The Historic Morganton Festival is famous for its mile and a half of arts and crafts vendors and free outdoor concerts. Every September during the weekend after Labor Day, the Festival invites visitors to “come and play in the streets” of downtown Morganton! The event kicks off with over 200 craft vendors lining the streets of downtown offering a plethora of art, jewelry, woodworking, pottery, soap, candles, clothes, and more! And the mouth-watering Food Fest tempts everyone’s taste buds with the aromas of gyros, BBQ, “chicken on a stick”, eggrolls, and homemade ice cream. The ever-popular Kids Zone and Teen Zone opens up with ticketed rides and games along with the free craft area known as “Litter Critters”, for children in grades 5 and under. The Volcano Rock Climbing Wall and roving acts are a delight to children and adults too!

Three stages reside within the grounds of the Festival offering music and performances throughout the day. The Pepsi Stage is home to local acts including dance academies, improv groups, and breakdancers, and Indie Stage offers a more intimate setting with musicians from the region while the City Stage is known for its jamming good time featuring National Country Music Artists. All performances are free.

In addition to the vendors, rides and games, and music, the Historic Morganton Festival has two events within the event that engages students from around the area. The Sunrise Run on the Greenway and Student Fitness Challenge is a 5K, 10K, and 1-mile fun run. The fun run challenge brings all elementary and middle schools from the county to compete. Each school that brings 10 or more students wins money for their PE Program. The festival awards an average of $3,000 to county schools involved in the fun run. The MADE (Morganton Arts Design and Engineering) Challenge began in 2018 and brings together middle and high school students for an engineering competition. Winning teams when money for their technology programs.

Every year is an opportunity to be a part of a memory-making event. The festival is free to attend and brings together our diverse community.