Last Updated on October 13, 2022
‘Tis the season for pumpkin carving, scarecrows, and apple cider doughnuts! If you’re looking for a way to celebrate all things fall this year in the beautiful Carolinas, check out our fall bucket list. Pack your calendar with festivals, food trucks, live music, ciders, fried food, costume contests, Oktoberfests and more!
Charlotte:
USNWC’s Fall Festival
Oct 5th
US National White Water Center
9am-4:30pm
Enjoy a full day of races, fall-themed yoga sessions, seasonal cider sampling, and the spectator-friendly carnage of Fall Festival’s signature Build Your Own Boat (BYOB) Competition.
Renaissance Festival
Oct 5th-Nov 24th
16445 Poplar Tent Road, Huntersville
10am-5:30pm
Plan to spend a whole day enjoying non stop entertainment! Arts and crafts, games and rides, jousting knights on horseback, feasting and so much more! Time travel to the greatest party since Camelot.
45th Annual Carolina Balloonfest
Oct 18th-20th
260 Hangar Drive, Statesville, NC 28677
Come prepared for a full weekend of beautiful colors in the sky and fun activities for all ages! You can expect morning fly-overs and evening balloon glows, shopping at the marketplace, live entertainment, fun in the Kids Zone, and lots of food on Eat Street!
Rich & Bennett’s Halloween Bar Crawl
Oct 26th
Uptown Charlotte
1pm-10pm
Experience the Biggest Halloween Crawl in the Southeast! With over 20 bars involved throughout Uptown Charlotte, enjoy great drink specials, giveaways, and a costume contest! Cost varies from $10-$25.
South End Oktoberfest
Sept. 28
Norfolk Hall
1:30pm-6pm
Sample beers from 30+ local and regional breweries while listening to live music and shopping local Charlotte vendors!
Raleigh:
World of Bluegrass
Sept 24-28
Downtown Raleigh
Eight free music stages in downtown Raleigh featuring IBMA and Grammy Award winners, top-notch emerging acts, and traditional bluegrass. The festival also features a dance tent, workshops and exhibit hall with instruments and gear in the Raleigh Convention Center, food vendors, a juried arts market area, and more!
Festifall Arts Festival in Chapel Hill
Oct 12th
Franklin Street, Chapel Hill
11am-3pm
Festifall Arts Festival is a gathering of all kinds of artists, crafters, arts organizations, and arts educators from the Triangle and beyond. Fun for all ages!
N.C. State Fair
Oct 17th-27th
1025 Blue Ridge Road
Raleigh, NC 27607
8am-12am
“Nothing Could Be Finer” than to spend a beautiful fall day at the N.C. State Fair!
Triangle Oktoberfest
Oct 18th 5pm-10pm
Oct 19th 12pm-9pm
Booth Amphitheatre: 8003 Regency Parkway, Cary NC
The Largest Oktoberfest in Central North Carolina! This is an authentic German festival focused on family fun, traditional Bavarian food, local and authentic German beers from Munich.
Clayton Harvest and Music Festival
Oct 30th- Nov 3
Clayton, NC
This five day carnival features rides and games, a BBQ competition, Halloween night fun, concerts, a Latin American Festival, and much more.
Asheville:
Autumn in the Mountains Car Show
Sept 28th
Asheville Outlets
9am-4pm
Join the British Car Club of Western NC annual show and check out 120+ British and European classic cars, race cars, racing motorcycles, rare-exotic sports cars and antique motorcycles. Free admission
Hilltop Fall Festival
Oct 4th-5th
Downtown Rutherfordton
9am-5pm
Friday night Soapbox Derby, Saturday morning Overmountain 5K and Tour de Pumpkin 50K & 100K bike rides and festival with crafts, music, scarecrow contest.
Brewgrass Festival
Oct 5th
The Salvage Station
3pm-12am
Sample beers from 45 breweries while listening to a bluegrass-infused live band. Local food vendors. $45/person, 21+
Sierra Nevada’s Oktoberfest
Oct 12th
Sierra Nevada Brewery
“Join a festive evening at their big brewery south of Asheville, with music, glassblowing, stache competition, souvenir beer stein, special beers and a German-inspired feast. 5-10 PM. $27-$32/person. Limited tickets, buy online. Free shuttles from Asheville and Hendersonville.”
Apple Harvest Festival
Oct 19th
Find all things apple in downtown Waynesville, including cider, fried pies and other apple delicacies. Also find live mountain music, dance, craft and demo booths along scenic Main Street for the iconic small town fall festival. 10 AM-5 PM. Free.
Greenville:
Pendleton Fall Harvest Festival
Oct 5th
Pendleton, SC
Enjoy food, live entertainment, crafters and other vendors, and old fashioned games for the kids. Over 100 Scarecrows who are participating in the annual Scarecrow Contest will greet you on your way into Pendleton.
Fall For Greenville
Oct 11th-13th
Friday: 5pm-11pm
Saturday: 11am-9pm
Sunday, October 13: 12pm-7pm
Stroll down Greenville’s Main Street and discover a world of tempting tastes, sights, sounds, and mouth watering aromas. With over 40 restaurants featuring over
200 menu items and free entertainment on seven stages, we invite you to enjoy the Southeast’s most popular outdoor festival.
Oktoberfest in Greenville
Oct. 4th-6th
NOMA Square, Downtown Greenville
Indulge in delicious German food featuring grilled bratwurst, pretzels with beer cheese & mustard, Sauerbraten and more while enjoying live entertainment every night. Festival-goers will also get to compete in a Bratwurst-eating contest for prizes!
Art on the Trail
Oct. 5th
Main Street, Downtown Travelers Rest
10am-5pm
Art on the Trail is a one-day immersive art experience set along the iconic Swamp Rabbit Trail. Ignite your inner artist through interactive visual and performing demonstrations, shop for artwork and keepsakes at the Art Market, and take home a piece of the experience for yourself!
Rock Hill/Fort Mill:
The Great Pumpkin Fest at Carowinds
Sept. 14 – Oct. 27
Participate in the Great Pumpkin Fest Activity Trail with a challenge course, corn maze, hay bale maze, games, crafts and much more. Then head on over to Halloween Hootenanny in the all-new Blue Ridge Junction area where everyone will enjoy family games, fun activities and DJ Hoot ‘N’ Holler playing tunes for dancing on the midway.
Tega Cay Fall Festival
Oct 26th
Philip T. Glennon Center, Tega Cay
11am-5pm
The Fall Festival features arts & crafts, businesses and food/beverage vendors. The day is filled with local entertainment hitting the stage along with the very popular kid zones. The day would not be complete without the Children’s Halloween Costume Contest and the Hula Hoop Contest for all ages.
Bush-N-Vine Fall Farm Fun
Select days Sept. 28th-Oct. 26th
1650 Filbert Hwy, York, SC 29745
Bring on the pumpkins, apple cider, wagon rides, and cooler weather! Bush-N-Vine has a variety of activities for you and your family/friends to participate in including bounce house for the kids, pick-your-own pumpkins, live music, and more!
Trick or Treat Main Street
Oct. 31
5-7pm
Come trick-or-treat with town vendors and merchants, participate in a costume contest and dance to a monster mash of great music!
Scarecrow Crawl
Whole month of October
Downtown Fort Mill
Residents, businesses, schools and community organizations are invited to enter a scarecrow to be displayed along Main Street and in Millstone Park!
High Country
Brushy Mountain Apple Festival
Oct. 5
Downtown North Wilkesboro NC
The festival features over 400 arts & crafts booths, over 100 food vendors, 4 different music stages featuring Bluegrass, Blues, Country and Folk Music, dancers and more! You will find all things apples: apple cider, apple pies, dried apples, apple butter and more!
The Valle Country Fair
Oct. 19
Valle Crucis Conference Center
9am-4pm
The fair features homemade goods like Brunswick Stew, BBQ and Apple Butter to warm you up on a crisp Autumn Day. Children’s activities include storytelling, pumpkin carving and pumpkin bowling. Fair goers can visit over 150 juried arts & crafts vendors while listening to live bluegrass and country bands and watch cloggers and square dancers.
Woolly Worm Festival
Oct 19th-20th
Downtown Banner Elk
The event features live music, arts & crafts and food vendors, a children’s area featuring inflatables, and of course the famed Woolly Worm races! The winning worm receives a $1,000 prize and winter weather predicting rights.
Boone Boo!
Oct. 30th
4:30-6:30pm
Downtown Boone
Located in downtown Boone, enjoy games and crafts at the Watauga County Library, a spooky tour of the Jones House and trick or treating with downtown merchants.
