Fall Festivals Galore!

With the turning of the leaves and the dropping of the mercury comes festivals galore! This is the time of the year when people start to gather in large crowds all over the country. The month of October kicks off the holiday season with hundreds of celebrations across the nation.

Festivals and Fairs have been around for a long time as a way for neighbors and families to celebrate the Harvest Season. Farmers and homemakers would have the chance to display their goods for sale and competition. Judges were looking for the biggest pumpkin, the largest steer and the most delicious jars of jelly, among hundreds of other categories. Today, craftspeople, musicians and artisans take center stage at festivals. Showing off their talents and sharing their wonderful works of art with the multitudes. There are games and competitions, music and dancing and who can resist those fried apple pies and funnel cakes! Ooooo Weeee! It seems as though there is a festival for everything.

In our area, we have the Valle Fair in Valle Crucis, The Wooly Worm Festival in Banner Elk and Oktoberfest at Sugar Mountain. You can even visit Dorothy and Toto at the Autumn at Oz weekend at Beech Mountain. We have the Festival of the Frescoes and the Whitetop Mountain Molasses Festival. The Todd New River Festival and the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival. Throughout North Carolina, they are celebrating everything from mums with the Mumfest to barbeque pork at the Lexington Barbecue Festival. There is the Pumpkin Fest and the Dog Day's Out, Nascar Days, and the Oyster Festival, The Mountain Festival and the Fall Festival in the Pines. There's the High Kite Festival and the Great Grapes Festival. You can even go down south for the Down East Festival or hear great jazz at the Jazz Festival. There is the Cotton Festival and the Mullet Festival, the Autumn Leaves Festival and the Mountain Glory Festival, and also the Peanut Festival. The NC State Fair draws the biggest crowd in the state and is the lengthiest of all the festivals. There so much to do and see that there is a festival for everyone!

You can visit your local Chamber of Commerce website to find out what is going on in your area. Festivals are a great way to get out and see your neighbors and do some early Christmas shopping! You may even want to enter your Grandma's recipe for Wild Blackberry Jam. Sounds like a Blue Ribbon winner to me!