10 Fall Events In the South To Add To Your Calendar

Fall in the South is busy, full of back-to-school shopping, football, fairs and festivals. The weather is gorgeous and the bugs are less fierce. Residents can’t get enough of being outside.

If you’re like me, summer’s hot temperatures made you long for fall and all the Halloween feels. I’ve even seen a few pictures that decorations made their debut in July this year. That might be a little early, but I certainly understand the sentiment as we routinely reach 100 degrees. 

Here are some upcoming events that shouldn’t be missed in the South if you’re close by. Each one brings its own feel of fall, celebrating food, culture, or spooky season. Get outside, sip on some pumpkin-flavored drinks, and enjoy autumn in the South. 

The Great Pumpkin Pursuit and Watermelon Weigh Off

Guston, Kentucky

September 16, 2023

Not only does this festival host the biggest giant watermelon growing contest in the world, it has on exhibit a selection of 1,000-pound pumpkins that are on their way to fall locations like Dollywood’s Great Pumpkin Luminights and The Great Pumpkin Spooktacular. Growers bring the mammoth gourds from all around the country to compete to be the biggest. A few have made state records and even challenged the Guinness Book of World Records. Weigh in starts at noon and the winners of the heaviest watermelon and the heaviest pumpkin are each awarded $1,000, plus the bragging rights. 

The Roberts Family Farm also has a whole itinerary of fall fun, including a corn maze, pumpkin patch, store, bakery, and petting zoo. You can find the best of autumn right there!

Cox Farms Cornundrum Cornfield Adventure

Centreville, Virginia

September 16-17, 2023; Thursdays through Mondays, September 23 to November 6; Tuesday, November 7

It’s impossible to mention every activity available at Cox Farms’ Fall Festival, but we’ll give it our best attempt. First on the list is the Cornundrum Cornfield Adventure, a winding maze filled with surprises. You’ll escape monsters, travel through a jungle, find pirate caves and marvel at funhouse mirrors while you find your way out of the meandering paths. 

If the maze proves to be an easy challenge, there are plenty of other areas to keep you occupied. Watch a cow get milked, or do it yourself, while you do farm chores. Take an exciting trip down towering slides emerging from castles, volcanoes or mountains. Jump on a hayride, check out the tractor museum, mine for gems or visit the goat village. Eat some kettle corn or fresh apple cider donuts while getting some energy from a cup of Starbucks coffee or a root beer float. You can even catch live entertainment almost every day of the planned event. 

Oktoberfest

Helen, Georgia

September 7 to October 29, 2023

Stateside, there’s no place better to be for a real German Oktoberfest celebration than the Bavarian-inspired town of Helen, Georgia. Every year, this Alpine village becomes the site of the United States’ longest running Oktoberfest celebration. 

Oktoberfest starting in the early 1800’s in Munich, Germany, to celebrate the marriage of a prince and princess. Those traditions continue in this small Georgia mountain town. You’ll find people dressed in lederhosen and dirndls, ready to hit the dance hall for some polka tunes played on the accordion. There’s keg tapping on the weekend and a plethora of German beer, plus authentic wurst, sauerkraut and other traditional goodies. Oom-pah!

Kersey Valley Spooky Woods

Archdale, North Carolina

Weekends, September 23 to November 4

Are you ready to get scared? The 92-acre farm that houses the Kersey Valley Spooky Woods is the ultimate haunted experience. There are multiple haunted houses, a spooky midway, and a 50,000 square foot Spookywoods that visitors reach by riding a haunted train, the journey full of monsters and horror themes. The cornfield laser maze must be escaped and characters are transported around the park to keep people guessing at what fear-inducing experience will happen next. 

For a full evening of entertainment, concessions are available, as well as escape rooms, laser tag, and axe throwing. You can even ride the zip line at night if you dare.

Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration  

Macon, Georgia

September 16-17, 2023

In celebration of Southeastern Native American culture, hundreds of craftsmen, dancers, and storytellers representing the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and other Nations travel to Macon to exhibit Native art, celebrate their culture, and perform traditional songs and dance. This year, The Indigo Girls, a folk-rock duo originally from Atlanta, will host a fundraiser concert during the festival weekend. 

A unique opportunity for cultural education, the festival offers visitors a chance to learn about structures within the park and Native customs, crafts, and food. Not to be missed, the Great Temple Mound, dating back to 1015 CE, towers 55 feet in the air and offers a glimpse of ancient history. 

Antique Alley Texas

Grandview, Cleburne, Maypearl, Alvarado, Keene, Venus, Waxahachie, Texas

September 15-17, 2023

Spanning Johnson and Ellis Counties, this flea market bonanza certainly lives up to the motto that ‘everything is bigger in Texas’. Businesses and locals provide around 30 miles of flea market booths and locations to make this a giant treasure hunt for one of a kind art, antiques, collectibles, and vintage finds. Held the weekend of the third Friday in September, you’ll find food trucks along the way and maybe even some homemade pie. Tell my Aunt Mary, who makes a peach pie so delicious that I checked it into my luggage to come back to Georgia, that I sent you.

Fall For Greenville

Greenville, South Carolina 

October 13-15, 2023

This popular food event is the ultimate way to get the highlights of Greenville’s amazing food scene in just one weekend. From James Beard nominated restaurants to down-home Southern eateries, more than 50 restaurants line the streets of downtown offering small plate favorites. Enjoy live music with more than 80 free musical performances over the course of the weekend on six separate stages.

National Storytelling Festival

Jonesborough, Tennessee

October 6-8, 2023

Held every October since 1973, this festival is a chance to immerse yourself into a long tradition of theatrical storytelling. The lineup is talented, telling tall tales, fairy tales, ghost stories, mountain lore and folk tales. They are a diverse bunch, ranging from actors, TV personalities, children’s book authors, and grammy-nominated artists, to the 5-time champion of the West Virginia Liar’s Contest. He’ll be telling some of those tall tales, we’re sure. 

There are pre-festival workshops and concerts, like a talk from ‘All Things Considered’ commentator Kevin Kling on turning hardship into healing by creating entertaining and engaging stories. On Friday and Saturday, when darkness falls, the ghost stories will bring some spine-tingling October fun to attendees. 

Giant Omelette Celebration

Abbeville, Louisiana

November 4-5, 2023

While cooking a giant omelette to share with visitors might seem like a bunch of random fun, there’s actually a story behind the tradition. Legend has it that Napoleon and his army stopped to rest while traveling through the south of France. He was lucky enough to be fed an omelette by a local innkeeper, finding it delicious. Napoleon ordered the people in the town to gather all the eggs and prepare a huge omelet for his army the next day. This became a symbol of friendship, tradition, and cultural exchange that’s known as Confrerie. 

Abbeville is the location of Louisiana’s Confrerie, a nod to their French heritage. The festival has activities through the weekend, including Cajun sing-a-longs, an egg cracking competition, a 2-mile fun walk, games, and arts and crafts. On Sunday afternoon, chefs parade through the streets to reach the 12-foot skillet that will cook over 5,000 eggs to share with visitors. Poupart’s Bakery includes their lauded French bread with each plate. 

BHAM FOOD+Culture Festival

Birmingham, Alabama

October 12-15, 2023

Birmingham is kicking off the city's first major food festival with an action-packed weekend of events at the Market at Pepper Place. All centered around the culinary destination, the food-filled festivities include a morning farmer's market run, a woman-led dinner series, and the main stage celebration, "Food+Fire: The Great Southern Tailgate." During the cornerstone event, chefs from across the South will serve brews and bites as football games play on giant screens around Pepper Place. There will also be a Southern Living demo stage and performances by Arlo McKinley, J and the Causeways, and the Sensational Barnes Brothers.

Another don't-miss event is "Food + Heritage," a multi-course dinner honoring the 60th anniversary of the civil rights movement. Black chefs who have played a major role in defining Birmingham's culinary identity will prepare and present each course.