3 Fall Festivals Worth the Drive Across Missouri, Rain or Shine
The leaves are turning, and your weekend plans in Missouri may hinge on one thing: the forecast.
Here are the fall festivals that, in our opinion, earn the long drive, even when the sky doesn’t cooperate.
1. Missouri Day Festival in Trenton
The Missouri Day Festival takes over Trenton, up in north Missouri, from Friday, October 16, through Saturday, October 17.
The festival goes on rain or shine, so bring a poncho for the parade route if the forecast turns.
The Trenton Area Chamber of Commerce started it in October 1984 to honor the state’s history, and it lands on the third weekend of October every year.
On Friday the North Central Missouri Fairgrounds on Oklahoma Avenue open at 11 a.m.
Vendors set up in the Flea Market, the Rock Barn, the Courtyard, and the Pavilion, with food trucks on site.
Saturday is the big day.
The parade steps off at Main and 9th at 8:30 a.m., and twenty-plus high school marching bands compete all day at C.F. Russell Stadium and the high school gym.
You don’t pay a thing to watch the field show.
The bands’ night ends with an awards ceremony under the stadium lights.
If you’d rather dance than judge drumlines, the chamber runs a dance at the North 65 Center from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday for $12 a head.
2. Wolf Fest
Wolf Fest is the Endangered Wolf Center’s signature event, and this year it falls on Saturday, October 17, in Eureka.
The center sits on Tyson Valley Road west of St. Louis and works with Mexican gray wolves, red wolves, and other wild canines.
You buy a pass for your car, not per person: $75 covers up to seven people, and a large vehicle runs $100.
Buy online ahead of time, since the price goes up on the day of the event.
The gates open at 10:30 a.m., and the first thing on the schedule is pumpkin stuffing, capped at 50 guests.
By noon those pumpkins go out to the maned wolves, the foxes, and the African painted dogs while you watch.
The rest of the day runs on keeper chats, open-house tours, live music, bird shows from the World Bird Sanctuary, a climbing wall, and food trucks.
There’s plenty to do.
The center’s page calls Wolf Fest a rain-or-shine event and tells you to pack rain boots and a poncho if you need them.
Lightning or severe weather is the one thing that can send everyone to shelter or cancel the day.
3. Kimmswick Apple Butter Festival
The Kimmswick Apple Butter Festival always lands on the last full weekend of October.
This year that’s Saturday and Sunday, October 24 and 25, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The City of Kimmswick runs it, and the city’s event listing says the festival draws thousands of visitors.
Hundreds of vendors show up, from crafters and artists to live musicians and specialty food trucks.
All of the city’s festivals go on rain or shine, so wear boots you can hose off.
Kimmswick is a small town south of St. Louis, and its festival parking runs on a few rules worth knowing before you go.
The police close the streets inside the festival grounds at 8 a.m. both days, and they tow anything still parked on them after that.
Park in a lot instead.
The majority of the lots charge $10, and the shuttle bus from the Windsor school campuses into town costs nothing.
Buses keep running until the last car leaves the lots, so you can stay through the 5 p.m. close without losing your ride.
Skip the shoulder of Highway K, since parking is banned there for safety.
Your dog can come along, since it’s a pet-friendly event.
Where the Kimmswick Shuttle Drops You
The Kimmswick Apple Butter Festival shuttle drops you at two corners: 5th and Vine Street, or Mill Street at Windsor Harbor Lane.
To ride back, you catch the bus at 5th at Vine or at Front Street at Mill.
Strollers are welcome on the buses.
Accessible buses run for anyone who needs a lift.
If you need handicap parking, head to the ballfield on the north side of Highway K.
Windsor Elementary off Montebello and the Windsor high school and middle school lots have handicap spaces too.
If you live in town, a resident sticker has to show on the driver’s side of the windshield.
Hannibal and Carthage This Weekend
Two more fall festivals land on the same Saturday as Trenton’s parade, and neither organizer posts a rain plan, so you’re on your own with the forecast.
The Hannibal Folklife Festival hits its 50th year on Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, along North Main Street in Hannibal.
The Hannibal Arts Council runs it, and more than 100 exhibitors set up with traditional crafts, fine art, food, and music.
Admission is free.
Food booths are reserved for local civic groups, nonprofits, and churches, so your lunch money goes to a fundraiser.
The same Saturday, Carthage wraps up its 60th Maple Leaf Festival with the parade it’s known for.
The Carthage Chamber of Commerce runs nine days of pageants, a rodeo, a chili cook-off, a car show, and dachshund races from October 9 through October 17.
It starts on the historic square, runs down Grand Avenue, and ends at Carthage Junior High School.
The chamber says the festival draws more than 100,000 visitors a year, and it started out as nothing more than a marching band competition.
Psst! How much do you know about Missouri? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Missouri Pop Quiz
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Hermann and St. Charles Weekends
The three festivals above all publish some kind of weather policy, but Hermann's Oktoberfest and St. Charles's Legends & Lanterns don't say a word about rain on their pages.
Hermann's Oktoberfest is one fall festival that runs every weekend in October, and this year the calendar stretches from October 1 all the way to November 1.
You can still catch three weekends of it: October 17 and 18, October 24 and 25, and the closing weekend of October 31 and November 1.
Visit Hermann's official guide tells you fall weather in Missouri is unpredictable and to wear layers, and it leaves the rest to you.
The Lederhosen und Dirndl contest runs each Saturday of Oktoberfest at 2 p.m.
Amtrak's Missouri River Runner stops in Hermann four times a day from Kansas City or St. Louis, so you can leave the car at home.
No designated driver needed.
Free parking lots are listed in town if you do drive.
Legends & Lanterns fills Main Street in St. Charles with scarecrows and characters out of old stories on October 17 and 18, then again October 23 through 25.
Discover St. Charles calls the whole thing free.
Saturdays run 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sundays noon to 5 p.m.
The Friday, October 23, session runs 5 to 8 p.m., while Saturday, October 24, stays open until 8 p.m.
You can walk the Haunted History Trail with an audio and video tour on your phone.
Edgar Allan Poe, Medusa, and Lizzie Borden all show up as costumed guests along the way.
Scarecrow Glen keeps its entries on display around the Main Street gazebo through October 25.
Entrants build those scarecrows to stand outside in the weather, so a wet weekend won't send them indoors.
The whole thing closes with a Monster Banishing Procession, a parade that marches the characters back out of town.
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