Michigan Fall Festivals 2026: Dates, Locations & What to Expect

Last Updated: August 2026

Michigan fall festivals run from the first weekend of September through the end of October, and the busiest weekend of the whole season is September 11–13, 2026, when four of the biggest run at once. Below are the confirmed 2026 dates, organized by month, so you can build a weekend around one instead of finding out you missed it.

I have been covering Michigan fall travel for WDIV Detroit and FOX 17 West Michigan for years, and the question I get every September 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 I have verified every date below against the organizers for 2026 and flagged the handful still to be confirmed.

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.

Michigan Fall Festival Calendar 2026

Confirmed dates first. Festivals marked “confirm” have not published 2026 dates yet — the typical window is listed instead.

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 17–20	Frankenmuth Oktoberfest	Heritage Park, Frankenmuth
Sept 18 – Oct 3	ArtPrize	Downtown Grand Rapids
Sept 12	U.P. Fall Beer Festival	Marquette
Sept 19	Taste of Harbor Springs	Harbor Springs
Sept 18-19	Saline Oktoberfest	Saline
Sept 26 – 27	Pentwater Fall Festival	Pentwater Village Green
Sept 26 – 27	Frankenmuth Fire Art Festival	Frankenmuth
Sept 26 – 27	Midland Antique & Collectible	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
Oct 9–10	Fall on the Island Festival	Drummond Island
Oct 9–11	Charlevoix Apple Fest	East Park, Charlevoix
Oct 10	Pentwater Oktoberfest	Pentwater
TBD	Growler Brewfest	Downtown Brighton
Oct 14 – 18	Frankfort Film Festival	Garden Theater, Frankfort

Michigan Fall Festivals in September

Plymouth Fall Festival — September 11–13

Downtown Plymouth. Held the weekend after Labor Day every year, 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. Good first festival of the season and easy from anywhere in metro Detroit.

Art & Apples Festival, Rochester — September 11–13

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 — they shift year to year.

Posen Potato Festival — September 11–13

Posen, west of Alpena. A celebration of the Polish and Native communities of northeast Michigan, running since 1953 — 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.

Frankenmuth Oktoberfest — September 17–20

Heritage Park, Frankenmuth. This is the biggest fall festival in the state and the one most worth planning around. In 1996 Munich’s Lord Mayor and the German parliament formally sanctioned 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.

Admission is $10 per person per day and children 15 and under are free. Thursday opens at 3 p.m. with the keg tapping at 6:30, Friday and Saturday run noon to midnight, and Sunday is noon to 4 p.m. Shuttles run 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

Downtown Grand Rapids, with a preview week starting September 12. ArtPrize turns a 4.5-square-mile district into an open-air gallery — installations in storefronts, museums, parks, and breweries, with more than $500,000 in prizes decided partly by public vote.

It is free to walk and it runs for more than two weeks, which makes it the most flexible thing on this list. Start at the Grand Rapids Public Museum and work the riverfront. Parking fills fast on weekends; the Rapid bus system routes in from outlying lots.

More September Festivals

These run in September most years but had not published 2026 dates when this page was updated. Check the organizer before you drive.

• U.P. Fall Beer Festival — Mattson Lower Harbor Park, Marquette. Michigan beers you can only get in the U.P. 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, with the roadside fruit stands running.
• 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 and unlike anything else on this list.
• Taste of Harbor Springs — waterfront tasting event hosted by the Harbor Springs Area Chamber of Commerce, with small bites from area restaurants and live music.
• Saline Oktoberfest — German rock and folk music, a kinderplatz for kids, a beer garden, a cornhole tournament, and the tapping of the golden keg.

Michigan Fall Festivals in October

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

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 that runs five miles from downtown Niles to Niles High School. There is a Youth Day with a separate parade a few days before the main event.

The apple contests are the heart of it — apple peeling, pie eating, biggest apple, and seed popping, with local growers competing.

Red Flannel Festival, Cedar Springs — October 3

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. The 2026 theme is “Red, White, & Flannel,” tied to the nation’s 250th.

Beulah Fall Festival — October 3

Downtown Beulah on the shore of Crystal Lake. A one-day festival with sidewalk chalk art, kids’ games, face painting, a classic car and motorcycle show, and horse-drawn wagon rides. Small, walkable, and fifteen minutes from Frankfort.

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.

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.

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 October Festivals

• Downtown Holland Fall Fest — October 2–3, downtown Holland.
• Growler Brewfest — downtown Brighton, and one of the few dog-friendly beer events in the state. Craft breweries, a cidery, a winery, food trucks, and live music. Adults only, 21+. Confirm 2026 dates.
• Frankfort Film Festival — the Garden Theater in downtown Frankfort, four days of independent film from documentaries to drama. Confirm 2026 dates.

Michigan Fall Festivals: Questions & Answers

When is Frankenmuth Oktoberfest 2026?

September 17 through 20, 2026, at Heritage Park in Frankenmuth. Admission is $10 per person per day and children 15 and under are free. Thursday runs 3 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to midnight, and Sunday noon to 4 p.m.

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.

When is Michigan’s busiest fall festival weekend?

September 11 through 13, 2026, when the Plymouth Fall Festival, the Art & Apples Festival in Rochester, and the Posen Potato Festival all run at once. If you are traveling that weekend, book lodging early.

Which Michigan fall festivals happen during peak color?

Northern Michigan 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 Michigan fall festivals free?

Many are. ArtPrize is free to walk, the Red Flannel Festival and Beulah Fall Festival have no admission, and the Frankenmuth Fire Art Festival is free for most events. Frankenmuth Oktoberfest charges $10 per day with kids 15 and under free. 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 always the weekend after Labor Day — but 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 have missed? Tell me in the comments and I will look into adding it.

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