens as planned, its Thursday-to-Saturday late menu would cover the hours after the curtain and after last call. That's a time slot the corner's earlier tenants didn't try.
For parade morning, plan to arrive before 11 a.m. if you want a spot along State between Monroe and Orange. Expect the State Street portion to be over within the hour. Groups that want to march should use the borough's form soon, since this year's signups are already open. For PumpkinPalooza, the jack-o'-lantern contest is reason enough to carve your pumpkin a few days early.
Whatever opens at 11 S. Orange St. in the coming weeks will be the fourth business in that stone building since the early 1990s. It will open on the street where the 2026 parade makes its turn.
At Gary Scheivert & Associates, we follow changes like these on State Street and Orange Street because they shape day-to-day life downtown for the people who live here. If you have questions about Media, or about how changes downtown affect your own block, contact us and we'll talk it through with you directly.
