Where Your Adventure Begins
Three regions.
One state worth the drive.
Tennessee changes character at the rivers and the plateau. This guide keeps the family events, and the towns that host them, in one calendar and one town book.
Official doors
These are the state sites. This guide does not book a room or draw a live map.
The three Tennessees
On the calendar now
Full calendarAnakeesta Bear-Varian Fall Festival
A mountaintop fall festival above Gatlinburg, reached by chandelier lift.
East TennesseeDollywood Harvest Festival
Pumpkins, fall food, and the rides, with the Smokies on the ridgeline behind the park.
Middle TennesseeLucky Ladd Farms Pumpkin Patch
Corn maze, pumpkin patch, and cider donuts on a working farm south of Franklin.
Middle TennesseeCheekwood Harvest
Pumpkins, a marigold river, and garden paths at the Belle Meade estate through the first of November.
Middle TennesseeNashville Oktoberfest
The South's long-running Oktoberfest, with German food, polka, and a street festival families have used as a fall outing since 1980.
East TennesseeNational Storytelling Festival
The country's flagship storytelling weekend, in the oldest town in Tennessee.
Weather this week
Mid-OctoberWest Tennessee. Days in the 70s, nights in the 50s. Humid after a gulf rain. The river bluff can be windy. National Weather Service
Middle Tennessee. Days in the 70s, nights in the 50s. Cooler on the plateau at Fall Creek Falls. A clear Saturday is the busy park day. National Weather Service
East Tennessee. Valley days in the 60s and 70s. The ridges run cooler, and a frost is possible above 4,000 feet. Fog is common on 441 in the morning. National Weather Service
A seasonal note, not a live forecast. Check the National Weather Service the morning you leave.