Was the Georgia Apple Festival cancelled? What the record shows for 2026, and what is next
One day of it was. The Gilmer County Chamber says the Georgia Apple Festival and the Apple Arts Festival were canceled for Saturday, Oct.…
Ellijay · Gilmer County · Georgia
The Georgia Apple Festival two October weekends in apple country
The Georgia Apple Festival, the Ellijay apple festival, fills the Ellijay Lions Club Fairgrounds, 1729 South Main Street, on the second and third weekends of October, Saturdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The 2026 festival was scheduled for Oct. 10-11 and 17-18 at $10 a person, children 12 and under free. 2027 dates are not announced (organizer site checked October 28, 2026); by that rule they would fall on Oct. 9-10 and 16-17, 2027.
Bushel baskets of apples at an Ellijay market A film cut from 8 real photographs of Ellijay: the apple festival, apple houses and the October hills. Credits
Date watch
When is the next Georgia Apple Festival?
The 2026 festival weekends have passed and the organizer has not announced 2027 yet. Here is what is known, each line with its source.
Next festival
Oct. 9–10 & 16–17, 2027
Expected by the organizer's second-and-third-weekends-in-October rule. Not announced as of Oct. 19, 2026. Georgia Apple Festival (official site), FAQs
Last festival
Oct. 10–11 & 17–18, 2026
The 55th festival's scheduled weekends. Georgia Apple Festival (official site), FAQs
Gate hours
Sat 9–6 · Sun 9–5
Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Georgia Apple Festival (official site), FAQs
Admission
$10 · 12 & under free
The 2026 price; 2027 prices are not published yet. Georgia Apple Festival (official site), FAQs
Where
1729 S. Main St., Ellijay
The Ellijay Lions Club Fairgrounds. Georgia Apple Festival (official site), Home
Parking
Paid lots + free shuttle
Local groups run the lots; fees vary and cash is preferred. Gilmer County Chamber, Festival Parking
Pets
Service animals only
Pets are not allowed at the fairgrounds; service animals are. Georgia Apple Festival (official site), FAQs
Checked October 19, 2026. The 2027 weekends are expected from the organizer's own second-and-third-weekends rule, not announced.
Decision tool · festival day planner
Plan your festival day
Pick the weekend and the day, when you will reach the gate, who is coming and what you want from the day. You get a timed plan inside the gate hours, what admission costs your group, a shopping list of that weekend's vendors by booth number, the apple foods, the rides and demonstrations, the rules your group needs to know, and a calendar hold.
The organizer has not announced the 2027 dates. The days below are the second and third weekends of October 2027, the pattern the festival's FAQ gives, with the 2026 gate hours. Treat them as expected until the organizer publishes them.
Gate hours, admission and rules are the organizer's and the Gilmer County Chamber's published 2026 details (checked October 19, 2026); vendors, booth numbers and weekends are from the organizer's 2026 vendor list, and the 2027 list will differ. The 2027 dates are expected, not announced. How long each part of the day takes is only a suggestion, sized to the hours you have. Your head count is your own input.
Coming back every October? See what it is like to live in apple country.
The full planner, with all four days, the rules and the attractions
Next in Ellijay
Dates coming up around Ellijay
The next dates the organizers have published, checked October 19, 2026. Add any of them to your calendar from its row.
Crate labels
Cotton, the boll weevil and a crafts show that grew
Apples carried Gilmer County after the boll weevil ruined cotton. In the early 1970s Ellijay began celebrating the fruit, and a small crafts show became four days over two October weekends.
1920s
The boll weevil and the apple
The City of Ellijay says cotton was a large part of Georgia's economy in the early 1900s until the boll weevil hit in the 1920s, and apple orchards then sustained Gilmer County.
Source: City of Ellijay, Georgia Apple Festival 2023 2nd weekend, checked 2026-10-19
1934
The Ellijay Lions Club
The Ellijay Lions Club was chartered in 1934, making it one of the longest-standing civic organizations in Gilmer County.
Source: Ellijay Lions Club, About, checked 2026-10-19
1970s
A small crafts show
The City of Ellijay says the community began celebrating the apple in the early 1970s, honoring what apples did for the local economy after the loss of cotton.
Source: City of Ellijay, Georgia Apple Festival 2023 2nd weekend, checked 2026-10-19
2025
About 22,000 on one weekend
FOX 5 Atlanta reported in October 2025 that about 22,000 people attended the festival's first 2025 weekend, citing city leaders.
Source: FOX 5 Atlanta video, Georgia Apple Festival attracts thousands (Oct. 14, 2025), checked 2026-10-19
2026
The 55th festival
The 2026 festival was billed as the 55th annual Georgia Apple Festival.
Source: Gilmer County Chamber, Georgia Apple Festival, checked 2026-10-19
A festival day, stop by stop
From the fairgrounds to the apple houses
The festival is at the Lions Club Fairgrounds on South Main Street; its free sister festival is on the square downtown, and the orchards line Georgia 52 east of town.
Photo: Stephen Harlan, CC BY 2.0 (cropped) 1729 South Main Street
The fairgrounds
Booths are set up outdoors, in an open pavilion and indoors. Picnic tables are spread through the grounds, and there is indoor seating in the front building.
Photo: Stephen Harlan, CC BY 2.0 (cropped) Booth by booth
Handmade, and the maker is there
Everything sold must be handmade, handcrafted or grown by the artist, and the artist must be on site. The 2026 list had 235 craft and merchant booths, most of them there both weekends.
Photo: Thomsonmg2000, CC0 1.0 (cropped) 10 Broad Street
Apple Arts on the square
The free Apple Arts Festival runs downtown on the same weekends, behind the Welcome Center, with more than 65 juried vendors. Leashed pets are welcome there.
Photo: LookoutBelle, CC BY 2.0 (cropped) Georgia 52
The apple houses
Most of Gilmer County's orchards line the Georgia 52 valley east of town. They sell apples, pies, jams, butters and cider, and most hold U-pick events.
Decision tool · arrival and parking planner
Where should you park?
Tell us where you are driving in from and who is with you. You get the computed drive, the festival lots the Gilmer County Chamber lists, ranked for your side of town and how far you want to walk, and what the organizers publish about the shuttle, accessible parking, service animals and paying for parking.
All 10 festival lots, the shuttle and drive times
Lots, fees, the shuttle and the accessibility and animal rules are what the Gilmer County Chamber and the festival publish (checked October 19, 2026); anything they do not publish, such as shuttle hours, is left out rather than guessed. Drive times are computed one-way routes on OpenStreetMap data with no traffic. Lot rankings weigh the straight-line distance to the gate and which side of town the lot is on; they are our suggestion, not the organizer's.
Know the back roads into Ellijay already? Maybe it is time to live on one of them.
Apple country
The Apple Capital of Georgia
The festival is named for the apples that ripen in the orchards around Ellijay each fall. Gilmer County grows more of them than any other county in Georgia.
- The Georgia Department of Agriculture says Ellijay, in Gilmer County, is known as the Apple Capital of Georgia and is home to over nine family-owned apple orchards. Georgia Department of Agriculture press release (Sept. 1, 2026), Georgia Grown Apple Season
- The New Georgia Encyclopedia says Gilmer County produces more than 600,000 bushels of apples a year, more than any other Georgia county. New Georgia Encyclopedia, Ellijay (last modified June 29, 2022)
- Georgia Grown says more than 85% of Georgia's apples are grown in Gilmer and Fannin counties. Georgia Grown (Georgia Department of Agriculture), Apples
- The Gilmer Chamber says the county is home to 8 orchards that harvest more than 22 apple varieties from June to November. Gilmer County Chamber, Fall: Apple Orchards
Photo: Erin Brierley, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
On the 2026 list
Who sold what at the 2026 festival
The organizer's own 2026 vendor list, counted. Search it by weekend and category in the vendor finder.
- 235craft and merchant booths
- 39food and drink stands
- 6demonstrations and attractions
The apple foods on the 2026 food list
- Under the Apple Tree: Fresh apple dumplings and ice creame
- Ray Harigan: Hot apple cider and milkshakes
Source: Georgia Apple Festival (official site): Vendor List, 2026 PDF, checked 2026-10-19 Every food stand on the 2026 list
Living here
Apple country, all year
Ellijay is the Gilmer County seat, 75 miles north of Atlanta where Georgia 515, Georgia 52 and U.S. 76 meet. The 2020 Census counted 31,353 people in the county.
Gold Peach Realty listings
Homes for sale around Ellijay
Current listings from Gold Peach Realty, the North Georgia brokerage behind this guide. Photos, prices and details come straight from the MLS.
Want your home featured here? List with Gold Peach Realty and your home is featured on this guide and across our local community sites. How Gold Peach Realty markets homes
Search homes around EllijayListings open on goldpeachrealty.com, the website of our brokerage, Gold Peach Realty. Listing information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
Questions
What people ask about the festival
When is the Georgia Apple Festival 2027?
The 2027 dates have not been announced yet. The organizer's FAQ says the festival is held on the second and third weekends in October. If that pattern holds, 2027 would fall on Oct. 9-10 and Oct. 16-17, but treat those as expected dates only and check georgiaapplefestival.org before you book a trip.
Source: Georgia Apple Festival (official site), FAQs
Where is the Georgia Apple Festival held?
The festival is at the Ellijay Lions Club Fairgrounds, 1729 South Main Street, Ellijay, GA 30540. The City of Ellijay describes the site as being on Old Highway 5 South. Parking at the fairgrounds is limited, so most visitors use the paid lots around Ellijay that run a free shuttle to the gate.
Source: Georgia Apple Festival (official site), Home; City of Ellijay; Eventeny listing
What is the Georgia Apple Festival?
It is a juried arts and crafts festival held over two October weekends in Ellijay, in Gilmer County. The organizer describes hundreds of vendors with handmade items, on-site demonstrations, live music and fair food. It is named for the apples ripening at local orchards and is presented by the Ellijay Lions Club and the Gilmer County Chamber of Commerce.
Source: Georgia Apple Festival (official site), Home and FAQs; City of Ellijay
Is the Georgia Apple Festival worth going to?
If you like handmade crafts, fair food and live music, it offers a lot in one place: the Chamber counted over 250 vendors in 2026, and the organizer calls it "a big show with a small-town feel." Expect company. FOX 5 Atlanta reported about 22,000 visitors on the first 2025 weekend, citing city leaders. Admission is $10.
Source: Gilmer County Chamber, Georgia Apple Festival; Georgia Apple Festival FAQs; FOX 5 Atlanta (Oct. 14, 2025)
Who runs the Georgia Apple Festival?
The festival is presented by the Ellijay Lions Club and the Gilmer County Chamber of Commerce, according to the City of Ellijay, and the Lions Club calls it a joint venture of the two groups. It is held at the Lions Club Fairgrounds, and general questions go to (706) 635-7400 or info@gilmerchamber.com.
What is the Apple Arts Festival?
It is a free sister festival to the Georgia Apple Festival, held in downtown Ellijay on the same weekends. The Gilmer Chamber organizes it, with more than 65 juried vendors of handcrafted and specialty goods, plus food. The Chamber describes it as pet-friendly and accessible, and it is held rain or shine.
Source: Gilmer County Chamber, Apple Arts Festival: Vendors; 2026 Apple Arts Festival; Apple Arts FAQs
How do I contact the Georgia Apple Festival?
For general questions, the festival lists (706) 635-7400 and info@gilmerchamber.com. Vendors are asked to send questions through the Eventeny app. Questions about the downtown Apple Arts Festival go to applearts@gilmerchamber.com. The festival's mailing address is PO Box 1225, Ellijay, GA 30540.
Source: Georgia Apple Festival (official site), Contact; Gilmer County Chamber, Apple Arts FAQs
Journal
From the journal
The Georgia Apple Festival with kids: free entry age, rides and what to plan
Children 12 and under get into the Georgia Apple Festival free, according to the organizer's FAQ, and everyone else pays $10. The 2026 vendor…
Bringing a dog to Ellijay on festival weekend
Dogs cannot go to the Georgia Apple Festival: the organizer allows no pets at the Lions Club Fairgrounds, only service animals, and no animals…
Living here
Two weekends in apple country turning into a bigger idea? Talk to people who sell homes in North Georgia.
Gold Peach Realty is the North Georgia brokerage behind this guide. If a festival weekend in Ellijay has you wondering what it would be like to live among the orchards and ridges of Gilmer County, our agents will show you what is actually for sale.
Visit Gold Peach Realty Call Gold Peach Realty (770) 283-1223
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