Oct. 15, 2026, 2:21 p.m.

Inaugural Old Fort Harvest Festival Celebrates the Community’s Creative Makers

yodel_1st Annual Old Fort Harvest Festival

There’s a new fall festival coming to Old Fort, and at its heart are the people who make, grow and create here.

The inaugural Old Fort Harvest Festival comes to Mauney Memorial Park, 139 Catawba Ave., on Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., bringing together 50 Appalachian makers, artists, farmers, small businesses and food vendors. The juried handmade market will also feature live music, pumpkins, candy apples, hot cider and other fall favorites.

The fall festival is the brainchild of Jessie Myers of Mackey Creek Mud, an Old Fort potter who wanted to celebrate the creative community around her.

“Honestly, I just love Old Fort,” Myers said. “I love the people here, the small businesses, the artists and makers, and that feeling you get when everybody comes together and supports one another.”

As a maker herself, Myers understands the effort behind every handmade piece.

Goats Milk Soaps by Feathers and Flowers Homestead

Meet Some of the Makers

With 50 vendors participating, there’s plenty to discover.

Wisp & Pen creates pen-and-ink illustrations with a woodland storybook feel, while Mackey Meadows crafts handwoven kudzu wreaths featuring homegrown flowers, dried florals and grasses. Feathers and Flowers Homestead will offer goat’s milk soaps and farm-fresh eggs.

Book lovers can browse Read Me Unconditionally’s “Blind Date With a Book” bundles, each featuring a wrapped mystery read, bookmarks and other surprises.

Come hungry! Three Sisters Cheese & Provisions will be among the food vendors, along with The Bakestand, whose owner, Lea Lipe, is known for homemade cookies, brownies, breads and other baked goods available through her self-serve porch pickup.

For Myers, the festival is as much about community as it is about creativity.

“I wanted to create a place where local artists, makers, farmers, small businesses and food vendors could all come together and show off what they do,” she said, “and where people could come shop, eat, visit and just have a really good day. I hope it becomes something our community looks forward to every year.”