We love our festivals in West Virginia and we have ’em all year long. There’s the Strawberry Festival in the spring, the WV State Fair in summer, and Helvetia’s Fasnacht each winter, but fall is prime time for some great celebrations of our state’s heritage. Here are a few you should check out this year or next:
Sept.8-Oct. 6 – Mountain State Forest Festival – Elkins, WV – One of the largest and oldest festivals in the state of West Virginia this event is rich in tradition–including the best royal court ever! When I was little, this is the pageant I wanted to win so I could wear a gorgeous, velvet gown and be crowned Queen Silvia. As an adult, I can see that the gowns are maybe a tad gaudy, but I still love the pageantry.
Oct. 10-13 – Black Walnut Festival – Spencer, WV – Beauty queens, baked goods, a carnival, a car show, parades, crafts, and everything else that makes a festival a festival. Next year will the 60th anniversary!
Oct. 19 – New River Gorge Bridge Day – Fayetteville, WV – Afraid of heights? Here’s your chance to face that fear head on! The New River Gorge is one of the world’s oldest places and one side of the bridge spanning it is open to pedestrians once a year. Above the famous white water rafting on the New River, jumpers, rappelers, and thousands and thousands of onlookers gather for the state’s biggest party of the year.
Oct. 19-20 & 26-27 – Hinton Railroad Days – Hinton, WV – Food, crafts, history, and the New River Train all surrounded by autumn’s splendor. What more could you want?
Nov. 1-3 – Old‑Time Fiddlers Reunion – Elkins, WV – A celebration of traditional Appalachian music with day-long workshops in fiddle, banjo, and guitar topped off with a gathering of old-time fiddlers.
Party on West Virginia!
Meet Sarah
Went to Hinton Railroad Days last year–lots of fun! Bridge Day is a massively BIG DEAL round these parts!
I’m going to make it to Bridge Day one of these years. I will NOT, however, be rapelling, sky-diving, or ziplining!
Let me know b/c we MUST meet up!!! I’m gonna zipline, though…hee. Well…not sure on that one.
Pumpkin, Black Walnut, Apple, Buckwheat and many other festivals! (Including Road Kill Festival and Ramp Festival)
Yeah, I opted to leave the road kill out.
I was raised in Spencer, WV. My mother and aunt were among the founding members of the Black Walnut Festival board. They served many years. For several years I announced the grand parade and majorette festival. What a great event! And what a great time to be in WV – not much more beautiful than fall in WV.
Love how my WV friends are chiming in with experiences from these festivals! Wish I could go to them all . . .
I had the best blackberry cobbler at the Blackberry Festival… love them all!
Mmmmm. Cobbler!
Sure beats our Garlic Festival in Gilroy, CA. Garlic Ice Cream anyone?
We have ramp festivals in the spring (a wild garlic/onion hybrid). But I don’t think we’ve tried to add them to ice cream!
I have always loved the name of one of the ramp festivals: the Feast of the Ramson. just sounds majestic and WV-ish! (is that a double positive, lol)
I love West Virginia! Wish I could be there to go to the festivals. I loved going to the Strawberry Festival when I was little, and Railroad days is really cool, too.
Yeah, I keep meaning to get home for the Strawberry Festival one year, but I suspect my idyllic childhood memories may not live up to the reality! And I’m with you on Feast of the Ramson–love how dressed up it sounds.