Hoke County North Carolina North Carolina Fall Festival
On one October Saturday each year, Main Street in downtown Raeford closes to traffic and fills with booths, food trucks, music, and families. That is the North Carolina Fall Festival, known in its current layers as the NC Fall Festival: a free street festival run by its own volunteer board, in the town that serves as the seat of Hoke County. It is not a county fair, and it has no fairground venue; its ground is a downtown street.
About the Festival
The North Carolina Fall Festival is Raeford’s own autumn festival, held on Main Street in downtown Raeford, the county seat of Hoke County. It is an annual event built as a spread of lead events around one Main Street street-festival Saturday: the street day is the public centre, and the parade, the Turkey Bowl, the golf tournament, and Senior Bingo Day are fixtures of the same celebration.
The festival is run by its own organisation and board, not by Hoke County, the City of Raeford, or a chamber of commerce. The county and city are supporters, and funded the 2019 children’s corner. The 2026 county minutes name Dee Inman as President and Melissa Crull as Executive Director, and record that board members serve as volunteers, with the Executive Director being the only paid position. Earlier layers name Melissa Pittman (coordinator 2016; executive director 2018-2019) and Judy Pittman (a festival voice in 2022). No source fetched states that Pittman and Crull are the same person.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Festival | North Carolina Fall Festival, known as the NC Fall Festival |
| Town | Raeford, the county seat of Hoke County |
| Grounds | Main Street in downtown Raeford |
| Festival office | 101 North Main Street, Raeford |
| Current season | October, with one street-festival Saturday |
| 2026 street day | Saturday, October 17, 2026, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Street festival admission | Free in the 2019 and 2026 layers |
| Organiser | The festival’s own board and executive director |
From Turkey Festival to Fall Festival
The name history of this festival is a layered record, and it has to be told as the layered record it is rather than as a single clean rename. The reference record states that in 1984, the county began hosting an annual festival, the Hoke Heritage Hobnob, which over time transformed into the North Carolina Turkey Festival and then into the North Carolina Fall Festival. The Turkey Festival itself ran for thirty years before 2015, in the words of a 2015 layer.
Then the record carries a year that must never be deleted from the history. In 2015 the festival was renamed the North Carolina Poultry Festival for that year alone, running Friday, September 11 through Saturday, September 19, under the theme “Hatchin up Some Fun.” By 2016 the name had changed again: what used to be the North Carolina Turkey Festival was back, but as the North Carolina Fall Festival, with a new school-designed logo in which the grand ole lady bird of the old turkey logo continued to be represented.
For a useful comparison, see the Hertford County North Carolina Juneteenth Freedom Day Festival for another county festival.
In 2019 the director called it the fourth year of the Fall Festival but the thirty-fifth year of the festival, and said the name had been changed five years earlier from the Turkey Festival. The fourth-year billing fits a first Fall Festival in 2016, but “five years ago” would place the change in 2014, against the documented 2015 Poultry Festival year. No single rename year can be asserted from such a record, and no founding year can be back-calculated from the thirty-fifth-year billing or the 1984 Hobnob layer. The published reason: turkeys were then the county’s largest employer and commodity, and the name was changed to be more inclusive of all Raeford businesses.
The season moved as well as the name. The older shape is a September festival week: the Poultry Festival in September 2015, a September 10 to September 17 festival in 2016, and a September 11 to September 15 festival in 2018. The current shape is October: October 17 to 19, 2019; October 15, 2022; October 18, 2025; and October 17, 2026. September belongs to the festival’s older shape, and to the September 11 memorial that still opens the modern lead calendar. Attendance figures are billings in their own layers, never a counted gate: fifty thousand expected in a 2015 layer, sixty thousand in a state museum record. The parade and the turkey dinner were both absent for some pandemic years and restored in 2022, and the dinner’s 2026 return was only under discussion in the May 2026 minutes.
What to Expect
The Street Day
The street festival is the heart of the event. In 2026 it ran on Saturday, October 17, nine until four, on Main Street in downtown Raeford, with over two hundred booths and twenty-nine food trucks. The 2025 edition, on Saturday, October 18, carried more than one hundred seventy booths and over twenty-four food trucks, counts belonging to 2025 alone. The 2026 street day featured Rob Cole, from The Voice, and Elijah McCormick, from American Idol, a free kids’ corner, a free mechanical bull, an activity bus with free craft supplies, bull riding, and a climbing wall.
The Lead Calendar
The festival is best understood as a week-plus of events with the street day at its centre. The published 2026 lead calendar runs from the September 11 Memorial at the courthouse, through the Turkey Bowl on October 2, the golf tournament at Bayonet on October 9, the parade on October 10 from the high school down Main Street, and Senior Bingo Day on October 14 at the Senior Center, to the street festival on October 17. In 2022 the same spine ran in a different arrangement ahead of the street fair on October 15.
Music, Stages, and the Children’s Corner
Live music is a constant, but every lineup belongs to its own year. In 2019 the music came from The Dowdy Boys, Dv8er, Donnie Henderson, and Winslow Ratliff, with featured band Soul DeCree at noon, and the Children’s Corner, entirely free that year, offered a climbing wall, double slides, obstacle courses, and a trackless train. In 2025 the entertainment ran on two stages, with a Kidz Corner, face painting, and the Car Cruise-In, free to enter, from ten until four, including a fifty-fifty raffle; in 2018, Senior Day bingo, a free trackless train, and a gospel concert by Winslow Ratliff Junior.
The Turkey Bowl, the Golf Tournament, and the Dinner
The Turkey Bowl is a school football game, and its admission is the game’s own. The 2026 county minutes carve football-game admission out of their free statement, and no Turkey Bowl price is published. In 2022 the Turkey Bowl doubled as Hoke High’s homecoming game; homecoming is the school’s event, not the festival fixture. The Marvin Johnson Memorial Golf Tournament was in its second annual edition in 2022, October 8 and 9 at Bayonet at Puppy Creek, entry one hundred fifty dollars in that year’s layer; the 2026 minutes place it at Bayonet on Friday, October 9. The turkey dinner returned in 2022, plates at ten dollars on Friday, October 14, at West Hoke Middle School; in 2019 the “Stuffin’ and Stompin'” dinner cost eight dollars on Friday, October 18, at the same school. The dinner’s 2022 return is a fact of that year; its 2026 return was only under discussion.
Planning Your Visit
Admission and Money
The street festival is free in every layer that states it. The 2026 county minutes state that, apart from admission to the football game, festival events and activities are provided free to the public, and a 2026 layer states that admission is free to the public. The 2019 layer states that the event is free and open to the public. The 2025 layer states no blanket admission line: it documents only Kidz Corner activities at no cost and the Car Cruise-In free to enter. Beyond the free street festival, a visitor’s money goes to food, crafts, and the fenced ancillary items in their years, such as a turkey-dinner plate or a golf tournament entry, each belonging to its own year and never festival admission.
Parking and Getting There
No parking price is published in any source fetched for this festival, and no parking arrangement is published event-side either. Plan on downtown street parking and nearby lots, without expecting a published festival parking term. The festival office at 101 North Main Street is the landmark for finding the street day. Ancillary events sit at their own venues: the Turkey Bowl at Raz Autry Stadium at Hoke County High School, the turkey dinner at West Hoke Middle School, the golf tournament at Bayonet at Puppy Creek, and Senior Bingo Day at the Senior Center in Raeford in 2026; the 2022 layer places Senior Day at the Robert Wright Hoke County Agricultural Building on Palmer Street, and the two venues belong to different years.
When to Arrive and What to Bring
Arrive for the nine o’clock opening for the fullest booths; the 2026 street day ran nine until four, and the 2019 street day kept the same hours. For the full festival, arrive for the parade a week earlier: in 2026 it began at ten on Saturday, October 10, from the high school down Main Street. Bring walking shoes, cash and cards, and a bag for purchases. No camping offer is documented for this festival.
A Sample Festival Day
A good festival Saturday begins on Main Street at nine, when the booths open. Spend the morning browsing the craft vendors and let children try the kids’ corner and the climbing wall. At midday, take lunch from the food trucks, which numbered twenty-nine in 2026. In the afternoon, return to the booths you marked in the morning, and finish with the last hours of music before closing.
How the Fall Festival Compares
Compared with a county fair, this festival is a different kind of event altogether. A county fair is built around a fairground, livestock shows, and a midway; this festival is built around a downtown street, a parade, a football game, and a golf tournament. Other towns’ fall festivals and other states’ turkey festivals are different events, and none of their dates, prices, or programme belongs here.
Your Festival Checklist
- Come on the October street-festival Saturday, not in September, the festival’s older season
- Start on Main Street in downtown Raeford, near the office at 101 North Main Street
- Arrive for the nine o’clock opening for the fullest booths
- Budget for food and crafts; the street festival is free in the 2019 and 2026 layers
- Keep the Turkey Bowl separate: its admission is the football game’s own, and no price is published
- Add the parade, golf, and Senior Bingo Day for the full lead calendar
- Do not plan on festival camping, which is not a documented offer
Beyond the Festival Grounds
Raeford itself is worth an unhurried hour beyond the street festival. As the county seat, it carries the courthouse where the September 11 memorial is held and the City Hall where the memorial reception follows, both fixtures of the festival’s lead calendar.
Why the Festival Matters
The festival matters because it is Raeford’s own gathering, organised by its own people, on its own main street. The board members are volunteers, the executive director is the only paid position, and survival through a name change, a season change, and a pandemic interruption rests on that volunteer structure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who runs the North Carolina Fall Festival?
The festival is run by its own organisation and board, not by Hoke County, the City of Raeford, or a chamber of commerce. The 2026 county minutes name Dee Inman as President and Melissa Crull as Executive Director, and record that board members serve as volunteers, with the Executive Director being the only paid position. Earlier layers name Melissa Pittman (coordinator 2016; executive director 2018-2019) and Judy Pittman (a festival voice in 2022); the two surnames belong to their own years and are not the same person on this record.
Is the street festival free?
Yes, in the layers that state it. The 2026 county minutes state that, apart from football-game admission, festival events and activities are free to the public; the 2019 layer agrees, with the Children’s Corner entirely free that year. The 2025 layer states no blanket admission line, only the Kidz Corner at no cost and the Car Cruise-In free to enter. The Turkey Bowl’s admission is the football game’s own and is not published.
When is the festival held, and why do older sources say September?
The current festival is an October event. The street festival fell on October 17, 2026, October 18, 2025, October 15, 2022, and October 19, 2019, each with lead events before it. Older sources say September because the festival’s older shape was a September festival week, in 2015, 2016, and 2018, before the street day moved to October from 2019 onward.
Does the festival offer camping?
No camping offer is documented for the North Carolina Fall Festival. No camping, recreational vehicle, or overnight offer attaches to the festival in any source fetched, and it is a downtown street festival rather than a fairground event. Visitors needing an overnight stay should arrange ordinary lodging, which is not a festival offer.
What to Expect From the Next Hoke County North Carolina North Carolina Fall Festival
How often is the Hoke County North Carolina North Carolina Fall Festival held?
The festival is an annual autumn event, built as a spread of lead events around one Main Street street-festival Saturday. The record documents editions in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2025, and 2026, with the parade and the turkey dinner absent for some pandemic years and restored in 2022.
When is the next Hoke County North Carolina North Carolina Fall Festival?
The most recent documented edition is the 2026 festival, with its street festival on Saturday, October 17, 2026, from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon. No date for a later edition is published in the record drawn on here, and none is invented. On the festival’s current October pattern, a visitor should look for a street-festival Saturday in October, and should confirm the exact date with the festival’s own current announcements when they appear.
Will the dates change?
The dates have changed before, and they could change again. The festival moved its street day from a September festival week to an October Saturday between 2018 and 2019, and its lead events have shifted days and venues across years. The October Saturday is the current documented pattern, not a guarantee.
The North Carolina Fall Festival is, at its simplest, a town’s main street given over for a day to its own people and its visitors, with a week of familiar fixtures leading up to it.
