How Easton Turned a River Confluence and a Crayon Factory Into a Comeback
5 Reasons to Visit® · United States
How Easton Turned a River Confluence and a Crayon Factory Into a Comeback
Where the Delaware and Lehigh rivers meet, a faded industrial city has drawn nearly half a billion dollars in investment and reinvented itself around food, art, and its own crayon-making history.
Advertisement
Easton, Pennsylvania, sits at a genuinely dramatic spot: the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers, at the eastern edge of the Lehigh Valley where Pennsylvania meets New Jersey. Once an industrial and textile city, then challenged by decades of suburbanization, Easton has staged one of the most convincing small-city comebacks in the Northeast — drawing more than four hundred sixty million dollars in private investment since 2021 and reinventing itself around food, arts, history, and a walkable downtown. It has become one of the Lehigh Valley's great revival stories, and people are taking notice.
Advertisement
The centerpiece of the revival is, of all things, a market. The Easton Public Market — voted the number one public market in the United States by USA Today readers in 2023 — anchors a downtown food scene that has become a genuine regional draw, filled with local vendors, restaurants, and makers. Around it, a weekly farmers' market on Centre Square (one of the country's oldest continuously running open-air markets), an upscale restaurant and nightlife scene, and a steady stream of festivals and outdoor concerts keep the historic core buzzing.
Easton also happens to be the home of an American icon. Crayola has been manufacturing its crayons here since 1903, and the Crayola Experience — a colorful, hands-on attraction downtown — draws roughly four hundred thousand visitors a year, branding Easton as a kid-friendly destination and pouring foot traffic into the surrounding streets. Few small cities can claim a piece of Americana quite so beloved, and it gives Easton a distinctive identity all its own.
America's No. 1 public market, the home of Crayola, and a Broadway stage — around one historic square.
Advertisement
Culture and education anchor the city through good times and lean ones. The State Theatre, a beautifully restored nonprofit performing-arts center, brings Broadway shows and national concerts downtown, while Lafayette College — long perched on College Hill above the city — has expanded its campus down into the heart of downtown, bringing students, energy, and investment. Together they gave Easton the cultural backbone that carried it through the harder decades and now fuels its momentum.
That momentum is part of a booming region. The broader Lehigh Valley has grown to more than seven hundred thousand people, with a record economic output and a reputation as one of the nation's top mid-sized markets for economic development, drawing residents priced out of New York and North Jersey — Easton sits barely an hour from New York City. That regional strength, combined with Easton's walkable downtown, riverfront setting, and relative affordability, has made the city a magnet for remote workers, families, entrepreneurs, and creatives — the same revival energy lifting its Lehigh Valley neighbor Bethlehem — even as the Valley's housing supply struggles to keep up with demand.
Easton is honest about the work still ahead — a revival this fast brings rising prices and a tight housing market, and it remains a real, mid-sized city rather than a polished resort town. But its trajectory is genuinely strong. A spectacular river-confluence setting, the nation's top public market, the home of Crayola, a Broadway-caliber theater, a college downtown, and proximity to New York have made Easton one of the most compelling small cities in Pennsylvania. For the visitor it makes a lively, food-and-arts-rich day. For the growing number who settle in, it makes the case for a walkable, riverside city on the rise within reach of the metro area — which is exactly why they keep coming.
Easton, Pennsylvania: FAQ
Is Easton, Pennsylvania worth visiting?
Yes. Easton offers the Easton Public Market (voted the No. 1 public market in the U.S. in 2023), the Crayola Experience, the historic Centre Square and its farmers' market, the State Theatre performing-arts center, a lively restaurant and nightlife scene, and a dramatic setting where the Delaware and Lehigh rivers meet. It makes a lively, food-and-arts-rich day in the Lehigh Valley.
Why are people moving to Easton, PA?
Easton offers a revitalized, walkable downtown, a riverfront setting, a rich food and arts scene, and relative affordability within a booming Lehigh Valley economy, all about an hour from New York City. It draws remote workers, families, entrepreneurs, and creatives priced out of New York and North Jersey, though the region's housing supply is tight.
What is Easton known for?
Easton is known as the home of Crayola (crayons made here since 1903) and the Crayola Experience, the No. 1-voted Easton Public Market, its historic Centre Square, the State Theatre, Lafayette College, boxing champion Larry Holmes, and its setting at the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers in the Lehigh Valley.
Is Easton a good place to live?
Easton offers a revitalized walkable downtown, a strong food-and-arts scene, a riverfront setting, a college-town cultural life, and proximity to New York City within a booming Lehigh Valley economy. The main trade-offs are rising prices and a tight regional housing market that have accompanied its fast revival.
Advertisement
