The High Country Host Regional Visitor Center staff now presents the 2026 NC High Country Fall Festival Guide! The North Carolina mountains are known for spectacular fall leaf color, so it only makes sense that the outdoor fall festivals are just as popular!  Here is a list of festivals and events happening near Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, Beech Mountain, Sugar Mountain, West Jefferson and Wilkesboro:

• West Jefferson Antiques Fair
  September 11-12, 2026
  Downtown West Jefferson
  Numerous antique vendors set up during this fair and one can find a variety of items including vintage furniture, coins, glassware, quilts, refurbished antiques, pottery, silver, vintage signage and much more.  Live music, food vendors and childrens activities also take place.

• The Blue Ridge Mountain Heritage Festival
  September 19, 2026: 10-5
  Downtown Sparta
  The festival celebrates local mountain culture with regional arts, handmade crafts, traditional food, and live music.

• Art on the Mountain
  September 26, 2026, 10-4pm: School Ave, Downtown West Jefferson
  Over 30 artists set up on the grounds of the Ashe Arts Center for a fall arts and crafts festival.  Art on the Mountain is an opportunity for artists of all kinds to showcase their artwork.

• Brushy Mountain Apple Festival
  October 3, 2026
  Downtown North Wilkesboro, NC
  One of the largest one-day arts & crafts festivals in the southeast, the event features over 400 arts & crafts booths, over 100 food vendors, 4 different music stages featuring Bluegrass, Blues, Country and Folk Music, dancers and more!  --And of course you will find lots of apples, apple cider, apple pies, dried apples, apple butter and anything else you can think to make from delicious fall apples!  For a detailed entertainment schedule CLICK HERE

• Appalachian Autumn Market and Fall Festival
  October 3, 2026
  Hickory Ridge Living History Museum, Boone
  Apple butter making, pumpkin painting, corn shuck doll making, candle-dipping, hatchet throwing, face painting, weaving and spinning demonstrations, self-guided cabin tours, and vendors. Admission: Free to the Public.  Details HERE

• Blowing Rock Art in the Park
  Saturday, Oct 3, 2026 @ 10am
  Downtown Blowing Rock
  This juried art show features over 30 artisans.  Held beside the town park for easy strolling.

• Oktoberfest
  Oct 10-11, 2026
  Sugar Mountain Resort
  The event features a Bavarian atmosphere with live music, arts & crafts, kids activities, Bavarian food & drinks + lots more! For details, click HERE

• Festival of the Frescoes
  October 12, 2026, 9-4pm: Glendale Springs
  An old-fashioned country fair with baked goods, local crafts, raffles, children's activities, live music and more.  Located on the grounds of the Holy Trinity Church, home of Ben Long's fresco "The Last Supper."

• Woolly Worm Festival
  October 17-18, 2026
  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 waces.  The winning worm receives a $1,000 prize and winter weather predicting rights.

• Valle Crucis Fair
  October 17, 2026
  Valle Crucis, NC 
  The fair features homemade 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 peruse over 150 juried arts & crafts vendors and listen to live bluegrass and country bands and watch cloggers and square dancers. For more details, click HERE
  

• Candlelight Ghost Tours
  October 17 & 24, 2025, 7:30pm
  Wilkes Heritage Museum, Downtown Wilkesboro
  Tour the old Wilkes Jailhouse and other historic areas with a guide by candlelight.  Click Here

• Hitchcock Radio Hour
  October 23 & 24, 2026: 7pm
  Ensemble Stage, Historic Banner Elk School
  Be a part of the "studio audience" and experience the spookiness of these Hitchcockian stories along with their sound effects and suspenseful musical underscoring. All being performed live onstage just like they were in their original 1949 radio broadcast. Get tickets HERE

• Blowing Rock Halloween Festival
  Saturday, Oct 31, 2026 @ 4pm
  Downtown Blowing Rock 

• Boone Boo!
  October 31:  5-7:30pm
  Downtown Boone
  Join us in Downtown Boone, as the community and visitors are invited to stop by downtown merchants for a safe, family-friendly trick-or-treating event. The stage will be set with a special Halloween music playlist streaming down King Street and larger-than-life Halloween inflatables lining the sidewalks. The central part of King Street will be closed (from Appalachian Street to Burrell Street) to accommodate trick-or-treaters and to make room for some surprise guests and performances. For more information, click HERE