7 Virginia Fall Traditions That Can Only Happen in One Place

When the leaves turn, Virginia gives you plenty of reasons to leave the house on a weekend.

Some fall traditions only happen in one spot, and even lifelong residents may not have heard of all of them.

These fall events are worth planning a Virginia road trip around.

1. Governor’s Deer Tribute

The tribute the Mattaponi and Pamunkey tribes pay Virginia’s governor, a deer delivered on the day before Thanksgiving, is older than the country.

You’ll find its roots in the 1677 Treaty of Middle Plantation, and the ceremony takes place at the Executive Mansion in Richmond.

Colonial Williamsburg’s history journal says the original rent was twenty beaver skins each autumn, later amended to fish, game or fowl.

The tribes say they haven’t missed a payment in the centuries since.

Richmond station WTVR reported the 2025 ceremony as the 348th.

The tribes also brought handmade gifts, including earrings and a decorated gourd.

The Virginia Mercury says the deer’s meat is then distributed to people in need.

Thanksgiving falls on November 26 this year, so before you sit down to dinner, the tribes will likely have made their delivery.

2. Blue Ridge Folklife Festival

Horse pulls, mule jumping contests and coon dog contests share one Saturday at the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival in Ferrum.

Yes, mules jump.

Ferrum College’s festival page says the event has run for 52 years on the fourth Saturday of October, so if you’re heading to Ferrum, that’s October 24 this year.

The page calls the event the largest regional event of its kind in Virginia.

You’ll also find log skidding contests, threshing and baling demonstrations and four stages of live music, all between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The Blue Ridge Institute & Museum at Ferrum College creates the festival, and the Virginia Folklife Program’s listing calls the museum the official State Center for Blue Ridge Folklore.

Admission is free, so you’ll pay only for parking, at $20 per family vehicle.

3. Grayson Highlands Fall Festival

The Grayson Highlands Fall Festival pairs bluegrass and old-time music and a crafts fair with a wild pony sale, according to the state park’s listing for the 2022 festival.

A 2010 news release called that year’s festival the 34th annual.

The Wilburn Ridge Pony Association manages the park’s pony herd.

During fall roundups of ponies for the festival auction, association members check the herd for health problems.

The ponies were introduced in 1974 to prevent reforestation of the highland balds.

The park’s calendar listed the 2026 festival for September 27, so it’s behind you this year.

The festival falls on the last full weekend of September each year, so you can plan for next September.

4. Yorktown Victory Celebration

The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation’s Yorktown Victory Celebration is held at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.

It celebrates the 1781 victory at Yorktown, where Cornwallis surrendered on October 19.

This year it runs October 17-18, with artillery demonstrations at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and a Continental Army encampment.

The anniversary itself lands on Monday, October 19, which Yorktown’s tourism office calls the 245th.

In 2024, the National Park Service’s anniversary program included a parade on Main Street at 10:30 a.m.

Patriotic exercises with a wreath-laying at the Victory Monument followed at 11:15.

Earlier ceremonies that day included the French Cemetery and the grave of Governor Thomas Nelson Jr.

If you’re driving to Yorktown, the celebration covers Saturday and Sunday, and the anniversary falls on Monday.

5. Waterford Fair

The Waterford Fair gives you craft artisans, living historians, a juried art show and a historic properties tour.

Waterford has been a National Historic Landmark District since 1970.

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation calls the fair the oldest juried crafts fair in Virginia.

The Waterford Foundation started the event in the 1940s, according to its history page.

This year’s dates were October 2 to 4, so if you missed it, watch the fair’s website for the 2027 dates.

6. Virginia Thanksgiving Festival

The Virginia Thanksgiving Festival at Berkeley Plantation on the James River rests on a rival claim to the first Thanksgiving.

A state marker says Captain John Woodlief arrived on December 4, 1619, with instructions to keep that day as a yearly day of thanksgiving.

The festival has commemorated that directive since 1958.

Berkeley’s history page says volunteers keep that promise on the first Sunday in November every year, so you’ll find the festival on November 1 this year.

The Virginia Museum of History & Culture says the landing came more than a year before the Pilgrims’ 1621 celebration.

The Code of Virginia lists Thanksgiving Day as honoring the first Thanksgiving in 1619.

If you go, Berkeley’s site lists activities from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., including a living history program and choral music.

The landing re-enactment runs from 3 to 4 p.m.

The festival’s 2024 page named the Chickahominy Tribal Dancers among its performers and said they invite everyone to join the traditional Friendship Dance.

7. Urbanna Oyster Festival

The Urbanna Oyster Festival is held annually on the first consecutive Friday and Saturday of November, which its website lists as November 6 and 7 this year.

This year's edition is its 69th annual.

Chesapeake Bay Magazine reported in 2022 that the Virginia General Assembly named the festival the official oyster festival of the Commonwealth in 1988.

If you're there Saturday, the oyster shucking competition starts at 11 a.m., and the Oyster Festival Parade rolls at 2 p.m.