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5 Quirky Fall Festivals Worth the Road Trip 🚗🛣️
Fall in America often means pumpkin patches, apple cider, and Instagram-worthy leaves. But if you’re more into moose calls, potato sack races, or a little light Sasquatch hunting, there’s a quirkier path waiting for you. Across the country, small towns host fall festivals that swap hayrides for offbeat traditions just weird enough to make you smile.
Here are five strange and wonderful festivals to put on your radar this fall.
🐾 1. Sasquatch Festival & Calling Contest – Whitehall, NY
Dates: September 27, 2025
Why Go: Whitehall isn’t just a charming Adirondack town—it’s a full-on Sasquatch hotspot. This festival features a Sasquatch calling contest, cryptid experts, themed vendors, and enough wild stories to fill a forest.
Strangest Moment: The calling contest is serious business. Yell your best “Squatch” and win glory.
More Info: Whitehall Sasquatch Festival on Facebook
🥔 2. Idaho Spud Day – Shelley, ID
Dates: September 20, 2025
Why Go: Idaho does potatoes like no one else. Spud Day has a parade, live music, a free baked potato bar, and a tug-of-war over a pit of mashed potatoes. That’s not a metaphor. It’s real mashed potatoes. Because nothing says “community” like pulling your neighbor into a vat of starch.
Strangest Moment: Watching the Spud Picking Contest, where participants try to pick up as many potatoes as they can within an allotted amount of time.
More Info: https://www.idahospudday.com/
🦌 3. North Country Moose Festival – Colebrook, NH & Canaan, VT
Dates: August 22–23, 2025
Why Go: Two small towns, two states, one giant celebration of moose. With a moose-calling contest, classic car show, maple syrup tasting, and crafts galore, it’s peak Northern New England.
Strangest Moment: Grown adults competitively imitating moose mating calls into a microphone.
More Info: https://www.facebook.com/moosefestival/
🕷️ 4. Tarantula Awareness Festival – Coarsegold, CA
Dates: October 25, 2025
Why Go: It’s tarantula migration season, and this Sierra Foothills town celebrates with spider races, educational talks, and a “hairy leg contest.” (Yes, humans participate too.)
Strangest Moment: Watching the tarantula derby while eating your funnel cake.
More Info: https://www.yosemitethisyear.com/eventdetail/4129/coarsegold-tarantula-awareness-festival
👁 5. Mothman Festival – Point Pleasant, WV
Dates: September 20–21, 2025
Why Go: Dive into the lore of West Virginia’s most famous cryptid with vendor markets, cosplay, live music, and tours of the infamous TNT area where sightings began.
Strangest Moment: Meeting someone in a full Mothman suit at 9 a.m. and realizing they’ve been up since dawn posing for photos.
More Info: mothmanfestival.com
When Pumpkin Spice Isn’t Enough
Fall doesn’t have to mean apple bobbing and flannel. Sometimes, it means yelling into the woods for Sasquatch, cheering for the best moose call, or stepping into a mashed potato pit with zero regrets. So if you're craving a fall getaway with a little more flavor (and a lot more tarantulas, cryptids, and French fries), these festivals are ready to welcome your weird.
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