40 fabulous things to do this fall
Fall in Arkansas is the best. Sorry, there’s no argument. Forget you and your allergy-inducing pollen, spring! See ya later, sweaty summer! Wander around outside in winter? Nope!
Fall reigns supreme, and who wants to regret another season coming and going without taking full advantage? Luckily, autumn in our lovely state has it goin’ on. Festivals, fairs, football and, uh, goats. That’s just the tip of this fabulous fall 40, a must-do-and-see-and-taste list for the Arkansan who wants to seize the season in the most serious way.
1. Find some football With high school and college teams playing around the state practically every weekend in the fall, seeing a live game – cheerleaders! marching bands! tackles! referees with sight problems! – is oh, so easy. Recommendation: Nov. 16 in Arkadelphia, Ouachita Baptist University Tigers vs. Henderson State Reddies — it’s the 97th Battle of the Ravine.
2. Fall leaf peeping Take a drive to take in all the fall colors. Suggestion: Travel the Pig Trail Scenic Byway/ Arkansas 23 from approximately Alma to Fayetteville. As long as Mother Nature cooperates, you can oohhh and ahhhh your way up through the Boston Mountains.
3. Fall into a pile of raked leaves Recipe: Find dead leaves. Rake dead leaves into a big pile. Run and jump into pile. Giggle. Repeat.
4. Go underground Blanchard Springs Caverns, Fifty-Six. There is never a bad time of year to walk through the wonder that is Blanchard Springs Caverns. The fact that Blanchard Springs sits in the Ozark National Forest and has ample campgrounds for weekend stays makes this truly a fall essential.
5. Drive in to a drive-in Time hasn’t shuttered all the drive-ins in Arkansas. Stone Drive-In in Mountain View and the Kenda Drive-In in Marshall are open and show current films.
6. Get Downtown Festival Paragould, Oct. 4-5. Festival gets underway the night of Oct. 4 with a downtown after-hours block party.
7. Master Mount Nebo Mount Nebo State Park, Dardanelle. To get a spectacular view, try a stay at one of the 12 state park cabins located along the bluff sitting at the top of the 1,350-foot Mount Nebo. If you are tempted to stretch out your arms and scream, “I’m the king (or queen) of the world,” nobody would blame you.
8. Jackson Farm 2024 Fall Festival Jackson Farm, Black Rock. Fall at the Jackson Farm is a packed-to-the-gills opportunity for a variety of activities and fun. The Fall Festival, which runs weekends from September to early November, begins with a cornhole tournament followed by a butterfly release event, hot air balloon rides, a truly intricate, challenging corn maze (opening in October), etc., etc. Setting aside the Fall Festival, Jackson Farm, which requires a ticket for admission, is a veritable Disney World with ziplines, slides, hayrides, a giant corn pit, petting zoo and more.
9. Float the Buffalo When the water level is right, very little can beat a float down the Buffalo National River. Do you want to float the Upper, Middle or Lower Buffalo? How about all three sections?
10. Ropin’ some rodeo It’s not easy to sling a rope around a racing steer or guide a horse around a cloverleaf of barrels. Luckily, it is quite easy to find a live rodeo in Arkansas in the fall. The Arkansas Rodeo Association holds a Finals Rodeo Oct. 3-5 in El Paso.
11. See boyhood home of Johnny Cash Northeast Arkansas is where to find the restored childhood home of the state’s legendary singer-songwriter, the Man in Black, Johnny Cash. A ticketed tour includes the Dyess Colony Visitors Center with exhibits and a guided walk through the restored home of Cash.
12. Gimme a s’more Recipe: Build a campfire. Skewer marshmallows on sharp stick. Burn marshmallows (sorry, no lightly toasted marshmallows here). Add graham cracker and chocolate bar. Eat. Repeat.
13. Gawk at houses along Spring Street in Eureka Springs Winding road. Gorgeous, historic Victorian-style houses almost at every turn. Gawking is free.
14. Frontier Day Festival Paris, Oct. 5. The festival where “yesterday meets today” kicks off with a parade in downtown Paris, which sits at the foot of Mount Magazine. Expect food, games and a car show.
15. Get your fair share of fair food Set aside diet restrictions and residual guilt. Have an outrageously large corn dog. Finish off a fresh stack of funnel cakes. A fall county fair near you will oblige.
16. Arkansas Goat Festival Perryville, Oct. 5. Feel a need to party down with a bunch of goats and lovers of goats? Count us in. Dave Lowe, festival coordinator, explains: “We’ll have a goat costume contest, goat parade and goat lingerie show. We’ll also have live music throughout the day. We have over 140 retail vendors set, as well as 23 food trucks. We’re expecting about 75 goats to grace us with their presence this year.”
17. Ozark Trail Festival Heber Springs, Oct. 4-5. Dog show, car show, food trucks, vendors, cornhole and more.
18. Pick a pumpkin There are a number of family farms around the state where you can walk out into a pumpkin patch to retrieve your very own pumpkin. Clarksville’s Cox Berry Farm & Nursery is open in October for pumpkin business: “We have mini-pumpkins and mini-gourds, and medium, large and x-large, pumpkins. Weigh it on the scale at our shed to determine the price (priced by the pound).”
19. Barbecue tourism Adored, award-winning Jones Bar-B-Q Diner in Marianna is an essential first stop for ’cue tourists who want to track down the best in the state. Pork barbecue sandwich, please.
20. Hike the High Bank Twin Falls Near the town of Ozark in the Ozark National Forest. See one of the state’s few twin waterfalls in this moderately challenging 0.4 mile hike/walk on a family-friendly trail.
21. Cliff jumping (carefully!) Dam Site Recreation Area, Heber Springs. OK, so jumping into Greers Ferry Lake in November could be a dicey and cold proposition. Early October, however, could be a pleasant cold plunge.
22. Ride a horse An hour-long walk through the fall woods is made that much better sitting on top of a horse. Sunshine Acres Ranch in Romance offers trail rides with “gorgeous views, including wooded creek crossings, mountains, and wildlife sightings.”
23. High Cotton on the Bayou Festival Scott, Oct. 5. Tour authentic plantation buildings at the Scott Settlement. Watch demonstrations of old-time skills such as cooking sorghum, blacksmithing and butter making. Increase personal happiness that you can simply buy butter at Kroger.
24. Manchester Pumpkin Day Arkadelphia, Oct. 5. It’s pumpkins galore for an Arkadelphia mainstay that also features games, hayrides, music and shopping.
25. Pickle up pickleball It’s all the rage. It’s tennis, sort of. When it’s a nice fall day, it’s a good time to see what all the fuss is about.
26. Bring on the Blues Helena-West Helena, Oct. 9-12. Easily one of the most recognizable and beloved annual events in all of Arkansas, the King Biscuit Blues Festival cranks up for thousands of blues lovers one more time. For 2024, music will be generated from six different stages.
27. Bryant Fall Fest Bishop Park, Bryant, Oct. 12. This year, Bryant’s Fall Fest adds a Salute to Heroes in military services and law enforcement.
28. Arkansas Rice Festival Weiner, Oct. 12. The long-running Rice Festival “celebrates the rich heritage of rice farming in Arkansas and celebrating harvest.” The schedule includes the Miss Arkansas Rice Festival Pageant, music acts, a rice cook-off, a street dance and a fireworks show.
29. Say a prayer in Thorncrown Chapel E. Faye Jones’ wood and glass wonder sits in the woods off U.S. 62 West just outside of Eureka Springs. Built in 1980, the Thorncrown Chapel won the 1981 Architects’ Design of the Year Award. There isn’t a more peaceful or magnificent place in Arkansas.
30. DJA Fall Fest Jonesboro, Oct. 12. Celebration of downtown Jonesboro with local merchants and activities for kids.
31. War Eagle Fair Hindsville, Oct. 17-20. Ready to get your shopping on? Over 250 artists and crafters of mind-bending variety sell their wares along the banks of War Eagle Creek.
32. Fallin’ Blackbird Festival Beebe, Oct. 19. In January 2011, thousands of dead blackbirds were found in Beebe. Residents woke up to find dead birds on home roofs, cars and lawns. Naturally, Beebe is holding a festival in honor of the strange occasion. Expect general festival doings along with a 5K.
33. Eeek! It’s an elk! Ponca Nature Center, Ponca. Yes, if you try, you might be able to spot an elk in the wild in Arkansas. A species of the deer family, elks were reintroduced to the Buffalo National River Area in the 1980s. The Ponca Nature Center offers exhibits about the elk recovery efforts, biology and history.
34. Corning Harvest Festival Wynn Park, Corning, Oct. 26. Organizers call this “a celebration of another year’s harvest and showcase of those in the past.”
35. Be birding Grab a pair of binoculars, and head out to spy on as many species of our feathered friends as possible. Try the Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge, which in the fall, can be home to geese, ducks and, on occasion, golden eagles, sandhill cranes and breathtaking trumpeter swans.
36. Eureka Springs Zombie Crawl Eureka Springs, Oct. 26. The family-fun event is for the walking dead of all ages. The Zombie Crawl parade starts at 6 p.m., but before that, there’s spooky music, training to do the “Thriller” dance and something called The Macabre Market.
37. Ozark Moonshine & Music Festival Van Buren County Fairgrounds, Clinton. Nov. 1-2. Organizers promise “moonshine culture from distillery tastings to bluegrass music.” Country music makers Lonestar and bluegrass ensemble The Gravel Yard Band are headliners.
38. Skip some stones Ahem, the authority known as Wikipedia says stone skipping is “the art of throwing a flat stone across water in such a way (usually sidearm) that it bounces off the surface.” So, find a lake or creek and get to skipping. If you have trouble, just chunk in the rocks. Nobody is keeping score.
39. See the stars in the sky Harrison. Buffalo River National Park is a fine place to watch stars twinkle and shine.
40. Sit and swing Recipe: Locate an outdoor swing. Put yourself in it. Start swinging. Smile. Repeat.