This festival was a blast! If you love Bluegrass you must…read moreattend this next year. The festival runs from a Friday to sunday. Friday evening you check in at the main stage tent. For 5.00 you get a bidding paddle for live and silent auction. All the food you can eat, this year provided by Bourbon Street. Shimp, cornbread, deserts. Fab! All the wine you can drink. Yes you read that correctly! Plus you can purchase your Bear on the square tshirt! Bid on wonderful items! Listen to live music. I got to meet Ugly Cousin! Definitely go to the festival on Sunday. This is when the gospel music is until around 1pm Then, this year headlining the event was Becky Buller. Amazing song writer, singer and fiddle player. I got to meet her also and she signed all my stuff! Food, food, and more food. Everything you want. I got a gyro. It was awesome. A bit pricy but it's a festival. Basically if you enjoy Bluegrass go to this festival. You will get to meet some amazing artist that are very willing to speak with you and appreciate that you are a fan. Definitely going back next year.

WHERE IS THAT BEAR?…read more This is the twentieth year for the "Bear on the Square" Festival and I thought that it would be interesting because of the emphasis on Appalachian music and culture. We love all genres of music and enjoy being able to hear something different and speak with the various artists. Storytelling, workshops and demonstrations were also featured. This festival is a huge favorite of the locals and the highlight on a Sunday morning is the gospel jam which is held in a tent overflowing with attendees. This jam should have been held in the local park because of its size and the interest that it generates. During the Gold Rush Festival, the Sunday service is held in the park and it is wonderful and accessible to all. As a rule, we always attend the festivals on opening day (Saturday), because it has a fuller and more varied schedule. On this day, many of the acts were not scheduled to perform until later in the day around 1pm but since we were there at 9 am, we would love to have seen musical acts performing at that hour. The cool aspect of this festival was being able to talk to artists such as the resident weaver who were working this very sophisticated weaving machine that was making cotton wash cloths. She had been weaving since the age of seven and had definitely discovered her passion. I also enjoyed talking to the dulcimer artist who carefully constructed custom dulcimers one or two at a time. The craftsmanship was impeccable and it usually takes a minimum of three months to create one from beginning to end. You get to totally customize your own design and whatever you want, he will make an effort to execute it. There were plenty of vendors who were showcasing personal wares such as jewelry, pottery, leather, wood products, instruments, clothing, food items and more. This was just a beautiful day to walk around, explore and mingle with vendors and visitors. It was also a great way to cap off the weekend after spending all of Saturday working in the yard. Next year we will be sure to arrive on Saturday so that we can take advantage of the full schedule.

I drove a pretty good ways to get to this festival, heard great things about it. I was very…read moreimpressed!! The town is a small little town with lots of antique shops that were opened along with all the vendors along the streets. They close the streets so people can walk. We seen a parade and there was a carnival set up for all ages to enjoy down a little ways from the vendors. Lots of vendors!! They had a live band playing on a stage. The funnel cakes were absolutely amazing!! Will definetly come back next year-

This is such a fun festival for the whole family. There are so many booths and fun attractions…read more Gold rush gets pretty busy, so be sure to get there early for a good spot. I've been every year since 2014 and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. Enjoy some of the local food while stopping into the booths to find one of a kind trinkets or maybe some larger like a painting or custom knife. The selection and quality of things offered here is top notch.

Great festival in a pretty venue at the perfect time of year. Almost reminiscent of Mayberry NC…read more Good music, food, crafts and vendors a plenty. A great way to spend a day with family and friends. Try to go every year.

Pumpkintown, located in upcountry South Carolina just a hoot and a holler from Pickens, Table Rock…read moreState Park and Caesars Head State Park, is home to the world-famous (in South Carolina) Pumpkin Festival on the 2nd Saturday in October. The 2nd Saturday each October, the pumpkins are in the patch, and it is time to celebrate. Spend the day browsing the arts and craft booths, listening to music, and enjoying the day. Don't miss the parade. Bring a chair or blanket Plenty of port a potties, plus the Mennonites had bunches of tables of deserts! Wow! Also over 100 venders and some of the best bluegrass music ever. I encourage everyone to go the the upstate and enjoy! Parking is in a big field about a mile from the festival, and big wagons pulled by a tractor pick you up and drop you off at the festival. Thousands of folks were there. If you have never experienced the hills of the upcountry this should be the first festival on your fall list.

The festival always has plenty of vendors and their tents setup to keep people busy. Cars are…read morebeautiful and interesting to view at leisure. The foods are always delicious.

Great car show, good vendors with some food options. It's an area tradition. Our first time and was…read morevery impressed they had an electric scooter rental which makes the day "do-able" if you have endurance or walking issues. My fav Vendor was "The Zoo: Groovy Yard Art" from Mineral Bluff, GA around the Blue Ridge area. Bought a sweet little cat us sculpture for the front years traditional green with blue flowers and definitely will be f going to their 7 acre property to check out the rest of the selections. They had all your seasons covered along with some pretty interesting and unusual pieces. I want to add a couple large cactus to our new collection A surprising lack of actual moonshine, which I guess with liquor laws, children of all ages etc. understandable. Just thought maybe they'd play up the name. The dog got to try some

This place is a great alternative for local Gwinnett residents to see some pretty holiday lights…read moreinstead of traveling elsewhere like Atlanta. Granted, it is a lot smaller but they packed a lot of lights in there for a $10 entry. ($10 is the online price, $12 at door) It is in a random residential area with a gravel driveway so you might miss the entrance, especially in the dark (We had to make a U-turn) but the GPS does take you there, just follow it carefully. It turns out this festival is on some farmland. It has a gravel parking lot and you walk through dirt/grass...so wear comfortable flat shoes. There are different light themes throughout. You first enter the "Under the Sea" theme. Other themes scattered around are Christmas, Chinese, etc. It is a quick walk through, but if you stop to take perfect Instagram worthy pics like I did, you can easily be there for an hour or 2. There's also a few fire pits, a little makeshift ice skating area, some farm animals, and a food/vendor tent. Inside the tent is where we saw the huge panda mascot! It was dancing and brought great energy to the crowd. I'm a HUGE panda fan so obviously I had to take a picture and even made it dance with me. Hehe. Everyone loved the panda and it truly made our visit. That pretty much ended our night, so we headed back to the car after an hour and a half. This place is only operational until Jan 1, 2022 so I would go before it closes!

SO SAD! This was one…read moreof the saddest festivals I have ever attended. It is the oldest festival in Georgia and is celebrating its 54th year. We thought that it would be fun to explore the small town and enjoy the festival at the same time. When we arrived shortly after 9 am, many of the vendors were in place and others were setting up in the center of town. We walked around for a while asking about places to eat in town. We were hoping for something small and intimate in the center of town but this option does not exist. We were surprised that the locals could not direct us to a breakfast restaurant even though there was only one less than a mile down the road, (cue Twilight Zone music). We made our way to the restaurant had a good breakfast and returned just in time for the parade. I immediately realize that something is off with this parade because there was no warm, fuzzy, excited feeling one gets when watching a parade. This parade had no bands, (which means no music), no performers and no flavor. It was a political parade designed to introduce the political candidates before the election next week. Ugh!! Are you kidding me? I was told the reason there was no band this year is because the band students were graduating today and therefore not available. There were a few vendors but nothing really new or interesting, (except one vendor reviewed separately). We attempted to walk around the square to visit some of the store owners but some of them were closed and others just weren't interesting. We left fairly quickly. I can imagine that after 54 years, the festival committee is starting to get tired and bored. However, instead of just giving up, perhaps they need to recruit some new members and pump some fresh blood into the committee. Next year the festival will mark its 55th year and it should definitely be their best year yet. Hopefully, it will be focused on family and community and not politics.

As far as festivals go this was pretty nice. I am kind of new to the small town in-the-square…read morefestivals. But this was nice. The parade was awesome, and they had a carnival this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary. The artist booths could have been a bit better. I think they need more of them. My son made out like a bandit though with candy. Fun time, I would recommend going if you are around Clarkesville. Its a very charming little town.

Honestly, save your time and go apple picking at a specific farm instead. This fair was much more…read morecraft-oriented and the number of actual apple products was severely lacking. Food was fine, but was primarily just fried foods you can get at any fair (not specifically apple-y). Only a few stands were selling fresh apples, and of those, only one had apple cider! Very crowded, and admission did not feel worth what we got.

After seeing the apple festival on Instagram, I knew it would be the perfect fall activity for me…read moreand my friends. We headed up north and had a relatively easy time with parking. We parked at the school for $5 and were easily able to get in and out. The festival had over a hundred vendors available for browsing, with lots of unique handcrafted items, interactive activities, and yummy food. You can get everything from tacos to barbeque to ribbon fries. We opted for some tacos, street corn, a pretzel, and some apple dumplings and all the food was great! The apple dumpling and the pretzel were personal highlights for me. The event itself does get really crowded, so be prepared to wait in lines for a good portion of your experience. Many of the vendors are cash only, and the day we went the credit card system was offline, causing a reliance on Venmo or other online payment options. Just like every other fair, the prices will be a bit high, so bring a decent amount of cash so you can enjoy your time. One thing I would hope to see in the future is more participation from local orchards. There was a lot of variety with vendors, but I was hoping to see more of a focus on apples as the star of the show. Overall, the festival was a fun experience I could see becoming a yearly tradition for our friend group.

MOUNTAIN HERITAGE FESTIVAL…read more This is a small annual festival that takes place on Labor Day weekend in Blairsville, GA. Blairsville is approximately 1.5 hours from Alpharetta on Highway 400/19. The artisans and vendors out today were selling jewelry, colorful gourds, wind chimes, clothing, jams/jellies, beautiful handcrafted wood items and more. There were many items that are perfect for enhancing your fall and Christmas decor and for giving as holiday gifts. The most popular items today were foods in jars. Although I am familiar with certain fruits and vegetables being prepared and stored, I was surprised to see, greens, zucchini, beans and other unusual items pickled and packed in jars. This must be a mountain tradition because I have not seen it in other places although I attend various festivals and was raised in the south. For me, the highlight of the festival was seeming the historical Mock house which was built in 1906 and restored in 2006 and the John Payne cabin built in 1861. The John Payne house was actually moved from it's original location and actually placed next to the Mock house. The Mock house was a small two bedroom home decorated in the style of the day with all antique furnishings and appliances. There was a quilting demonstration going on in one of the bedrooms. It is interesting how small the bedrooms were and I think the largest bed they had is what is known today as a "full size" bed but would only be appropriate for one person. Also, I love that the only fabric used at this time was just natural cotton which was used for EVERYTHING! That old GE refrigerator actually worked and had food in it! Wow! The rear of the home had a nice porch and an old well right next to it. The well was covered and no longer in use. The Payne cabin is located just a few feet from the Mock house and is the home of one of the area's prominent citizens. John Payne and his wife raised seven children in this one room cabin that also included a loft. I quickly realized just how blessed I am to live in this time, under current circumstances. Ms. Wanda was on hand churning butter from raw milk, it took her two hours and she mentioned that she had not done so in 60 years. She explained the process of extracting the butter from the milk and preparing it to be used at the dinner table. One of the other tour guides, provided a history of the home and its occupants and was actually making Brunswick stew in the fireplace using a cast iron pot. She was also planning to make cornbread as well but we did not get to see this part of the demo. This was such a great experience and a really important lesson for teaching children appreciation and what hard work really entails. DO NOT EXPECT IT TO BE COOL UP THERE AS IT WAS HOTTER THAN THE SUN AND THERE WAS NO DETECTABLE BREEZE! SURPRISE!

The apple pies and apple fritters are amazing. Definitely recommend. The lines are long but worth…read morethe wait. Goes without saying that their apples are delicious. Friendly people as well.

Nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains this place is awesome. They have multiple…read moretypes of apples to sell that come from the trees there locally at their orchard. They all looked fresh and taste totally delicious. They was my 5th time to this orchard. If you choose you can pick your own apples. There were entire of canned items to choose from as well as multiple choices of fresh vegetables. For my family, a trip to the mountains must contain a trip to Bryson's Orchard. They also have a small quaint little restaurant there but I haven't eaten there although they fried pies are unbelievable and they have a homemade candy store there including sugar free selections for the diabetic in the family. Everyone that works there went above c and beyond tomato our visit special!