Late Summer Festivals: Celebrating the Harvest and College Football Season

As fall approaches, the late summer season promises many exciting events and activities. Harvests signal the abundance of fruits and vegetables ready for picking, filling the air with the sweet scents of ripened crops. Festivals pop up to celebrate the changing of the seasons, offering a variety of entertainment and cultural experiences for all to enjoy.

"Tailgating Down South."Photo byOlivia Thomason, artist

College football season kicks off, bringing fans together to cheer on their favorite teams and partake in the exhilarating tailgating traditions that accompany the games. The festivities abound with delicious food, spirited camaraderie, and a sense of community that unites fans in their love for the sport.

Celebrations galore mark the transition, a time of abundance, joy, and anticipation for the bountiful season ahead.

Festivals celebrate the harvest. College football spices everything with pageantry and tailgating, our ritual feast.

We plan to join the celebrations, sharing the color, flavor and excitement. These are some previews of what lies ahead.

North Carolina Apple Festival in Hendersonville.Photo byOlivia Thomason Painting

Tailgating Down South features to campuses in Athens, Tallahassee, Tuscaloosa, Knoxville, Oxford, Clemson and other colleges on Gamedays.

"The Jack," Barbecue Competiton at the fabled Tennessee Distillery.Photo byOlivia Thomason painting.

We’ll prepare gumbo, Cedar Key clam chowder, She-Crab Soup, Frogmore Stew, Brunswick Stew, and enjoy the world’s most celebrated barbecue event at the Jack Daniel’a International Championship in lovely Lynchburg, Tennessee, visit George Dickel Distillery in Tullahoma and dine in Normandy Tennessee with David and Claudia Hazelwood with have supper at storied Bell Buckle Café.

Mural in Historic Bell Buckle, Tennessee.Photo byDown South Today

North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley is dotted with renowned wineries and the celebrations of harvest leads to delicious moments celebrating the glory of the grape.

Fine dining in New Orleans, Nashville, Atlanta, Charleston, Miami and Tampa is juxtaposed with Cuban cuisine, gloriously delicious Soul Food from Savannah native James Paige, and fresh oysters devoured in shacks along the Gulf and Atlantic seashores.

Folk Art reigns. The annual Kentuck Festival of the Arts is in Northport, Alabama on the banks of the mighty Black Warrior River. It’s a lollapalooza of folk art with a national following.

Kentuck, Alabama's gloriously exciting Folk Art Festival has a national following.Photo byDown South Today

Few festivals compare with Hendersonville’s North Carolina Apple Festival. It’s where Georgia Folk Artist Olivia Thomason grew up and just around the corner from the Flat Rock Playhouse where Broadway-quality productions entertain locals and visitors.

We’ll be welcoming recipes that reflect local preferences and traditions. An exciting Sangria made with Georgia wild muscadines; Flounder stuffed with crabmeat; Kentucky Burgoo; Barbecue Shrimp at Pascal’s Manale in the Big Easy; Filet mignon at Bern’s in Tampa.

The Spanish Trace began in St. Augustine and the annual Datil Pepper festival celebrates the fiery pepper brought to the New World by Spanish monks over 500 years ago.

Datil Pepper Bloody Mary.Photo byDown South Today

On Sunday mornings, we’ll enjoy Bloody Mary’s on a deck facing the Atlantic Ocean.