Can you enjoy all the fall feels while also on a beach vacation? Yes you can! Here in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina we love the autumn season with its cooler temps, lower humidity, and gorgeous colorscape. Of course, we also have farmers markets, pumpkin patches, hayrides, Halloween activities, and some of the best fall festivals found anywhere! Interested? Read on!

🎃 Check out the local farms, pumpkin patches & markets this autumn.

If you follow the Williamson Vacations blog, you already know about some of these awesome autumn experiences. We love the seasonal Ocean Isle Beach and Sunset Beach Markets, Indigo Farms Markets, Shallotte Market on Mulberry and theFarmers Market at Poplar Grove for all of your favorite farmers market finds. Have you heard about thePonies & Pumpkins event at the Wild Horse Preserve at Grace Wynds? That’s a wonderful family-friendly place to bring your little ones for a day of fall fun all October long, or any time of the year.

🍁 Attend a coastal fall festival during your Ocean Isle Beach vacation.

Check out our previous blogs on the upcoming fall festivals that are a big part of the autumn season here on the North Carolina coast. The NC Oyster Festival and the NCFestival by the Sea are coming up soon, so read all about them, save the dates, and plan to be here. They’re not far from your Ocean Isle Beach vacation rental, so they’re easy, budget-friendly outings for all ages to enjoy if you want to do something different.

🍺 October is for Oktoberfest in Calabash, NC.

Is it even October if you haven’t attended an Oktoberfest celebration? Calabash Oktoberfest is the place to be for this Bavarian-inspired celebration featuring bands, bier gardens, bier stein holding contest, arm wrestling, alpine horn playing, the chicken dance, and so much more. Admission is free to the festival with proceeds going to local charities. Calabash is only about a 15-minute drive from your Ocean Isle Beach rental.

👻 Haunted Trail, Haunted Swamp or Tower of Terror… if you dare.

If Halloween scares are your thing, then you can find that during your Ocean Isle Beach vacation, too. The Grissettown Longwood Fire and Rescue is known for its annual fundraiser that features a popularHaunted Trail each October. Shallotte Swamp Park also transforms the park into a creepy adventure like no other. Some years it’s been a Haunted Swamp Tour and other years it’s been a zipline Tower of Terror. Whatever this year brings, it’s sure to be an event not soon forgotten. Stay tuned!