Locals and seasoned visitors know about the eclectic culture vibes exuding from Midtown Harrisburg. From its independent businesses, craft breweries, and farm-fresh culinary creations, you’ll find nothing short of memorable and unique experiences each time you visit. Here’s a sample of what Midtown has to offer, with new and exciting businesses popping up all the time.
The Millworks
We can’t talk about Midtown Harrisburg without mentioning The Millworks. It’s a restaurant…meets brewery…meets art gallery that pays homage to its historic core while acknowledging the here and now. Its local, sustainable menu sources our region’s freshest produce and meats to deliver the best of what’s in season! It also fires up the flavor in their wood stove and sidewalk smoker. Just like its food, The Millworks’ on-site brewery uses local ingredients to develop refreshing craft beers. After your meal, grab a stout and get inspired as you browse the art galleries and shops for a taste of Harrisburg culture. When the weather's clear, find a seat in the cozy outdoor courtyard or the expansive rooftop biergarten. The rooftop offers aerial views of Midtown Harrisburg and welcomes a casual crowd for craft beer and wine, good food, and good fun.
Broad Street Market
Next door to The Millworks, you’ll find more fresh produce at the oldest continuously operating farmers market in the nation — Broad Street Market—which has a place on the National Register of Historic Places and has been offering phenomenal food since before the start of the Civil War. Today, you can shop souvenirs in the form of gourmet donuts, wine and spirits, jams and jellies, fudge, jewelry, just to name a few. When your taste buds can’t wait, stop for a bite at one of the vendors offering craft burgers, BBQ, Spanish, Jamaican, Greek, and other ethnic cuisines, beer, ice cream, pierogis, and more! The Broad Street Market is open Thursday through Saturday, so be sure to work a trip here into your weekend excursion.
Midtown Scholar Bookstore Café
Literary lovers from near and far visit and shop the Midtown Scholar Bookstore, Harrisburg’s best independent bookstore for 14 years running. One could get lost browsing the shop that’s packed with more than 200,000 new, used, and rare texts. The smell of the binding and pages coupled with the scent of organic and fair trade coffee and tea at its in-store café make this cultural hub so inviting. The Midtown Scholar often hosts intimate gatherings for musical performances, book talks, and poetry readings, a welcome treat for browsers.
Susquehanna Art Museum
Just down the block, you’ll find the exquisite, world-class Susquehanna Art Museum (SAM), Harrisburg’s only dedicated art museum featuring a rotating collection of works from local, national and international artists. Its curators choose their exhibit pieces to represent a variety of techniques, styles, themes, and cultures to make admiring art accessible to everyone! One of the first things visitors see when they enter the museum, opposite its entrance, is the humungous vault door, original to the building which was once a bank. Because the SAM doesn’t have a permanent collection of art, there is always something new to admire each time you visit!
Nyeusi Gallery
Continuing with the art theme, Nyeusi Gallery in Midtown offers an impressive collection of local and global art from places like Ghana, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The exhibits focus on Black artists, with the space also decorated with images of historic African American and African activists and philosophers, as well as other Black history artifacts. The gallery invites featured artists for events and also hosts paint nights and other opportunities for the community and visitors to come together in unique ways to celebrate Black art and culture.
Zeroday Brewing Company
What’s a Zeroday, you ask? It’s a term familiar to through-hikers who spend weeks on the trails. A Zeroday is when they relax and recover, logging 0 miles on their trek. Aptly named, Zeroday Brewing Company wants to be that place where you kick back with friends in their tasting room and sip some truly interesting craft beers! From their famous flagship beers like the spicy and refreshing Mango Hab to their limited releases and one-offs like the one where they put a 6-foot Douglas Fir tree right into the kettle. You’ll want to take a few crowlers to-go to help tell your friends what a great time you had here! Find Zeroday brews in 3 locations: the new Zeroday Taproom and La Catrina authentic Mexican restaurant on Third Street, The Zeroday Outpost at Broad Street Market, or the Zeroday Outpost at Midtown Cinema. Did you know? The original Midtown taproom is now a full brewery production facility, so the Zeroday roots in Midtown are strong!
Midtown Cinema
Midtown Cinema is Harrisburg's Independent Arthouse Theatre. Blockbuster movies are nice, but Midtown Cinema specializes in enriching and educating the community on the art of film and shows only most innovative limited release and foreign films plus a dose of nostalgia especially around the holidays. Its intimate three-screen space is a callback to the oft-forgotten experience of watching moving art! (Remember, this is also Zeroday Outpost location!)
Café 1500
Whether it’s an upscale date night with your sweetie or a laid-back brunch with your pals, Café 1500 in Midtown Harrisburg aims to make everyone feel comfortable. Their menu has all your favorite comfort foods, each with a new age twist and seasonal ingredients to ensure optimal fresh taste. Their craft cocktail menu is endlessly creative, like their famous brunch Bloody Mary concoctions, and their taps feature a rotating, curated roster of beers from local breweries. Embracing the culture of Midtown Harrisburg, their restaurant wall décor also includes local artwork from three galleries. We know you’re sold on a visit to this bistro, and we didn’t even have to mention their free parking!
Experience Midtown Harrisburg – the historical, yet hip part of town!
