"All proceeds go towards supporting band students and music education at FCHS." That line comes from the News Observer's preview of this Saturday's Blue Ridge Mountain Marching Festival, and the same kind of sentence shows up in almost every October listing for downtown Blue Ridge this year.
Read the calendar for the next four Saturdays and each one points back to a named local organization. The Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association has the first weekend, along with the Fannin County High School band. The Humane Society of Blue Ridge has the second. The Art Center fills the quieter third, and the Blue Ridge Business Association closes East Main on the last night of the month. The leaf-season trains and visitor traffic are part of October, but the downtown schedule is built by groups headquartered a few blocks from the depot.
The month at a glance
| Date | Event | Where | Who it supports or runs it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 10–11 | 16th Annual Fall Arts in the Park | Downtown Blue Ridge | Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association |
| Oct. 10 | Blue Ridge Mountain Marching Festival | Fannin County High School football field | FCHS Marching Band |
| Oct. 17 | Pawsfest | Downtown park beside the train tracks, East Main Street | Humane Society of Blue Ridge |
| Oct. 19–Nov. 1 | Peak-a-Boo Pumpkin | Downtown business windows | Blue Ridge Business Association, with Fannin pre-K, kindergarten and Head Start classes |
| Oct. 24 | "Autumn Leaves" stained-glass workshop | The Art Center, 420 W. Main St. | BRMAA |
| Oct. 30 | "Common Threads" textile exhibition opening | The Art Center | BRMAA |
| Oct. 31 | Complimentary yoga, then the Halloween Safe Zone | The Art Center; East Main Street | BRMAA; Blue Ridge Business Association |
The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway's fall foliage tours run underneath all of this from today, Oct. 7, through Nov. 3, leaving from 241 Depot Street on 2-hour express and 4-hour extended trips over a 26-mile round trip. The railway runs on its own timetable. The table above is the local calendar layered over it.
October 10: two fundraisers on one Saturday
The busiest day of the month puts two community fundraisers on the same Saturday, and they draw from different parts of the county.
The 16th Annual Fall Arts in the Park Fine Arts and Crafts Festival runs Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 10 and 11, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, rain or shine. Entry is $5 for anyone 13 and older. Children 12 and under get in free with an adult. Proceeds go to BRMAA, the nonprofit based in the old Fannin County Courthouse, now The Art Center, at 420 W. Main St. Sponsors this year include the Fannin County Chamber of Commerce & CVB, Old Toccoa Farm Resort and Tri-State EMC.
The festival's parking plan also helps anyone driving downtown for other reasons that weekend. Free parking and a free shuttle run both days from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at two lots:
- Fannin County Middle School, 4560 Old Hwy 76
- Blue Ridge Farmers Market, 787 Summit St.
On the same Saturday, the Blue Ridge Mountain Marching Festival brings more than 15 bands and over 2,000 band students from across Georgia to the FCHS football field to compete for Grand Champion. The contest is sanctioned by the Georgia Music Educators Association. Bands compete in classes 1A through 5A, split into a silver division for 1A to 3A and a gold division for 4A and 5A. Judges come from Young Harris College, the University of North Georgia, and high schools in Ringgold and Perry, among others.
The home band performs last. The FCHS Marching Band's exhibition of this year's show, "Asphalt Jungle," closes the night. Tickets are $10 at the gate, and children in third grade and under get in free. The News Observer reports that event times had not been set as of its preview, so mountainmarchingfestival.com is the place to check for the schedule. Concessions, food trucks, vendors, and festival T-shirts and hoodies are all part of what the paper calls the band's biggest fundraiser of the year.
Because the two events share a Saturday, a household can spend the morning at the art booths and the evening in the stands, with both admissions going to Fannin County causes.
The weekend still needs volunteers
BRMAA is still looking for help on Friday, Oct. 9 and Sunday, Oct. 11 with setup, booth sitting, greeting, gate duty and other jobs. Sign-up is by phone at The Art Center at 706-632-2144, through Eventeny, or by email at [email protected]. Friday setup and Sunday breakdown don't draw visitors, and an all-day, two-day festival depends on them.
October 17: the Humane Society takes the tracks
A week later the downtown cause changes. The Humane Society of Blue Ridge's Pawsfest runs Saturday, Oct. 17, from noon to 4 p.m. in the downtown park beside the train tracks on East Main Street. Admission is $5 for adults, and children 12 and under get in free. Tickets are sold at the gate.
The official start is noon, but the day begins before that:
- 11:15 to 11:30 a.m. Pet Parade lineup. No registration is required, and fall costumes are encouraged for people and pets.
- 11:30 a.m. The Pet Parade moves through downtown.
- Noon. Pawsfest opens with the Pet Costume Contest on stage.
- 1 to 4 p.m. Live music from Mook & Mimi, plus food trucks, a beer truck, local vendors, and adoptable pets from North Georgia rescue organizations.
Leashed pets are welcome. All proceeds go to the Humane Society of Blue Ridge for shelter, medical care and rehoming of homeless animals in the community.
The 2026 Blue Ridge Mountains Parade of Homes runs the same weekend, Oct. 16 through 18. We covered that tour separately. For the downtown calendar, the main point is that Pawsfest's parade at 11:30 a.m. is the best-defined window on East Main that Saturday.
October 19 to 31: the calendar moves indoors and into shop windows
After Pawsfest, no other large festival is confirmed downtown for the month. The listings shift to smaller events, most of them at BRMAA again.
Starting Oct. 19 and running through Nov. 1, the Blue Ridge Business Association's Peak-a-Boo Pumpkin display puts pumpkins decorated by Fannin school pre-K and kindergarten classes and Head Start classes in downtown business windows. This display is made by the youngest students in the county and shown by the merchants on Main Street.
The Art Center has three dated events in the last stretch of the month:
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The one-day "Autumn Leaves" stained-glass workshop. Fees and registration details are on BRMAA's page.
- Friday, Oct. 30, 5 to 7 p.m. The free public opening reception for "Common Threads – A Textile Arts Exhibition."
- Saturday, Oct. 31, 10:30 a.m. to noon. A complimentary yoga session, with registration by phone.
This is where BRMAA's role in the month becomes clear. The arts association whose festival opens the busiest weekend on Oct. 10 also holds the last morning event on Oct. 31. From the former county courthouse on West Main, it is involved in October from the first big weekend to the final Saturday.
October 31: one block, one hour
The month's last downtown event is also its smallest. The Halloween Safe Zone runs Saturday, Oct. 31, from 5 to 6 p.m. on East Main Street between Church Street and Mountain Street. Candy distribution starts at 5 p.m., and the costume contest starts at 5:30. The Blue Ridge Business Association lists the same times and the same block.
Two logistics matter for that evening:
East Main Street will be closed to traffic during the event, and free parking opens at 4 p.m. in all City of Blue Ridge–owned lots, along Mountain Street, and at Blue Ridge City Hall.
In practice, the morning yoga and the evening trick-or-treat both happen downtown on the same Saturday. BRMAA's session ends at noon, and the free city lots open at 4 p.m. for the one-hour Safe Zone on East Main.
Across the month, the downtown footprint gets smaller. A two-day festival with shuttles from two remote lots opens October. A stadium event at the high school runs the same day. Pawsfest takes the park by the tracks the next Saturday. Then come workshops and a gallery opening inside one building, and the month ends with one closed block of East Main for one hour. For anyone choosing which Saturday to come downtown and which to avoid driving through it, that sequence is the plan.
Christy Reece grew up with this calendar, and the organizations on it are the ones that keep Blue Ridge feeling like a hometown in its busiest season. If you're planning around October downtown, or have questions about what fall looks like from a particular road or corner of Fannin County, Christy Reece is glad to compare notes. Let's Connect.
