Fall Festivals in Michigan 2026: Dates, Finder & What’s Still Ahead

Last Updated: October 2026

Fall festivals in Michigan run from Labor Day weekend into early November, and the season isn’t over yet. The weekend of October 9–11 is one of the best of the whole fall, with apple festivals, an island festival and harvest celebrations in waterfront towns from Charlevoix to Pentwater, right as northern Michigan hits peak color. Below is everything still ahead, plus a finder with every festival I’ve tracked this year.

I have been covering Michigan fall travel for WDIV Detroit and FOX 17 West Michigan for years, and the question I get every fall is the same: what is on this weekend, and is it worth the drive? Festival dates shift by a week or more year to year, so the finder below shows which dates I’ve confirmed with the organizer and which you should double-check before you go.

📌 Save this guide: it’s updated as dates are confirmed. Bookmark it, or join The Michigan Traveler (signup at the bottom of this page) and I’ll send the best festival weekends to your inbox.

Michigan Fall Festivals This Weekend: October 9–11

If you only make one more festival trip this fall, make it this one. Most of the weekend’s best festivals are on the water, and the northern ones line up with peak color.

Charlevoix Apple Fest — October 9–11

East Park on Round Lake in downtown Charlevoix, and the best-known apple festival in northern Michigan after more than 45 years. A farmers market with pumpkins, squash, honey, jam and maple syrup, an arts and crafts show along Mason Street and through East Park, a petting zoo, and pony rides.

Hours run Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This one lands right at peak color for northern Michigan, which makes it the best festival-plus-leaves combination on the list.

Fall on the Island, Drummond Island — October 9–10

If you have never been to Drummond Island, this is the weekend to go. Live music, cornhole tournaments, a pub crawl, a kids’ fun run, and arts and crafts, with the ferry running from De Tour Village. The festival picks a theme each year, so check what this year’s is before you pack.

Pentwater Oktoberfest — October 10

Pentwater sits between the Silver Lake Sand Dunes and Ludington on Lake Michigan. The Oktoberfest weekend includes a classic car and hot rod show, the Stout Stumble 5K, live music, yard games, and food trucks, with shops and restaurants running sales through town.

More This Weekend

• Fennville Goose Festival (Oct. 9–11): a small-town harvest weekend near Saugatuck and the Lake Michigan shore.
• Port Huron Fall Art Hop (Oct. 9–10): galleries and pop-up art along the St. Clair River.
• Frankfort Fall Festival (Oct. 10): a free one-day festival off Main Street in Frankfort.
• Montague Pumpkinfest (Oct. 10): White Lake’s fall festival.
• Stone Wall Pumpkin Festival (Oct. 10): festival activities by day at Van Hoosen Farms in Rochester Hills, then a stone wall lit with carved pumpkins from 7 to 9 p.m.
• A2 Artoberfest in Ann Arbor, the Appleumpkin Festival in Tecumseh, the International Festival of Holland, and UPtoberFest in Escanaba round out the weekend.

Michigan Fall Festivals Still Ahead in October

After this weekend, the season gets smaller and more local: farm festivals, food festivals and Día de los Muertos celebrations, with Halloween taking over by the last weekend. For Halloween events, see my Michigan Halloween events guide.

Dates	Festival	Where
Oct 14–18	Frankfort Film Festival	Garden Theater, Frankfort
Oct 17–18	New Buffalo Arts & Crafts Festival	New Buffalo
Oct 17	DeutscheMarques Oktoberfest	Gilmore Car Museum, Hickory Corners
Oct 24–25	Apple Butter Festival	Fenner Nature Center, Lansing
Oct 24–25	Detroit Harvestfest & Food Truck Rally	Detroit
Oct 24	Detroit Fall Beer Festival	Detroit
Oct 24–25	Día de los Muertos Festival	Grand Rapids
Oct 25	Harvest Festival BOO Bash	New Baltimore
Oct 31	Day of the Dead Celebration	Alpena
Weekends through Oct	Kackleberry Farms, Upland Hills Farm and Meckley’s fall festivals	Monroe, Oxford and Somerset Center
TBD	Growler Brewfest (21+, dog friendly)	Downtown Brighton

Dates in this table come from my festival finder, and most are still awaiting final confirmation from organizers. Check the festival’s site before you drive.

Michigan Fall Festivals in November

By November, Michigan’s fall festivals turn into holiday kickoffs. These are the traditions worth planning a weekend around:

• America’s Thanksgiving Parade, Detroit: Thanksgiving morning, November 26, 2026, down Woodward Avenue.
• Kerstmarkt, Holland: a Dutch-style outdoor Christmas market at the 8th Street Marketplace, open weekends from late November into December. It’s free, and it’s been voted one of the top holiday markets in the country.
• Christmas markets and tree lightings: most kick off the weekend before or after Thanksgiving. My Michigan Christmas markets guide has the dates as they’re announced.
• Light displays and Christmas trains: many open in mid to late November. See my Michigan holiday light displays and Michigan Christmas train rides, including which Polar Express-style trains still have seats.

How to Time a Michigan Festival Weekend

The thing worth knowing: festival season and peak color season overlap but do not match. September festivals happen before almost anything has turned. The second and third weeks of October are when northern Michigan festivals land squarely in peak color, which is the combination most people are actually after.

So if a festival is the point, go any weekend. If leaves are the point, aim for October and check the Michigan fall color map before you book. And confirm dates with the organizer before you drive. Small-town festivals move, and a few on this list shifted by more than a week between last year and this one.

Earlier This Season: Michigan Fall Festivals That Already Happened in 2026

These have wrapped for 2026, but most return the same time next year, so they’re worth knowing about for next fall.

2026 Dates	Festival	Where
Sept 11–13	Plymouth Fall Festival	Downtown Plymouth
Sept 11–13	Art & Apples Festival	Rochester
Sept 11–13	Posen Potato Festival	Posen
Sept 12	U.P. Fall Beer Festival	Marquette
Sept 17–20	Frankenmuth Oktoberfest	Heritage Park, Frankenmuth
Sept 18–19	Saline Oktoberfest	Saline
Sept 18 – Oct 3	ArtPrize	Downtown Grand Rapids
Sept 19	Taste of Harbor Springs	Harbor Springs
Sept 26–27	Pentwater Fall Festival	Pentwater Village Green
Sept 26–27	Frankenmuth Fire Art Festival	Frankenmuth
Sept 26–27	Midland Antique & Collectible Festival	Midland
Oct 1–4	Four Flags Area Apple Festival	Niles
Oct 2–3	Downtown Holland Fall Fest	Holland
Oct 3	Red Flannel Festival	Cedar Springs
Oct 3	Beulah Fall Festival	Downtown Beulah

Frankenmuth Oktoberfest — September 17–20, 2026

Heritage Park, Frankenmuth. This is the biggest fall festival in the state and the one most worth planning around next year. In 1996 Munich’s Lord Mayor and the German parliament formally sanctioned it, making it the first Oktoberfest outside Munich to receive that blessing, which is why Hofbräu beer is poured here and why it sits in September rather than October.

In 2026, admission was $10 per person per day, and children 15 and under were free. Shuttles ran from Frankenmuth and Birch Run hotels.

💡 PRO TIP: You cannot leave Frankenmuth without a chicken dinner. Use the guide to the best restaurants in Frankenmuth to decide where, and book ahead on Oktoberfest weekend.

ArtPrize, Grand Rapids — September 18 to October 3, 2026

Downtown Grand Rapids. ArtPrize turns a 4.5-square-mile district into an open-air gallery, with installations in storefronts, museums, parks, and breweries and more than $500,000 in prizes decided partly by public vote. It is free to walk and runs for more than two weeks, which makes it the most flexible fall festival in the state.

Plymouth Fall Festival — September 11–13, 2026

Downtown Plymouth, held the weekend after Labor Day, which is a change worth noting if you went on Labor Day weekend in the past. A carnival midway, old-fashioned games, a car show, live music, and the Rotary chicken barbecue, all centered on Kellogg Park.

Art & Apples Festival, Rochester — September 11–13, 2026

Rochester Municipal Park. Running since 1965 and one of Michigan’s best fine art fairs, with more than 200 artists, food trucks, live music, art demos, and hands-on activities for kids. It is the signature fundraiser for the Paint Creek Center for the Arts, so the money stays in the local arts community.

💡 PRO TIP: Use the free shuttle and parking at Rochester High School rather than fighting for a spot downtown. Confirm shuttle hours on the festival site before you go, since they shift year to year.

Posen Potato Festival — September 11–13, 2026

Posen, west of Alpena. A celebration of the Polish and Native communities of northeast Michigan, running since 1953, with polka dances, a demolition derby, carnival rides, a flea market, a 5K, and a parade on the final day. A village of a few hundred people that draws tens of thousands.

Red Flannel Festival, Cedar Springs — October 3, 2026

Always the first Saturday in October, and it has the best origin story of any festival in Michigan. In 1936, during a brutal winter, a New York newspaper ran a piece claiming there were no red flannels to be had in the United States. Two women in Cedar Springs wrote back to say there were plenty; they were just all in Cedar Springs. Orders poured in to store owners Jack and Ann Pollock, and the Red Flannel Festival has run ever since.

Four Flags Area Apple Festival, Niles — October 1–4, 2026

Four Flags has run since 1972, and every attendee gets a free apple. Four days of carnival rides, food vendors, and free entertainment, plus a two-hour Grande Parade from downtown Niles to Niles High School. The apple contests are the heart of it: apple peeling, pie eating, biggest apple, and seed popping.

More Festivals From Earlier This Fall

• U.P. Fall Beer Festival: Mattson Lower Harbor Park, Marquette. Michigan beers you can only get in the U.P. Next year, come a day early for Canyon Falls and the Black Rocks at Presque Isle Park.
• Pentwater Fall Festival: Pentwater Village Green. Arts, crafts, and artisan vendors in a Lake Michigan town on the edge of the Huron-Manistee National Forests.
• Frankenmuth Fire Art Festival: free admission to most events, with workshops, art vendors, food, music, and a fire wing competition.
• Midland Antique & Collectible Festival: 80 acres, seven buildings, and 300-plus dealers, running for over five decades.
• Taste of Harbor Springs: a waterfront tasting event hosted by the Harbor Springs Area Chamber of Commerce.
• Saline Oktoberfest: German rock and folk music, a kinderplatz for kids, a beer garden, and the tapping of the golden keg.
• Beulah Fall Festival: downtown Beulah on Crystal Lake, with chalk art, a car show, and horse-drawn wagon rides, fifteen minutes from Frankfort.
• Downtown Holland Fall Fest: downtown Holland.

Michigan Fall Festivals: Questions & Answers

What fall festivals are happening in Michigan this weekend?

Use the festival finder above and pick the weekend. Tap Find my festival, then pick a weekend, a region or what sounds fun. The list narrows as you choose. For October 9–11, the biggest are Charlevoix Apple Fest, Fall on the Island at Drummond Island, and Pentwater Oktoberfest.

Which Michigan fall festivals happen during peak color?

Northern Michigan typically peaks in the second and third weeks of October, which lines up with Charlevoix Apple Fest (October 9–11), Fall on the Island at Drummond Island (October 9–10), and Pentwater Oktoberfest (October 10). September festivals happen before most leaves have turned.

Are there fall festivals in Michigan in November?

A few, but November mostly shifts to holiday kickoffs: America’s Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit on Thanksgiving morning, Holland’s Kerstmarkt, and Christmas markets and light displays that open around Thanksgiving weekend.

When is Frankenmuth Oktoberfest?

Frankenmuth Oktoberfest is held in September, not October. In 2026 it ran September 17 through 20 at Heritage Park, with $10 daily admission and kids 15 and under free.

What is the biggest fall festival in Michigan?

Frankenmuth Oktoberfest is the largest single fall festival, and the only one in the United States formally sanctioned by Munich. ArtPrize in Grand Rapids draws the most visitors overall, but it runs for more than two weeks across a 4.5-square-mile district rather than as a single event.

Are Michigan fall festivals free?

Many are. ArtPrize is free to walk, and the Red Flannel Festival, Beulah Fall Festival, and Frankfort Fall Festival have no admission. Carnival rides, beer tents, and tastings are usually extra.

Do Michigan festival dates change every year?

Most do. Some are anchored to a fixed weekend: Red Flannel is always the first Saturday in October, and the Plymouth Fall Festival is the weekend after Labor Day. Others shift by a week or more. Always confirm with the organizer before you drive.

More Michigan Fall Fun

Have a favorite Michigan fall festival I’ve missed? Tell me in the comments and I’ll look into adding it to the finder.

• Michigan peak fall colors by region
• Michigan corn mazes and pumpkin patches
• Michigan haunted houses and Halloween events
• Michigan fall color train tours
• Best spots for fall camping in Michigan