Fall Festivities & Halloween Happenings

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  • Cheekwood Harvest

    Pumpkin houses at Cheekwood

Fall Festivities & Halloween Happenings

Whether you’re looking for a hayride, a haunted house, or a tricked-out bar, Nashville ready to welcome (and possibly scare) you.

Fall Festivals
Family-Friendly Events
Spooky Fun
Tricked-Out Bars
The Addams Family

October 8-25  Studio Tenn presents this delightfully quirky musical.

Candlelight: A Haunted Evening of Halloween Classics

October 25 This ensemble will add elegance to spookiness in Centennial Park’s Parthen0n.

Dia de los Muertos

October 28-November 1. Vivid choreography, soul-stirring music, and vibrant Mexican tradition combine in this encore ballet presented by the Nashville Ballet.

Rocky Horror Picture Show

October 29-31  Let’s do the time warp again. This 18+ engagement includes live performers enacting what’s on the screen. Read the restrictions ’cause they don’t want you creating a mess in the historic Belcourt Theatre.

Fall Festivals

Cheekwood

September 19-November 1  Stroll the grounds adorned with 100,000 pumpkins, take in the new Marigold River, trek the mildly spooky Scarecrow Trail, and delight in one of their many special music events.

Nashville Fall Festival

September 18-November 1   Head west to Bellevue for this family-friendly event featuring a massive corn maze, 7-acre sunflower field, pumpkin patch, petting zoo, hayrides, and live music along the Harpeth River.

Oktoberfest

October 1-4    The Germantown neighborhood street will be filled with live music, merchants, and beer stands.

Celebrate Nashville Festival

October 3  Come hungry because there’s a world of food options in this celebration of the various cultures who make up Nashville. Music, dance, crafts, kids’ activities, and much more. One of my favorite free events.

Knoblinfest

October 3.  The Donelson community promises live music, art, a marketplace, and events like costume contests, Knoblin calling contests, and more!

Tennessee Craft Fair

October 9-11 Artisans from as far away as Minnesota make the trek to Nashville for this annual fall showcase. In addition to their tents, there are multiple food trucks, a hands-on art area for kids, and live music. FREE.

Southern Festival of Books

October 17-18  Explore the literary side of Nashville with vendors galore, book signings, and author forums. Happens at Bicentennial Mall State Park. FREE.

All Hallows East

October 31  Billed as Nashville’s Biggest Halloween Block Party, count on the folks in East Nashville go all out with festivities including costume contests, wicked good food, and live music.

Scary Movie of the Week

Honeytree Meadery in East Nashville is screening these films for free in their backyard: Oct. 2–Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Oct. 9–Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Oct. 16–Dawn of the Dead, Oct. 23–Creepshow.

Celebrate Nashville Festival

Family-Friendly Events

Everything listed above is family-friendly but these may be especially engaging for kids.

Lucky Ladd Farm

Sept. 16-October 31 Love that they describe their Eagleville operation as an ag-venture park. Activities change with the seasons including tulip- and strawberry-picking. Of course there’s a petting zoo but they’re also home to some exotic species. Plenty of ways to wear out your active kids including climbing walls, a playground, and tire swings. And where else are you going to milk a cow?

Honeysuckle Farm

Sept. 26-November 1 If you have a car, consider a trek north to this kid-centric farm in Springfield. They’re big into fall festival activities including hayrides, a pumpkin patch, and a giant corn maze portraying a country star.  Other attractions include pig races, zipline, playground, tire mountain, carousel, bungee jumping. tree house, duck pond, and a challenge course. HF isn’t great about keeping their website current so call before you go.

Gentry Farm

September 26-November 2  You wouldn’t think admission to a Franklin farm as being a hot ticket–but this one is. They often sell-out their seasonal activities. Your kids might enjoy exploring the petting zoo, the corn-filled alternative to a ball pit, craft activities, mini-farm putt putt, the maze, and hayrides. Fall is their biggest season with pumpkins galore. Adults might enjoy the historical aspect of this 150-year-old homestead.

Shuck’s Corn Maze

September 26-October 31    Come to Greenbrier for fall family fun. Fiddle Dee Farms offers an 8-acre maze, pumpkin decorating, hayride, and much more.

Boo at the Zoo

October 16-November 1  One of the biggest annual events at the Nashville Zoo. Activities include trick-or-treat stations, special animal shows, and spook-tacular scenes. Don your costume and enjoy.

Pumpkinfest

October 24-25   Expect a big turn-out for this festival held on Main Street in Franklin. In addition to more than 140 arts and craft vendors, there’s a kids zone, live music on multiple stages, a beer garden, a costume contest, and lots of food options.

Spooky Fun

Spine-tingling ghost stories to full-on gross-outs, Nashville is delighted to give you the creeps.  😉

THE TOURS

Nashville Ghost Tours

They put the booze in boos with their bar-hopping tales of mayhem. You can also opt for a private tour.

Ghosts of Nashville

With an emphasis on local history, these folks will tell you s”the haunted history of Music City”–tales that the tourism department doesn’t promote.

Nashville Ghosts

It claims to be Nashville’s most haunted ghost tour but who votes? Ghosts? Visitors?

Nashville’s Ghost Bus

It sounds like something out of “Scooby-Doo” but they claim to be the only bus spiriting people around the town. They emphasize true crime stories.

Haunted History of the Ryman

Offered only on October 3 and 31, this 45-minute walk-through offers an otherworldly perspective of the Mother Church of Country Music.

Ghost Tours at The Hermitage

There’s plenty of unsettling folklore surrounding the former home of Andrew Jackson.

Redneck Ghost Tours

For a funny take on Nashville’s haunts and spooky tales, take a ride with these folks.

THE HAUNTED HOUSES

They seem to get gorier and more macabre every year. I’m gonna sit this one out.

Slaughterhouse

September 20-November 1  Since 1986, they’ve been freaking people out with their over-the-top attractions. This operation is run by the suspense-centric Blue Moon Cineplex so you can opt to see their cool movie memorabilia, watch a classic (and sometimes schlocky) flick, and do the haunted house. Some nights they even offer dinner. Located in Hermitage.

Devil’s Dungeon

September 26-November 1  Located in East Nashville (and the closest haunted house to downtown), these mutants have been inducing screams for more than 25 years.

Beast House

September 19-November 13  Schedule varies but it’s mostly a weekend thing. Multiple attractions and, in a novel twist, it offers a money-back guarantee. North side of Nashville on Dickerson Pike.

Nashville Nightmare

September 12-November 13.  Attractions include Fairytale Hell, Mr. Sweet’s House of Horrors, Creature Feature, the sci-fi epic Vector Research: Code VIII, and mini Escape Rooms. Located north of Nashville in Madison.

ATTRACTIONS IN OUTLYING AREAS

Miller’s Thrillers

September 26-October 31   Family-owned operation near Spring Hill offering two experiences. #1 Zombie Hayride Reloaded: “25% traveling through the woods, 50% shooting zombies, and ends with a 25% stage show and Zombie Decontamination Chamber. #2 Hillbilly Hollar takes a dark page from history and makes it even more frightening. Fridays and Saturdays only.

Bloody Acres Haunted Woods

Located in Gallatin, the outdoor activity doesn’t have an active website at the time of this writing. The link takes you to their Yelp page.

Dead Land Haunted Woods

September 18-October 31  Two haunted trails plus a mini-escape game and bonfire. Located east of Nashville in Lebanon.

Halloween Tribute Concert: Panic at the Disco

Also features music by My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy @Eastside Bowl.

Nashville Nightmare

Tricked-Out Bars

Details are trickling in now.

Frankenstein’s Mad Scientist Cocktail Lab
Germantown  Hosted at Sonny’s Patio Pub, Not sure if you can simply visit or if you have to make reservations so call ahead. There’s also a reservations-only party on Halloween.

Hidden Bar

Awaiting annoucements