Bogert's Covered Bridge is still closed this fall. It's the oldest bridge in Lehigh County. Its rehabilitation began in September 2025, and in July 2026 the city said the closure may last into early 2027. Lights in the Parkway opens its 30th-anniversary season on Friday, Nov. 27. That leaves about eight weeks of fall, and the easiest place to start them is the upstream end of the park along Fish Hatchery Road.
The usual starting point is fenced off for now. The upstream end has parking, restrooms, a fly shop and a trout nursery within a short walk of each other.
What's Behind the Fence at Bogert's
The work is a $2.6 million grant-funded overhaul. The city's capital-projects page lists the scope. A crane lifts the bridge to correct its sag, damaged timbers are replaced, and the bridge gets a new slate roof and repainting so it looks the way it did originally. The bridge is one of 217 covered bridges left in Pennsylvania, according to WFMZ.
In July, crews ran into a problem. The city's Facebook update said, "Progress on rehabilitating Bogert's Covered Bridge has been delayed due to unexpected wood deterioration discovered during construction." The update also said crews were waiting for a special order of custom wooden timbers. The same post gave the current outlook: "We're still aiming to reopen the bridge this year, but the closure may extend into early 2027."
The city's project tracker still shows "anticipated completion late 2026," which is earlier than the early-2027 possibility in the July update. The tracker also says all of its dates are estimates and may change. We found no public reopening date or ribbon-cutting announcement as of early October. A trail review posted Aug. 25 describes marked detours around the rebuild. Plan on the detour for this fall, and treat a reopening before the holidays as possible but unlikely.
Starting Upstream Instead
Fish Hatchery Road crosses the Little Lehigh Creek upstream of Bogert's. A state fisheries survey described the stretch of creek between the two bridges. The LINK Trail Network lists three stops along that upstream end, and each one works as a starting point while the covered bridge is closed.
| Stop | Address or access | What's there |
|---|---|---|
| Robin Hood Bridge | Lehigh Parkway Path access point | 40 parking spaces, restrooms, fishing |
| Fireman's Bridge | Fish Hatchery Road area | Fly-fishing-only access; Little Lehigh Fly Shop at 2643 Fish Hatchery Rd. |
| Li'l-Le-Hi Trout Nursery | 2901 Fish Hatchery Rd. | Self-guided tour, fish-food vending machine, 2.2 miles of trails |
On the city's facility page, the trout nursery is listed as open, with a self-guided tour, a fish-food vending machine, and 2.2 miles of its own trails. The phone number is (610) 437-7656. The city's listing gives no hours, so call before an early-morning or late-afternoon visit.
Together, these stops cover most of what a fall Saturday at the Parkway usually includes: a place to park, restrooms, a walk along the water, and trout for children to feed. None of them requires getting near the construction fence.
The Surface Under Your Feet
Count on gravel for most of the walk. LINK calls the main route the Lehigh Parkway Path and lists it at 6.5 miles. The surface is a mix of asphalt, crushed stone and gravel, and bridges along the creek let walkers make shorter loops. AllTrails maps a 6.2-mile "Little Lehigh Parkway Trail" loop and says it is 96 percent gravel and 2 percent paved.
That matters for anyone planning around a stroller, a road bike or wet leaves. The creek bridges are why a short loop from Robin Hood Bridge works. You can cross, walk back on the other bank, and never reach the detour at Bogert's. Doing the full 6.5 miles this fall means following the marked detour around the rebuild.
Fifty-Five Days Until the Lights
From today, Oct. 3, there are 55 days until the Lights in the Parkway opening. The Parkway calendar is quiet until the week of Thanksgiving, when several events land in three days:
- Wednesday, Nov. 25, 7 p.m.: The city lists the Lights in the Parkway 5K at Lehigh Parkway on the night before Thanksgiving.
- Friday, Nov. 27, 5:30 p.m.: The 30th-anniversary season opens. It runs nightly from 5:30 to 10 p.m. through Jan. 6, 2027, and is closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
- Monday, Nov. 30: The first walking-only Monday is listed as the 30th Anniversary Celebration.
The city's Special Events Bureau has confirmed that 2026 is the show's 30th-anniversary season. The Discover Lehigh Valley listing describes about a mile of the Parkway lit with 175,000 to 200,000 string lights and more than 90,000 illuminated bulbs, along with light tunnels and a Santa-and-reindeer scene.
What the Lights Season Changes on Foot
From Nov. 27 on, most evenings in the Parkway are a ticketed drive-through. Tickets have to be bought online in advance. Cars are $16 for up to eight passengers, and commercial vans, limos and mini-buses under 14 feet are $26. No cash or credit sales are taken at the gate. Nobody can decide on the spot to drive through. A spontaneous visit still needs a ticket bought online before you arrive.
Monday nights work differently. The listing describes "Move it Mondays," a free event where people walk, run or bike through the displays from 5:30 to 10 p.m. On the Lights schedule, Monday nights are listed as walking only. Here are the themed Mondays in the listing:
- Nov. 30: 30th Anniversary Celebration
- Dec. 7: Hanukkah Celebration
- Dec. 14: Polar Express
- Dec. 21: Christmas Celebration
- Dec. 28: Kwanzaa Celebration
- Jan. 4: Three Kings Celebration
The same listing also says the Mondays start "December 30," which doesn't match the dates above. Dec. 30, 2026 is a Wednesday. The city's own Lights page still shows the 2025 season's program. The Monday dates above all fall on Mondays and fit the season's dates, but check them with the city's Special Events Bureau, 610-437-7750, before planning a family outing around a specific theme.
For anyone who walks the Parkway on foot, the Lights season mostly turns the park's evenings over to cars, apart from those Monday walking nights. Daylight walks from Robin Hood Bridge in October and most of November come before that change.
Further Out on the Parkway
Two other city projects will affect how people reach and use the Parkway after this season. The city's tracker shows Phase 1 of the MLK Trail, from Fountain Park to Lehigh Parkway, as fully funded and planned to start construction in 2026. We found no confirmation that the work has started. When it's built, it will give the Parkway a dedicated trail link toward the city, as the first piece of a phased route meant to connect downtown to Fountain Park, Lehigh Parkway, Union Terrace and Cedar Beach.
The second project is a new parks operations building. The tracker says the department's current facility got a "D" grade. The plan is a new building in Lehigh Parkway, just north of the existing one, with design starting in summer 2026 and construction in 2027. For this fall and holiday season, though, the plan is simpler. Park at Robin Hood Bridge, walk the creek on the gravel, follow the detour at Bogert's, and buy Lights tickets online before Nov. 27.
If the timing of the Bogert's Covered Bridge reopening or the MLK Trail connection matters to a decision you're weighing near Lehigh Parkway, the team at Shabana Pathan Group follows these city project timelines closely and can walk you through what has actually been confirmed. Schedule a Confidential Consultation.
