As the last days of summer are slowly fading away, the Carolinas are welcoming the fall season with a variety of exciting festivals and events that offer a little bit of everything, from food and music to games and parades and even gopher tortoises! It’s time to pack up your car and experience the fun.
Mark your calendar for these events!
How about some chowder, a mouthwatering North Carolina shrimp burger or just a lot of good times? If seafood is your fare, then the 23rd annual North Carolina Seafood Festival is for you! The highlight of the festival is the Blessing of the Fleet on Sunday morning, October 4, at the North Carolina State Port in Morehead City. Other events include ship tours, a boat show, arts and crafts, amusement park rides, sporting events and fireworks. New to the festival this year are seafood samplings and cooking demonstrations by highly renowned chefs. In addition, there’s live entertainment on four stages, and the SasSea’s Island Playground is the perfect place to let your kids play! The North Carolina Seafood Festival takes place Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4 at the waterfront of Morehead City, North Carolina. For more information, visit www.ncseafoodfestival.org.
Start your engines! It’s time for the Darlington Historic Racing Festival when stock cars return to Darlington Raceway for heart-pounding action and excitement. The festival will also feature four former Indianapolis 500 winning cars from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on display, as well as question and answer sessions with legends, exhibition laps by historic racecars and autograph sessions. If that’s not enough to get your motor running, there’s the vendor area for shopping, the kid zone and car corrals. The Darlington Historic Racing Festival takes place Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27 at the Darlington Raceway, 1301 Harry Byrd Highway, Darlington, South Carolina. For more information, visit www.darlingtonraceway.com.
Ready to experience highland games? With the highest concentration of Highland Scots in North America, it’s not a surprise that Laurinburg, North Carolina plays host to the Scotland County Highland Games. Watch as lads compete in traditional events such as the sheaf toss (throwing 20-pound bales of straw straight up with a pitchfork) and tossing the caber (a giant tapered pine pole). In addition to the competitive event, there’s dancing, piping and drumming and of course, plenty of tartan! The Scotland Highland Games take place Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4 at the John Blue House, 13040 X-Way Road, Laurinburg, North Carolina. For more information, visit www.schgnc.org.
It’s time to celebrate the gopher tortoise! The Gopher Hill Festival in Ridgeland, South Carolina – once known as Gopher Hill – has lots of fun for the entire family. The five-day event includes the Family Fun Night with the highly anticipated pink tub races and pet show, History of the Hill Night, Street Dance Night and Southern Sunday. Gopher Hill Day is always celebrated on the Saturday of the Festival and features a parade and “turtle” races. If you get hungry, you can munch on “turtle” burgers and sip “turtle” juice! Other activities include demonstrations, live entertainment, karaoke and a live gopher tortoise exhibit. The Gopher Hill Festival takes place Wednesday, October 7 through Sunday, October 11 in downtown Ridgeland, South Carolina. For more information, visit www.gopherhillfestival.org.
Fall is always fun in the Carolinas!
