10+ Fall Things To Do In Wilmington, NC

We live in Wilmington, so we put together the Ultimate Wilmington, North Carolina Travel Guide. It’s filled with restaurant ideas, things to do, places to stay, and more. It’ll help you plan your perfect visit to the Port City.

Riverfest

Wilmington‘s biggest festival happens in the spring. That’s the NC Azalea Festival, which has been going on for over 75 years now.

It’s smaller, but unrelated, sister is Riverfest.

Riverfest is similar in that it’s a full weekend of street vendors, fair food, and a kid’s zone filled with bounce houses and other fun ways to entertain your kids.

The highlight last year was North Carolina‘s first drone show, which was shown over the Cape Fear River. We planned dinner out on the water that evening and the spectacle in the sky was stunning.

It happens annually the first weekend of October every year so definitely check it out if you’re in town.

It’s just one of the annual festivals in Wilmington, so if you can’t make this one plan your trip around the others.

Oktoberfest at Waterline Brewing

I’ve lost count of how many years in a row we’ve gone to the Oktoberfest festival at Waterline Brewing. It’s such a good event and is definitely worth attending.

The Harbour Towne Fest Band headlines every year and we’ve actually started seeing the band at other festivals around the area, which is great for them.

They have a hype woman who jumps in the crowd and, without fail, finds me and gets me to dance. I love to dance, but not always in front of a crowd. But I know if the Harbour Towne Fest Band is playing, I better have my dancing shoes on.

There are tents outside, selling Oktoberfest beer plus other of Waterline brews. There are also vendor tents selling, honestly, stuff I don’t need and food trucks which usually have some type of German food on the menu.

The festival for the most part is held outside, but there’s a giant tent and lots of seating so you can enjoy the outside weather without getting burnt.

It’s happening on October 4 this year with doors at noon and the festivities starting at 1 pm.

Have S’mores At Concorde Espresso Bar

S’mores are typically a summer treat, but not in Wilmington. It’s so hot here in the summer, the last thing you want to do is sit outside at a hot fire.

So save the s’mores for the fall. And have them at Concorde Espresso Bar (215 S Front St).

Concorde Espresso Bar is actually one of my favorite places in town. In the back of the building (which houses Front Street Inn) has seats with propane fire pits because the bar’s most popular item is s’mores. You get giant marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers to roast over your personalized fire.

There’s a QR code at each table where you can order coffee and cocktails, including the bar’s signature espresso flights.

Cape Fear Kite Festival

The Cape Fear Kite Festival happens the first weekend in November every year. November always feels like winter to me because I grew up in New York, where it snows in November, but November is still technically fall.

The kite festival, by the way, is amazing. Giant kites fill the sky over Kure Beach.

You walk onto the Fort Fisher State Recreation Area and walk through the giant kites that are actually on the beach and marvel at the ones up in the sky. It’s like what the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade would be if no one was walking the floats.

Off in the parking lot area are vendor tents and a large stage with bands so you can take a break from walking on the beach, which is kind of hard, and rest over there.

St. Stanislaus Polish Festival

The first weekend in November, which again is still the fall, is kind of like Sophie‘s choice. You can either go to the Cape Fear Kite Festival, which is amazing or the Polish festival, which is filled with amazing food and the aforementioned Harbour Towne Fest Band, which means I’m gonna be dancing.

The Polish Festival has tons of food that you can purchase and bring home like pierogies and kielbasa and desserts, plus lots of Polish knickknacks for sale.

There’s also a ton of food that is being cooked in the church lot. I always get the potato pancakes with sour cream. We also get an order of pierogies and kielbasa because how could you not?

There’s a huge tent to sit under and another tent that sells a lot of beer, including one specifically for the festival by Front Street Brewery, Wilmington‘s oldest brewery.

Eat Oysters

Wilmington is Coastal Carolina, which means you can get seafood all the time. This includes oysters.

However, we’ve learned oysters are best in the ‘ber months. One September hits and the ocean starts to cool down, that’s when you really wanna eat oysters. They just taste better.

So, when you’re in town this fall, definitely order oysters as your appetizer.

If you’re looking for a specific spot, Rx Chicken and Oysters literally has oysters in its name. The restaurant raises its signature Lucy Bea oysters and are farmed by the restaurant itself from Topsail Island, almost daily if not actually daily.

We went there for our anniversary a couple years ago and Pete ordered oysters to start and really enjoyed them.

Go On A Ghost Tour

Halloween and spooky season are in the fall, so if you are into that and the paranormal, you’re gonna wanna go on a ghost tour when you’re in town.

There are a couple different companies that offer ghost tours in downtown Wilmington, which is actually pretty haunted. You can take either a regular ghost tour or you can do a haunted pub crawl, which takes you to the bars that are haunted downtown. With the latter, though, drinks are not included so you kind of either walk in the bar listen to the story and leave or order a drink and pound it really quickly because the tour will move on without you.

We did a haunted ghost tour earlier this year and it was okay. I really do think that ghost tours rely heavily on how interesting and knowledgeable your guide is. Ours was okay. I think I knew more about haunted downtown Wilmington than she did.

However, when we were at a haunted cemetery, we walked past another tour and that guide was so gregarious and interesting, so it definitely depends on your host.

If you want to do a self guided tour, our guide to haunted places in Wilmington will lead you along the way.

Drink A Pumpkin Beer

Wilmington is home to over a dozen local breweries. They’re all single breweries, meaning the only location is in Wilmington. There are two tap rooms, which are offshoots of other breweries in North Carolina, but even if you take those out they’re still over a dozen in Wilmington proper.

And many, if not all of them, brew some sort of pumpkin beer.

So, if you want to taste the season while you’re here, you have a ton of options to do that.

We have a huge list of all the breweries in Wilmington, North Carolina to help you navigate around them. The list does not include what seasonal beers they have, though, because it would become cumbersome, so you’re a little bit on your own finding the pumpkin beers.

But trust me, it’s not hard for you to find them. Just walk into any brewery in town and there you go.

American Craft Walk

Years ago, we walked the street fair at the North Carolina Azalea Fest and I purchased a super cute drawing of a panda with bamboo. I had a spot for it, but it needed a mirrored photo, so I waited a whole year to find the vendor and ask him if he had anything in a similar style. He did not. So that was a big bummer.

Now, every September, I go to the American Craft Walk in hopes that there will be something that matches. No luck so far but the American Craft Walk is really cool anyway.

Artists of all different mediums come and set up tents all along downtown streets. You’re able to walk around and marvel at just how talented these people are. There’s photography and needlework and resin pieces made from live oak, which got really popular a couple years ago.

People are really talented and honestly, it’s very hard to put yourself out there artistically, so supporting the artists and the art walk are really important.

It’ll be Saturday, September 13 this year.

Port City Jerry Day

If you are a Deadhead, you absolutely need to be in Wilmington in the fall for Port City Jerry Day.

It’s an evening festival, celebrating Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead at Greenfield Lake, from 5 pm to 10, benefiting the United Way of the Cape Fear Area.

There are artists who are doing live paintings, plus they also have finished art for sale, food trucks, and HyRyder will be playing all evening. But if that’s not enough, Bowstring Brewyard has an after show that’s free with the Dragons With Matches.

The after show happens from 10 pm until midnight, though, when I think most Jerry Garcia fans are already in bed. Or maybe it’s just me in bed.

Wilmington Coffee Fest

Bar crawls are super popular, but they’re not that fun for people who don’t drink. I mean, sure, I go to hang out with our friends and be social, but there’s nothing for me to drink. Which is why I really like the Wilmington Coffee Fest. Instead of trying beer and wine at every stop, you get coffee samples.

It is a ticketed event and ticket holders also get a mug, tote bag (while supplies last), and coffee samples.

The first day of the festival is a cocktail contest where bartenders craft their best drinks with coffee. There’s also a latte art contest.

The next day is the main event with the street fair and coffee samples. It’s being held in the Cargo District on September 26 and 27.

Wilmington actually has a ton of local coffee shops. And where Port City Java started 30 years ago and where the 2017 CNN Hero of the Year Award, Bitty and Beau’s also began. So you’re definitely getting great coffee in the area.

If you’re not here for the coffee fest, but you wanna try some coffee, our list of the best cups of coffee in Wilmington will help you create your own tour.

Festival Latino

The largest International Latino Festival in North Carolina is Festival Latino, held in Ogden Park (right on the border of Wilmington and Ogden) on November 8 and 9.

There’s a huge stage set up with lots of amazing dancing, a huge international food court with tons of offerings like empanadas, a huge vendor fair (which actually has organizations that are beneficial for the community rather than just MLMs selling nonsense people don’t need), and games for kids — plus an hourly pinata.

We went last year for the first time (even though 2024 was the festival’s 24th year) and had such a good time.