Celebrate Fall at Colorful Events Across North Carolina

From first-time festivals to annual favorites, lively events fill the fall calendar in North Carolina. Show-stopping foliage, spirited music, and irresistible fare add color and texture to celebrations from the mountains to the coast.

September

1 North Carolina Hot Sauce Contest & Festival

1 North Carolina Hot Sauce Contest & Festival

Sept. 6-7, 2024; OxfordSee on map

From rich and smoky to sweet and tangy, the North Carolina Hot Sauce Contest & Festival is filled with flavors that have kept thousands coming back for years. The one-of-a-kind event in Oxford – about an hour north of Raleigh – features more than 200 vendors selling sauces, food and goods throughout the streets of downtown, all with the promise of being uniquely North Carolina. Bold and brave types, think you can handle the heat? The Pepper Eating Contest is sponsored by Bailey Farms, one of the largest pepper producers in the East. Best of luck – winner gets $1,000 and bragging rights.

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2 Autumn at Oz

photo credit: Curtis Brown Photography

2 Autumn at Oz

Sept. 6-8; Sept. 13-15; Sept 20-22, 2024; Beech MountainSee on map

Travel back in time to 1939 to the world of "Oz" high atop Beech Mountain at the Land of Oz park. Children and adults alike will be enchanted during Autumn at Oz as they experience the re-creation of Dorothy’s trip from her farm home in Kansas through the twister and down the yellow brick road. Along your journey, you’ll meet a full cast portraying vibrant characters similar to those in the movie.

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3 SCarowinds

3 SCarowinds

Select nights Sept. 13 – Oct. 27, 2024; CharlotteSee on map

Carowinds is transformed from a “theme park” to a “scream park” as the largest Halloween-themed event in the Carolinas. Experience the thrills on your favorite roller coasters and scream at the chills of haunted shows and attractions.

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4 Tweetsie Ghost Train Halloween Festival

4 Tweetsie Ghost Train Halloween Festival

Select nights Sept. 20 – Oct. 26, 2024; Blowing RockSee on map

Guests of all ages will enjoy spooktacular family fun at the park, and brave Ghost Train riders will experience frights and delights around every corner as the train howls its way through the Blue Ridge Mountains. While some attractions are recommended for adults and older children, there are plenty of shows and activities for Tweetsie’s youngest guests, too.

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5 Mayberry Days

5 Mayberry Days

Sept. 23-29, 2024; Mount AirySee on map

Actually, every day is a Mayberry Day in Mount Airy, Andy Griffith’s hometown and inspiration for "The Andy Griffith Show" setting. But this weeklong celebration is when you can channel the era with a checkers tournament, pork chop-eating and apple-peeling contests, trivia competitions and horseshoes, plus entertainment and a parade.

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6 Yadkin Valley Pumpkin Festival

6 Yadkin Valley Pumpkin Festival

Sept. 28, 2024; ElkinSee on map

The highlight of this annual festival is the Great Pumpkin Weigh-Off, in which farmers from across the East Coast bring their largest pumpkins to compete for a $1,000 cash prize. Attendees will also enjoy carnival rides for children, arts and crafts vendors, antique vendors, and pumpkin-themed food, drinks and games.

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October

7 Carolina Classic Fair

7 Carolina Classic Fair

Oct. 4-13, 2024; Winston-SalemSee on map

One of North Carolina’s largest agricultural fairs celebrates more than 100 years of fun, food and competition this fall. The annual event features thrilling carnival rides and booths, more than 100 food concessionaires (with plenty of deep-fried fare), a children’s barnyard zoo, concerts, agriculture, and food and crafts competitions.

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8 Brushy Mountain Apple Festival

8 Brushy Mountain Apple Festival

Oct. 5, 2024; North WilkesboroSee on map

This free, one-day arts and crafts festival is among the largest in the Southeast. In addition to local growers selling apples, apple cider and dried apples, festival-goers will find hundreds of arts and crafts, a multitude of food concessions and four music stages. The festival also highlights Appalachian Heritage crafts such as woodcarving, chair making, soap making, pottery throwing and quilting.

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9 Colorfest! Arts and Crafts Walk

9 Colorfest! Arts and Crafts Walk

Oct. 5, 2024; DillsboroSee on map

Visitors see more than art on display at this street festival – they see art being made as painters capture scenes in the picturesque Great Smoky Mountains town. Add music, regional wine and craft beer, North Carolina fare and brilliant foliage to complete the picture.

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10 Wilmington Riverfest

10 Wilmington Riverfest

Oct. 5-6, 2024; WilmingtonSee on map

This family-friendly cultural festival is held along Wilmington’s scenic Cape Fear River. The weekend includes about 200 craft and food vendors, entertainment on two stages, crowning of the annual Wilmington Riverfest Queen, antique and classic car displays, fireworks, Kidz Zone and more.

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11 Carolina Renaissance Festival

11 Carolina Renaissance Festival

Saturdays and Sundays, Oct. 5 – Nov. 24, 2024; HuntersvilleSee on map

Taking place on weekends for several weeks, this festival is a 16th-century, European-style art and entertainment event series combining outdoor theater, circus entertainment, a marketplace, jousting tournament and a feast fit for royalty. It's fun for all ages.

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12 Mountains to Coast Bicycle Ride

12 Mountains to Coast Bicycle Ride

Oct. 6-12, 2024; various locations statewide

See our state in all its fall glory on this scenic ride from the western part of the state to the eastern end. Riders can go the more than 400-mile distance or join in at the host towns of Lenoir, Statesville, Thomasville, Pittsboro, Tarboro, Benson, Elizabethtown and Ocean Isle Beach. Daily rides average 50 to 65 miles.

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13 LEAF Festival

13 LEAF Festival

Oct. 17-20, 2024; Black MountainSee on map

It’s where fall festival meets mountain retreat, and it’s been attracting eclectic audiences for decades. Find outdoor concerts with music from all genres, family adventure villages, and the lodging ranges from cabins to tent camping. It’s all centered around Lake Eden with trees showcasing fall colors and Black Mountain in the background.

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14 North Carolina State Fair

14 North Carolina State Fair

Oct. 17-27, 2024; RaleighSee on map

The fun stretches on and on each fall at the state fairgrounds in Raleigh with a Folk Festival, grandstand shows, agricultural exhibits and competitions, rides and games, and Kiddieland Fun Park. Outdoor stages will have music ranging from folk to rock to reggae.

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15 Carolina BalloonFest

photo credit: Seth Roddey

15 Carolina BalloonFest

Oct. 18-20, 2024; StatesvilleSee on map

This festival features colorful hot air balloons, mass ascensions, a Saturday night balloon glow, balloon rides, plus such well-grounded pursuits as local wine sampling, craft beer and food, entertainment and children’s activities.

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16 Woolly Worm Festival

photo: Avery County Chamber of Commerce

16 Woolly Worm Festival

Oct. 19-20, 2024; Banner ElkSee on map

Here’s our prediction: Fall foliage will be near its peak in Banner Elk when Isabella tiger moths race up 42-inch strings to forecast the severity of the coming winter. We further predict that the 20,000 festivalgoers will delight in the fun, food and mountain setting – regardless of whether their woolly worm wins the race.

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17 Wings Over Water Wildlife Festival

17 Wings Over Water Wildlife Festival

Oct. 22-27, 2024; various coastal locationsSee on map

Take a walk – or a paddle – on the wild side along North Carolina’s Outer Banks and inner coastline. Serious birders flock to Wings Over Water for one of the East Coast’s largest concentrations of wintering waterfowl. Photography, painting and videotaping sessions, moonlight paddles and keynote speakers are all part of the adventure. There’s even a chance to visit Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge at night and use spotlights to watch for deer, bear, birds and other wildlife.

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18 Barbecue Festival

18 Barbecue Festival

Oct. 26, 2024; LexingtonSee on map

Even without the concerts, craft vendors and other activities, people would flock to the Barbecue Festival, which unfolds in a town whose name is synonymous with pit-cooked pork.

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November

19 Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree

19 Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree

Nov. 1-2, 2024; OcracokeSee on map

Argh! Enjoy swashbuckling fun at this festival, which features a Scalawag School, tricks-of-the-pirate-trade demonstrations, a sing-along, a three-ship battle and a memorial service near the place where Blackbeard last thrust his sword.

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20 North Carolina Poultry Jubilee

20 North Carolina Poultry Jubilee

Nov. 1-2, 2024; Rose HillSee on map

This festival features a parade, carnival rides, tons of vendors, a chicken wing cook-off and, most notably, chicken fried in the World’s Largest Frying Pan.

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21 Wilson Whirligig Festival

21 Wilson Whirligig Festival

Nov. 2-3, 2024; WilsonSee on map

Vollis Simpson turned metal scraps into towering delight with his kinetic, wind-powered whirligigs, displayed at museums in New York, Atlanta, Baltimore and Raleigh. For the full effect, head for the fun of the Wilson Whirligig Festival’s many events, and visit the Windmill Farm to marvel at more than 30 of the whirligigs Simpson designed and constructed on his property before his death at age 94.

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22 Celebration of Seagrove Potters

22 Celebration of Seagrove Potters

Nov. 23-24, 2024; SeagroveSee on map

Discover pottery paradise in the town of Seagrove, where the largest pottery community in the country comes together to sell its wares. The festival features a potters market, auction of signed and dated pottery, demonstrations and food vendors.

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