Woolly Worm Festival
2025-10-18 10:00 - 2025-10-19 16:00 (America/Halifax) | NC
Banner Elk looks forward to welcoming you to the 48th Annual Woolly Worm Festival hosted by the Avery County Chamber of Commerce and Banner Elk Kiwanis! Head over on October 18 & 19, 2025 in Banner Elk, North Carolina for woolly worm races, craft and food vendors, live entertainment, children’s activities, and so much more.
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ASU Home Football Game
2025-10-18 13:00 - 15:00 | Kidd Brewer Stadium, 733 Rivers Street, Boone, NC, 28607
App State vs. Coastal Carolina
Parking Info

Conversations with the Curator: Arlee Mains
2025-10-23 11:00 - 12:00 | Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
Arlee Mains, Spring Chores, May-June 1996, Acrylic on paper, Promised Gift, Collection of Marth & Terry Satterwhite, 19.5 x 23.5 (framed). Photo: Josh White
Join BRAHM on Thursday October 23 at 11 am when curator Ian Gabriel Wilson will be in conversation with Pam McKay, guest curator of the exhibition Arlee Mains: A Life in Watauga. We will learn about Arlee, her relationship with Pam, and what it is about Arlee’s paintings that still captivate us today.
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Beary Scary Halloween
2025-10-25 11:00 - 15:30 | Grandfather Mountain, 2050 Blowing Rock Highway, Linville, NC, 28646
Visit Grandfather Mountain for a day of nature programs about animals that some consider creepy and crawly! This fun-filled celebration includes an opportunity to trick-or-treat on the mountain and then watch special Halloween enrichments be given to the animals. Included with admission.
Plus, children in costume are admitted at half-price. Children coming in costume do not need to make advance admission ticket reservations online. The discount will be given at the Entrance Gate. Those planning to visit the park not in costume are strongly encouraged to make advance ticket reservations online at grandfather.com/tickets.
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Pumpkin Carving (BYO Pumpkin)
2025-10-25 12:00 - 15:00 | McCoy Minerals, 537 Main St., Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
🎃✨ Pumpkin Carving Party at McCoy Minerals! ✨🎃
Join them on October 25th for an afternoon of fall fun! 🍂
All you need to bring is your own pumpkin— and your creativity! They’ll provide the carving tools + cleanup. 🖤🕸️
🗓️ Date: October 25th, Noon – 3 pm
📍 Hosted by McCoy Minerals
🎃 BYO Pumpkin • We’ll handle the mess!
Grab your friends, carve a masterpiece, and celebrate spooky season together. 👻✨
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Blowing Rock Halloween Festival & Monster March
2025-10-25 17:30 - 20:00 | Main Street, 1094 Main Street, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
Join Blowing Rock Parks & Recreation for tons of FREE fun with an evening of spooky activities! Enjoy downtown trick-or-treating, the famous Monster March, and a costume contest! This is among the best Halloween events for kids of ALL ages. Memorial Park, located right in the middle of downtown, is the center for all the fun!
2025 SCHEDULE:
5:45pm – Monster March – Main Street is closed for a costume parade, and everyone is invited to showcase their costume! Line up at 5:30pm at American Legion. The Monster March starts at Park Avenue and continues to Ginny Stevens Lane (near Town Tavern and the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum)
6pm – Trick or Treat on Main Street – Directly following the Monster March, kids are invited to go door to door at participating businesses for candy and treats! Main Street remains closed for the first 15 minutes or so, to give plenty of time for Monster March participants to make their way to the sidewalks.
7pm – Costume Contest with DJ Taco- Meet at the Memorial Park gazebo to enjoy music and the contest!
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A Hole in the World
2025-10-30 18:00 - 19:00 | Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
In a raw and inspiring reflection on grief–selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best books of the year–a mourning sister processes her personal story of loss by exploring the history of bereavement customs.
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Gourmet Ghost Tour
2025-10-31 14:00 - 17:00 | Downtown Blowing Rock, 132 Park Avenue, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
A three hour walking tour of historical downtown Blowing Rock, NC exploring local food, wine, art and history with a Halloween twist. From 2-5pm on October 31, tour guide, Joanna, will be leaning into the spooky aspects of Blowing Rock’s food, wine, and art scenes. Prepare to be surprised by the spine tingling things you’ll learn!
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Boone Boo!
2025-10-31 16:30 - 20:00 | Jones House, 604 West King Street, Boone, NC, 28607
Head over to Downtown Boone, as the community and visitors are invited to stop by downtown merchants for a family-friendly trick-or-treating event. The central part of King Street will be closed to accommodate trick-or-treaters and to make room for some surprise guests and performances!
Spooky music, larger than life inflatables, and of course plenty of Halloween costumes and treats will all be a part of the evening’s festivities. Plus, the annual costume contest will take place on the street at 6pm.
Be sure to stop by the Watauga Library between 4-5pm for Halloween crafts and goodies. Visit the Jones House for some additional silly and spooky fun, head down to Howard Street for coffee, popcorn, and treats at The Hope Center, and check out Boone First Baptist Church for their annual Trunk or Treat event.
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ASU Home Football Game
2025-11-06 15:30 - 18:30 | Kidd Brewer Stadium, 733 Rivers Street, Boone, NC, 28607
App State vs. Georgia Southern
Parking Info

Cancer Community & Caregivers Appreciation Event
2025-11-09 14:00 - 17:00 | Blowing Rock Conference Center, 1818 Goforth Rd., Blowing Rock, NC, 28605
Head to the Blowing Rock Conference Center on Saturday, November 9, from 2-5 pm for an event showing appreciation to those battling cancer and those who care for them. There will be free food, live music, a silent auction, door prizes and more! This event is sponsored by the CRA or Cancer Resource Alliance of Watauga County.
For more information call 828-414-9889.

ARS POETICA III Reception
2025-11-13 17:00 - 19:00 | Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
George Pfeffer, Touch, 2024, photo of original mushroom spore pattern printed on archival paper with pigment ink, 15 in. x 14.5 in. Image courtesy of the artist.

Head to BRAHM to celebrate the artists and poets of ARS POETICA III exhibition! The reception will include an awards ceremony to announce the pairings chosen for the two Judges’ Choice Awards as well as the People’s Choice Award. Light refreshments will be available.
Free and open to the public.
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Sam Bush at The App Theatre
2025-11-14 20:30 - 22:30 | Appalachian Theatre of the High Country, 559 West King Street, Boone, NC, 28607, United States
On a Bowling Green, Kentucky cattle farm in the post-war 1950s, Bush grew up an only son, and with four sisters. His love of music came immediately, encouraged by his parents’ record collection and, particularly, by his father Charlie, a fiddler, who organized local jams. Charlie envisioned his son someday a staff fiddler at the Grand Ole Opry, but a clear day’s signal from Nashville brought to Bush’s television screen a tow-headed boy named Ricky Skaggs playing mandolin with Flatt and Scruggs, and an epiphany for Bush. At 11, he purchased his first mandolin.
As a teen fiddler Bush was a three-time national champion in the junior division of the National Oldtime Fiddler’s Contest. He recorded an instrumental album, Poor Richard’s Almanac as a high school senior and in the spring of 1970 attended the Fiddlers Convention in Union Grove, NC. There he heard the New Deal String Band, taking notice of their rock-inspired brand of progressive bluegrass.
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Patrick Dougherty: Pilgrimage Reception
2025-11-15 17:00 - 19:00 | Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
2015. Photo: Brianna Brough/Chapel Hill Magazine

Join BRAHM as they celebrate the exhibition, Patrick Doughtery: Pilgrimage.
Patrick will be in the Gallery to answer questions about the work throughout his successful career, and this premier exhibition at BRAHM.
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Michael's Journey Book Signing
2025-11-22 14:00 - 16:00 | NC
Saturday Nov. 22 – Jocelyn Lacey, local author of Michael’s Journey from Caterpillar to Butterfly (and many other books) will be doing a signing event. She will be at the Incredible Toy Co. from 1-3pm. Jocelyn has partnered with WAMY Community Action and 20% of the proceeds of this book will go to Hurricane Helene Relief work.
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ASU Home Football Game - Time TBD.
2025-11-22 19:00 - 22:00 | Kidd Brewer Stadium, 733 Rivers Street, Boone, NC, 28607
App State vs. Marshall
Parking Info

Christmas in the Park & Lighting of the Town
2025-11-28 12:00 - 18:30 | Blowing Rock Memorial Park, 1036 Main Street, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
Blowing Rock’s Christmas in the Park & Lighting of the Town celebration is an annual holiday event that you are sure to love. Join us for hot chocolate, caroling, and visits with Santa. The festival is always the Friday after Thanksgiving, and is the perfect time to kick off your holiday and Christmas celebrating! Bring the whole family, or enjoy the romance of the lights and fun, jovial atmosphere with your significant other.
The Blowing Rock Christmas Parade follows at 10am on the Saturday after Thanksgiving each year!
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Festival of Lights at Chetola
2025-11-28 18:00 - 2026-01-25 22:00 | Chetola Resort, 185 Chetola Lake Dr, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
Chetola Resort features a sparkling display of lights each winter season! The “Festival of Lights” is free and open to the public, and you are invited to enjoy thousands of dazzling illuminations throughout the resort. As you drive or stroll around Chetola Lake, view glittering ice skaters, “Rudolph” reeling in a big fish, strolling carolers and many more captivating holiday scenes. The “Festival of Lights” opens to the public on Friday, November 28, 2025 and remains up through Blowing Rock WinterFest- till Sunday, January 25, 2026. The displays illuminate at dusk each evening.

The Barter Players: "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"
2025-11-28 19:00 - 20:00 | Appalachian Theatre of the High Country, 559 West King Street, Boone, NC, 28607, United States
The Barter Players present this holiday family live theatrical production, “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”.
It’s Christmas time at the Cincinnati Zoo, and everyone eagerly anticipates the birth of Bella, the zoo’s first baby hippo. Seven-year-old Lois Jean, the zookeeper’s daughter, is especially excited—she’s counting on Bella to reunite her family in time for the holidays. Then the unexpected happens, and only one person can prevent tragedy. Will Santa arrive in time to save Bella—and Christmas?
A heartwarming musical adventure for the whole family.
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Blowing Rock Christmas Parade
2025-11-29 10:00 - 11:00 | Main Street, 1094 Main Street, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
The best small-town parade you’ll find anywhere! Celebrate the Christmas season with us as Main Street hosts a parade of decorated vehicles, dancing, costumes, and more. A 10am start time gets you in the holiday spirit for the rest of the day!
No parking along Main Street before the parade ensures good visibility and safety. The parade runs from the intersection at 221/Yonahlossee Road (by Mellow Mushroom) to Ginny Stevens Lane (by Rumple Church).
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Annual Thanksgiving Kiln Opening at Bolick & Traditions Pottery
2025-11-29 10:00 - 14:00 | Traditions Pottery Studio, 4443 Bolick Road, Blowing Rock, 28605
Always the Saturday after Thanksgiving! Bolick and Traditions Pottery will host their Annual Thanksgiving Wood Kiln Opening on Saturday November 2. The groundhog style wood kiln will be unloaded at 10am on Saturday morning. Guests are encourage to be present at that time to watch the items being taken from the kiln and then make their selection. Michael will have face jugs including his much-desired Santas, Wizards, and Clay Spirits. Lula and Glenn will do traditional face jugs, swirl mugs, vases, and pitchers. Janet will have candlesticks, Rebekah Pitchers, and teapots. We invite guest potters to be a part of our event as well. We will serve smoked BBQ for lunch. No alcohol allowed. The Sales Cabin will also be stocked with electric fired pottery and seasonal items like large flower pots, jack-o’-lanterns, and snowmen.
Janet (Lula’s daughter) is a 6th generation. Together, with their husbands, Glenn Bolick and Michael Calhoun, they produce shapes that have been in their family for more than 190 years. Each potter also has their own designs and techniques. This event is held at the Bolick & Traditions Pottery studio, about 4 miles south of their gallery shop on Main Street in Blowing Rock. Directions: head south on Hwy 321 from Blowing Roc about 3 miles, turn left on Blackberry Road, go ½ mile then turn right on Bolick Road. (14 miles north of Lenoir, turn right on Blackberry Road.)
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Children's Council Gingerbread Building at Chetola Resort
2025-11-29 10:00 - 2025-12-31 17:00 | Chetola Resort, 185 Chetola Lake Dr, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
Building Sweet Futures: Gingerbread Competition

All proceeds go to Watauga County Children’s Council.

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Quilts & Cocoa: Library Fundraiser
2025-11-29 11:00 - 14:00 | Blowing Rock Community Library, 1022 Main St., Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
Support the Blowing Rock Community Library Association on November 29 from 11am-2pm. There will be a hot chocolate Story Time for kids at approximately 11:00am after the parade. There will also be a hand craft and quilt sale to support the Library!
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ASU Home Football Game
2025-11-29 16:30 - 20:00 | Kidd Brewer Stadium, 733 Rivers Street, Boone, NC, 28607
App State vs. AR State
Parking Info

History of the American Quilt
2025-12-04 11:00 - 12:00 | Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, 159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
Image credit: Ora G. Watson (1908-2004). Quilt detail. No date. BRAHM.
Susan Sweet will give a talk on the “History of the American Quit” with examples of quilts from the last 135 years. Susan is an avid quilter, collector and a scholar of American quilting, she has taught a class at ASU on this subject. In her program she will bring quilts dating back to the 1890s to demonstrate how quilts can tell the story of our country.
To help celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Susan participated in putting together the “Watauga County History Quilt.” The quilt will be on display at BRAHM through the month of December.
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Artisan Holiday Market
2025-12-05 10:00 - 2025-12-06 17:00 | NC
The Mustard Seed Market is pleased to present its 6th Annual Artisan Holiday Market this December. The Artisan Holiday Market will take place on the Mustard Seed Market’s flagship location Friday and Saturday, December 5th and 6th, from 10 AM to 5 PM. “This year, we hope to give even more local vendors a platform to showcase their art to our clientele while offering our curated holiday selection at the Market shop,” says Mustard Seed Market Co-founder Danielle Stewart. “Our goal is to offer a fun and easy shopping experience for unique gifts, stocking stuffers, and decorations to fit every home atmosphere while also supporting our local artists.”
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See Santa at Memorial Park - BYO Camera
2025-12-05 18:00 - 20:00 | Memorial Park Gazebo, 1036 Main St, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
Meet Santa in Memorial Park (1040 Main Street, Blowing Rock)
Fridays and Saturdays
December 5th, 6th, 12th, 13th, 19th, and 20th
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Guests are encouraged to bring their own cameras to capture the moment—no professional photographer will be on site.

This activity is sponsored by The Village Foundation and Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce.

A Carolina Snowbelle Christmas
2025-12-05 20:00 - 21:30, 2025-12-06 13:30 - 15:00 | Appalachian Theatre of the High Country, 559 West King Street, Boone, NC, 28607, United States
Celebrating 11 years of the Carolina Snowbelles!
The Carolina Snowbelles- are a precision dance company formed in 2015 under the umbrella of The Project Dance Foundation, a movement of dancers seeking to positively impact culture through artistic integrity. Precision dance incorporates tap and jazz styles while teaching skills of teamwork, self-esteem, mentorship and community involvement. Their mission is to equip and encourage dancers aged nine and up in this unique style of dance through training and performing opportunities.
Founder and Executive Director Cheryl Cutlip says, “The Carolina Snowbelles are a 100% scholarship program and participation is obtained through an audition process based solely on merit.” The troupe has appeared in local parades, community and theatre performances, as well as on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and New York City where they performed in Times Square.
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Anniversary Weekend
2025-12-06 09:00 - 2025-12-07 16:00 | Appalachian Ski Mountain, 940 Ski Mountain Road, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605, United States
Join ASM the first weekend in December for their Anniversary Celebration, where they roll back ticket prices and offer both Saturday & Sunday Day Sessions for only $10 per day!
Advanced reservations required for this amazing rate, only offered Dec. 6 & 7. Reservations required by Midnight the day before to qualify for $10 rate. Does not apply to rentals.
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