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Seattle-area fall festivals celebrate the local apple harvest and lots more. Photo: iStock
It’s fall festival time around Seattle — let’s get the party going! Many fall festivals focus on pumpkins and harvest time. On top of picking your perfect pumpkin, this season has many more reasons to celebrate, from apples to maples and wurst to witches!
We’ve rounded up the best local fall festivals, many of which are free.
Bellewood Farms Harvest Festival
Date: Wednesday–Sunday, Aug. 31–Oct. 31
Cost: Free; items for purchase
This orchard in Lynden is open for harvest! Take a tractor train ride out to pick apples, wander through a free corn maze, or peruse artisan goods in the gift store. You’ll even catch views of Mount Baker on a clear day. Tip: If you go on a weekend, there are tasty apple cider donuts.
Harvest Home at Fort Nisqually
Date: Saturday, Sept. 7
Cost: $12.86–$15.24; ages 3 and younger are free
Apples from the orchard at Fort Nisqually Living History Museum are pressed into cider at this harvest festival. Families can decorate the hock cart, see a teen Harvest King and Queen crowned, and help build a scarecrow to watch over the fall crops. There will also be a jam and jelly competition, so bring your homemade jar of jam for judging.
Edmonds Oktoberfest and Family Festival
Date: Friday–Saturday, Sept. 13–14
Cost: Free; some activities require a fee
There’s a beer garden for grown-ups (it’s Oktoberfest, after all), but this Edmonds fest features all-ages fun such as the “Kids Korner” activity area and the pet parade on Saturday! Enjoy live music, cornhole and roll-the-barrel games.
Mid-Autumn Kite Festival
Date: Saturday, Sept. 14
Cost: Free; donations appreciated
Head to the Seattle Chinese Garden for a full day of autumn fun. You can expect different performances, engaging stories, crafts and demonstrations. The garden is the perfect venue to celebrate the shift in seasons, with beautiful architecture, water features and plants to admire.
ChuSeok Korean Festival
Date: Saturday, Sept. 14 and Sept. 21
Cost: Free
Mark the harvest season during this celebration of Korean culture. Try making a lotus lantern, watch traditional performances and taste delicious food. This festival takes place on two dates, in two locations (Tacoma and Gig Harbor), for double the fun.
Seattle Fiesta Patrias
Date: Saturday–Sunday, Sept. 14–15
Cost: Free
This installment in Seattle Center’s fantastic Festál series celebrates the independence of many Latin American countries, as well as the enduring traditions and customs that enrich our community. Enjoy folk dances and cooking demos, or let the kids get their wiggles out in a bouncy house on the Fisher Pavilion rooftop.
Swans Trail Farms’ Apple Festival
Date: Daily, Sept. 14–Oct. 31
Cost: $7.95 –$21.95; ages 1 and younger free
There’s a bevy of kids activities that make this Snohomish fest enticing for families. Just before pumpkin season, Swans Trail Farms invites families to celebrate our state’s signature crop, the apple! Book your admission to the festival for access to the petting farm, corn maze and kids play area with giant slides. You can also watch duck races.
Fall City Apple Festival
Date: Sunday, Sept. 15
Cost: Free
Taste apple desserts, press apples into cider using a cider press and hop on for a horse ride. You can even bake your best apple pie and enter it into the apple pie contest! Proceeds from this Fall City family fest support camp scholarships for local kids.
The Great Wallingford Bratwurst Festival
Date: Friday–Saturday, Sept. 20–21
Cost: Free; food and activities for purchase
Organized by St. Benedict School in Wallingford, this long-running fest brings the whole community together. Kids can play games for prizes and jump around giant inflatables, and grown-ups can enjoy the outdoor beer garden. Don’t forget to dine on bratwurst while you listen to live music.
Kenmore Oktoberfest
Date: Friday–Sunday, Sept. 20–22
Cost: Free; some activities require a fee
It’s Kenmore’s first Oktoberfest! The city will be transformed into a German wonderland for this three-day festival, with a ceremonial firkin tapping, live music from local bands and a seasonal market. Come for the games and activities, stay for the wiener dog races.
Stocker Farms Fall Festival
Date: Saturday–Sunday, Sept. 21–22; Saturday–Monday, Sept. 28–30; Daily, Oct. 1–31
Cost: $15.95–$27.95; discounts available; ages 2 and younger are free
If you’re on the hunt for a perfect fall photo, Stocker Farms has you covered. From a pumpkin barn, to an antique phone booth, to the Cascade Mountains in the distance, this scenic Snohomish farm is the place to go. While you’re there, choose a pumpkin from the patch, navigate the corn maze and romp around on more than 30 other attractions.
Mid-Autumn Festival Carnival
Date: Sunday, Sept. 22
Cost: Free
Celebrate Chinese traditions at this fall festival on Mercer Island. There will be traditional music, dance and kung fu performances, along with arts and crafts and storytelling sessions. Plus, the whole family can try their hand at different carnival games, win prizes and enjoy delicious food from local vendors. Don’t miss out on the special festival moon cakes!
Mabon Festival
Date: Sunday, Sept. 22
Cost: Free; items for purchase
This unique Kirkland festival caters to witches and the metaphysically minded. Also known as Pagan Thanksgiving, Mabon is a time for reflection and renewal. The festival invites all to consider their accomplishments over the past year, let go of things that did not bear fruit and set intentions for the year to come. Keep an eye out for magical surprises!
Nisqually Watershed Festival
Date: Saturday, Sept. 28
Cost: Free
Celebrate the changing of the seasons outside at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in Olympia. It’s the season for salmon spawning, leaves changing colors and cooler weather. Bring your future scientists and biologists to this festival and watch as they learn more about local wildlife.
Fishermen’s Fall Festival
Date: Saturday, Sept. 28
Cost: Free
This fab fest supports the Seattle community of fishermen. Kids will find tons to do here, including hands-on activities like pond fishing and wooden boat building. And, you can expect to learn more about Seattle’s commercial seafood industry (which will come in handy during the festival’s fishing and seafood trivia game!). Take a free ship canal tour on an Argosy boat, bring your appetite to the salmon barbecue and enjoy the festivities as a family.
Lattin’s Fall Festival
Date: Saturday–Sunday, Sept. 28–Oct. 27
Cost: Free entry; food and activities for purchase
This cider mill and farm in Olympia has all the quintessential fall activities: wagon rides, pumpkins, apple fritters and a petting zoo. Kids can also play games and take a ride on the animal train. Don’t forget to try their award-winning apple cider.
Seattle Japanese Garden Maple Festival
Date: Daily, Oct. 3–13
Cost: $6–$10 (except during free first Thursday); 5 and younger free
The changing season brings a variety of fall colors to the Seattle Japanese Garden. The Maple Festival celebrates Hatsumomiji, the Japanese tradition of admiring the art of nature. Wander the serene garden paths and marvel at the fiery fall colors of the garden’s maples. Just grab a self-guided maple tour brochure — and scavenger hunt sheet for the kids — at the gatehouse when you arrive.
Oktoberfest Northwest
Date: Friday–Sunday, Oct. 4–6
Cost: $10–$21; ages 12 and younger are free
Here is another chance to catch wiener dog races and enjoy German traditions. Puyallup’s Oktoberfest Northwest is a family-friendly daytime event with traditional food and a variety of activities. Take the kids to the root beer garden for a root beer float, free face painting and — my family’s favorite tradition — Hammerschlagen.
West Seattle Oktoberfest
Date: Friday–Sunday, Oct. 4–6
Cost: Free entry; food and beverage for purchase
Keep your lederhosen out — Oktoberfest in West Seattle has a costume contest and more friendly competitions planned. Grown-ups can indulge in Washington-brewed beer, while the whole family can share a giant Bavarian pretzel. Pus, there will be live music!
Fall Festival at Arrowhead Ranch
Date: Saturday, Oct. 5
Cost: $8 (ages 6 and older); ages 5 and younger are free
How about a fall festival with a side of royalty? This Camano Island ranch has its own Pumpkin Princess. Plus, you can take a hayride tour of the ranch, pick a pumpkin, launch apples and make a scarecrow. Local vendors will be selling their wares and seasonal treats will be available.
Harvest Festival With Kirkland Parks
Date: Saturday, Oct. 5
Cost: Free
Kirkland’s fourth annual Harvest Festival will have music, competitions and apple cider pressing demonstrations. Shop the vendor marketplace and grab lunch from a food truck. Don’t miss the “Kids Korral,” which will have different activities for children to enjoy!
Harvest Fest at Suncadia
Date: Saturday–Sunday, Oct. 5–6 and 12–13
Cost: Free
Family-favorite destination Suncadia invites both resort guests and visitors to celebrate the season with fall fun such as wagon rides, harvest crafts and pumpkins. There will also be face painting, live music, archery, axe throwing and a fall market.
More fall fun around Seattle... |
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2023 and was updated in August 2024 by ParentMap’s family fun editor, Meredith Charaba. New festivals and details for 2024 were added and all entries were fact-checked.
