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Fairs & festivals near me & you
Raise your hand if you are like me and asking, “Where are the best fairs, pumpkin patches, and festivals near me this year in October and November?” Fall events get me all nostalgic and take me back to my childhood when our towns had more community and small-town feel. Can you relate? Ah, the warm fuzzy feelings of strolling through fall fairs, festivals, and pumpkin patches that smell of candied apples, hay, syrup, and pumpkin spice! I’ve got a great list of fall family fun in the South that’ll bring all the feels.
Best Fairs & festivals near me and you
You know I love sharing the best of the south! Are you ready for some wholesome family fun where fall-focused festivities and family-friendly activities abound – especially outdoors? Here are this year’s best festivities with the dates and links at the very end.
Unicoi County Apple Festival
Join in on the fun at the Unicoi County Apple Festival in Erwin, Tennessee where over 350 arts and craft vendors and three food courts of food vendors will be spread out along the festival grounds. There will also be three live music stages where performances will enhance the festivities. Don’t miss the tournaments, the pageant, the apple dumpling contest, and the large kid’s area.
Georgia National Fair
There’s no excuse to not visit the Georgia National Fair in Perry, Georgia, but this annual, family-friendly event goes on for 11 full days and nights. It began in 1990 and has grown to thousands of visitors free concerts, adventure rides for young and old, agricultural exhibits, livestock, and so much free entertainment. This video shows the enormity of this fun family event in Georgia!
Amelia Island Jazz Festival
Fernandina Beach, FL – Oct 7, 2018
A week long event with world-class jazz kicks off with a free concert and exposes thousands of people of all backgrounds to the excitement and life and wonderful jazz music. It’s a diverse cultural offering to the Amelia Island, Florida area that brings the city together (with a purpose to fund college educations for aspiring jazz musicians) with many different jazz styles. What’s fun is that the jazz performances are staged all around Amelia Island at different venues for everyone to find and enjoy.
Blairsville Sorghum Festival
Ask anyone that has ever attended the Blairsville Sorghum Festival and you’ll find out that these folks know how to have fascinating, down home fun. A part of Blairsville’s heritage for almost 50 years, these two weekends of fun can’t be beat! The list is long of family-friendly activities:
- live entertainment
- square dancing
- Sorghum Festival Parade
- Arts & crafts
- Exhibits
- Food vendors
- “Biskit-eating” contest
- Pole climbing
- Log sawing
- Horseshoe Pitching
- Rock throwing
- Working sorghum mill
- rides
- Lots to see, buy, eat, & do
North Carolina Seafood Festival
Talk about fall food festivals near me and you that are absolutely incredible! This is so much more than a food festival, however. In its 32nd year, the North Carolina Seafood Festival happens on the beautiful Morehead City waterfront and offers a variety of seafood, concerts, vendors, Chef’s talents, boat shows, exhibits, fireworks, and so much more. There’s also free admission and parking at the port with shuttles that will transport folks to the fun.
Related:
Best pumpkin patches near me & you
The thing about pumpkin patches is that they get is outside to enjoy the crisp fall air, hayrides, and the rewards of country town harvests. Adults become children again as we trudge through huge corn mazes without a thought – it’s just too fun to think being tired afterward. It’s our responsibility also to make sure that kids in our life grown up making these fun, family-friendly memories outdoors.
Mitcham Farm
Fall is just more fun when you spend the day at Mitcham Farm! Have you ever experienced a large corn maze with a game in the middle of it? With a regular admission ticket, families can enjoy Colonel Cob’s corn maze, a mini corn maze, hay rides, a giant jumping pad, cow train, a corn cannon, super slide, and many picnic tables. For an extra fee, you can enjoy a hayride out to bonfire pits, a helicopter ride, a bull ride, and of course, lots of concession food!
Conner’s A-Maize-Ing Acres
Conner’s A-Maize-Ing Acres is an adorable working farm with a family legacy that dates back to the Civil War. This Christian family decided to go from strictly owning chicken houses to blessing an entire region with their
Your general admission ticket will include a fun wagon ride to and from the corn field maze, a trip through the corn maze, build-your-own-scarecrow area, tumble bug races, barnyard alley, corn box, corn hole, cow & horse trains, duck races, dirt hill, hay jump, Lincoln logs, spider web, the play set, teether ball, volleyball, see saws, pedal carts, and the pumpkin patch! Wow! For a little extra, your family can enjoy the corn cannon and horseback riding as well.
Little Cane Creek Farm Corn Maze
How does a themed 5-acre corn maze, hayride, straw bale maze, pyramid, slide, tunnel, spider web challenge, pumpkin patch, and sunflower patch sound? These are just a few of the fun outdoor activities available at Little Cane Creek Farm Corn Maze in West Union, South Carolina. “Flashlight Nights” at the farm are a big hit too but be sure to bring a flashlight in case you “get lost!”
This list of the best fairs, pumpkin patches, and festivals near me and you this year in October and November is truly a love of mine to pull together for you every year. Our family looks forward to running into you at these fabulous fall event venues. Look for us and tell them that I sent you!
Tis the season for pumpkins and lots of family fun so enjoy yourself!
Info before you Go
Unicoi County Apple Festival: Oct. 5th & 6th, 100 S. Main Street, Erwin, TN
North Carolina Seafood Festival: Oct. 5th-7th, 412 D Evans Street, Morehead City, NC
Georgia National Fair: Oct. 4th – Oct. 14th, 401 Larry Walker Pkwy. Perry, GA
Amelia Island Jazz Festival: Oct. 7th – Oct. 14th, Amelia Island, FL
Blairsville Sorghum Festival: 2nd & 3rd weekends of October, 90 Meeks Park Rd, Blairsville, GA
Micham Farms: Sept. 22nd – November 4th, 797 W Macedonia Church Rd, Oxford, GA
Conner’s A-Maize-Ing Acres: Sept. 29th – October 27th., 19856 County Road 121, Hilliard, FL
Little Cane Creek Farm: Sep. 21st – Nov. 4th, 2480 North Highway 11, West Union, SC
Which pumpkin patches, fairs, & fall festivals near me and you do you love the most?
Published on HuffPost, Okefenokee Living Magazine, and more, Shan is a Family Travel Journalist with a passion for helping women lose the overwhelm of planning family-friendly trips in the south. She shares travel reviews & insider secrets that Women REALLY want to know about Georgia, Florida, & the Carolinas vacations.
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I would love to travel down south some day. I could see myself going to a few of these festivals. Especially the Blairsville Sorghum Festival , and North Carolina Seafood Festival.
None of these are close to me anymore in Texas. But I have visited Amelia Island a few times and I just love it there. My parents used to have a vacation home in Blairesville so we would do some of the events there when we went to visit. My boys are asking about a pumpkin patch so I’ll have to find the best one around Houston for them.
I desperately want to go to the ones in GA I’m in Alabama so not too far!
SEAFOOD FESTIVAL! YEP! I would be 1000000% there if I lived near it!
Thanks for showing that the South can have Fall too. So ready for the summer to be over!
I love going to festivals and these look awesome. I hope to travel south someday and I would definitely stop at some of these!
I wish the Mitcham Farm was closer to us, it sounds like so much fun!! My kids would have such a good time 🙂
Nice list! I love all things fall and Halloween, like the various festivals that take place. I hope to go to as many as I can this year!
-Lauren
I would love to go to these! You have me looking up fall festivals in my area to see what I can go to! Anything apple cider related would be awesome!
I absolutely love fairs and festivals. They just always make me feel like a kid again.
These sound like fun fall festivals – I just wish they were closer! I need to try and find some near me…
You are very lucky to have so many pumpkin patches near you. Here in Cyprus they do not do this sort of things so we tend to not have many places to go like you. However the more and more people start asking for these type of event I believe it will soon happen, just like the Halloween parties and events that have started up the past couple of years.
D, xo || from https:livedreamcreate-d.com
Would love to be part of these festivals especially Seafood festival. Quite unfortunate! I don’t live nearby.
I live so so far away from these places but the festivals sound so good. We have an apple picking day in my area though and I am looking forward to be there, almost every year!
Fairs and festivals were totally my favorite when I was a child. I wish we had more like this near me!
Oh wow what a fab choice of fun fairs and things to do. The Georgia National Fair in Perry looks like a fab day out for sure x
They all look fun! We have some great pumpkin patches and fall festivals out here in the desert. Just watch out for the cacti!
We just went to the State fair here in Greensboro, Nc! It was so much fun. I like that they happen every year gives you something to look forward too
We just moved down south to Georgia from MA and have been looking for different family things to do. This is super informative and I’d love to go to the GA state fair with the kids.
Author
Welcome to the South, Lindsay! Glad you have you around. I’m glad it was helpful!
much love,
shan
This is a great list. I love going to harvest festivals and the like during the fall.
Author
Thanks, Holly! Same here!
much love,
shan
These look like such fun! I was hoping to find a good Alabama one on here but maybe we’ll shoot up to Tennessee for a fun one!