Carolina in the Fall
Sat, Sep 23
|Historic Downtown Wilkesboro
The annual Carolina In The Fall™ Music and Food Festival continues its’ tradition of celebrating the heritage of western North Carolina through music, food and beverage. Musicians, chefs, vintners and craft beer brewers from the region will gather on Main Street in Wilkesboro, NC


Time & Location
Sep 23, 2023, 5:00 PM – Sep 24, 2023, 10:30 PM
Historic Downtown Wilkesboro, 100 E Main St, Wilkesboro, NC 28697, USA
About the event
Carolina in the Fall returns for our seventh festival in the Carolina West Community Commons in Downtown Wilkesboro, NC with our host band, The Kruger Brothers, for two days of great music, food, drink, and community. This years festival will be September 22 & 23. Our lineup is headlined by Balsam Range, The Kruger Brothers, Woody Platt and Shannon Whitworth and John Cowan's NewGrass Allstars. The lineup also includes Hank, Pattie & the Current, Alex Key, His & Hers, Presley Barker, Shay Martin Lovette, and returning international guests, Thurler-Mosimann Project.
We have made some significant changes to last years festival in an effort to simplify the festival experience and want to highlight those again. Here are the biggest changes to be aware of:
- Carolina in the Fall is a mostly free festival. VIP tickets will be sold for reserved seating at the main stage. All seating behind the reserved and sponsor seating areas will be open and free to the public.
- There will only be one stage this year. Managing four stages spread out across the downtown had become an overwhelming task and we wanted to bring the focus back to those artists who perform on our main stage each year. The Carolina Stage in the community commons is our one featured stage.
- Music begins at 5 pm on Friday. After five years of watching our attendance, we've realized that most festival goers arrive after work on Friday. So, we've condensed our Friday lineup to begin when most folks can attend.
We look forward to seeing you at Carolina in the Fall this September! Please reach out with any questions you have about the festival.
2023 Stage Schedule
Friday
- 5:00 - 5:45 - Presley Barker
- 6:00 - 6:45 - Alex Key
- 7:00 - 8:15 - Balsam Range
- 8:45 - 10:00 - The Kruger Brothers
Saturday
- 12:00 - 12:45 - Shay Martin Lovette
- 1:00 - 1:45 - His & Hers
- 2:00- 3:00 - Thurler-Mosimann Project
- 3:15 - 4:15 - Hank, Pattie & the Current
- 4:30 - 5:30 - John Cowan’s NewGrass AllStars
- 6:00 - 7:15 - Woody Platt & Shannon Whitworth
- 7:45 - 9:15 - The Kruger Brothers
Famous for an amazing selection of food trucks, Carolina in the Fall will be bringing some of western North Carolina’s best trucks to feed their audiences. Applications for trucks are found on the festival website. The festival will have a limited number of vendor tents. The link for vendors is located on the website as well. The festivities will include the Annual Chad Lovette Memorial Run to benefit the American Cancer Society. Festival beer and wine sales will be handled by the Wilkes Heritage Museum with all proceeds going to benefit the museum.