Forty-one fall events across South Charlotte now have a 2026 date you can actually hold someone to, confirmed on September 16 against the town, village or organizer page that published each one. Three towns posted holiday dates over the course of that one day, and two of them picked the Saturday Mint Hill had already claimed.
Here’s the part that costs you a Saturday if nobody tells you. Six separate events land on September 26 across four towns. Two of the biggest town festivals in the area, Mint Hill Madness and Pineville Fall Fest, run the exact same three days in October. And Saturday, December 5 now carries holiday events in Fort Mill, Marvin and Mint Hill at once. I went through every calendar one at a time and wrote down what collides, so you can pick instead of finding out in the parking lot.
15 min read | By Steve Jarrell | Living in South Charlotte | Updated September 16, 2026
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What This Story Covers
- The short answer
- What is actually happening on Saturday, September 26?
- Why do Mint Hill and Pineville share the same weekend?
- Halloween runs across two nights in two towns
- December 5 is three towns at once, and Weddington is still blank
- The Saturday standbys: markets, a scarecrow trail and two road races
- Two towns run a series called Music on Main
- Frequently asked questions about South Charlotte fall events
- About the author
- How we sourced this
The short answer
Between September 16 and the middle of December 2026, you’ve got 41 South Charlotte events with a date published by the group actually running them. The heaviest days are Saturday, September 26, the stretch from Thursday, October 15 through Saturday, October 17, and Saturday, December 5. Weddington is the one town with no holiday date and no fall event of any kind on its calendar.
The Short Answer
Forty-one South Charlotte fall events carry a confirmed 2026 date. The three days you’ll want to plan around are Saturday, September 26, when six events run across four towns, October 15 to 17, when two town festivals go head to head, and Saturday, December 5, when Fort Mill, Marvin and Mint Hill all hold holiday events.
Key dates, South Charlotte, September to December 2026 (sources: Carowinds, Museum of the Waxhaws, Town of Pineville, Mint Hill Events, Village of Marvin, Downtown Waxhaw Association, Town of Fort Mill, TD Amp Ballantyne):
- SCarowinds, select nights, September 11 to November 1
- Battle of Charlotte reenactment, Waxhaw, Saturday September 26 and Sunday September 27
- Houston Ross Park ribbon cutting, Marvin, Saturday September 26 at 1pm
- Autumn Treasures, downtown Waxhaw, Saturday October 10, 10am to 6pm
- Mint Hill Madness and Pineville Fall Fest, both October 15 to 17
- Fright Night, downtown Waxhaw, Saturday October 24, 4pm to 6pm
- Waxhaw Tree Lighting, Saturday November 21, 4pm to 6pm
- Fort Mill Christmas Village and Lighting of the Tree, Thursday December 3, 5pm to 8pm
- Saturday December 5: Fort Mill Christmas Parade at 11am, Marvin Tree Lighting with the time still to come, and Mint Hill Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting 5:30pm to 9pm
Here’s the whole anchor list in one place, with the page I pulled each date from so you can check me.
| Event | 2026 date and time | Source document |
|---|---|---|
| SCarowinds | Select nights, September 11 to November 1 | Carowinds event page |
| Battle of Charlotte weekend, Waxhaw | Sat Sept 26, 10am to 4pm; Sun Sept 27, 10am to 3pm | Museum of the Waxhaws events page |
| Houston Ross Park ribbon cutting, Marvin | Sat Sept 26, 1pm | Village of Marvin Community Events |
| Autumn Treasures, Waxhaw | Sat Oct 10, 10am to 6pm | Downtown Waxhaw Association calendar |
| Pineville Fall Fest | Thu Oct 15 and Fri Oct 16, 5pm to 9pm; Sat Oct 17, 10am to 9pm | Town of Pineville events calendar |
| Mint Hill Madness | Thu Oct 15, 4pm to 9pm; Fri Oct 16, 4pm to 10pm; Sat Oct 17, 11am to 10pm | Mint Hill Events festival page |
| Museum of the Waxhaws Haunted Trail | Fri Oct 16 and Sat Oct 17, 7pm to 9:30pm | Museum of the Waxhaws events page |
| Trick or Treat in the Park, Marvin | Fri Oct 23, 5pm to 8pm | Village of Marvin Community Events |
| Fright Night, downtown Waxhaw | Sat Oct 24, 4pm to 6pm | Downtown Waxhaw Association |
| Waxhaw Tree Lighting | Sat Nov 21, 4pm to 6pm | Downtown Waxhaw Association calendar |
| Fort Mill Christmas Village and Tree Lighting | Thu Dec 3, 5pm to 8pm | Town of Fort Mill calendar |
| Fort Mill Christmas Parade, 79th annual | Sat Dec 5, 11am to 12pm | Town of Fort Mill calendar |
| Marvin Tree Lighting | Sat Dec 5, time to be announced | Village of Marvin Community Events |
| Mint Hill Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting | Sat Dec 5, 5:30pm to 9pm | Mint Hill Events parade page |
I built this the slow way, opening one organizer page at a time rather than copying a roundup, and the thing that surprised me was how often the towns disagree with the internet about their own events. Mint Hill Madness kept showing up in my notes as undated, and the festival page had carried October 15 to 17 the whole time. If you only take one habit from this piece, take that one: go to the group that runs the thing.
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What is actually happening on Saturday, September 26?
Six events, across four towns, in one day. Waxhaw, Marvin, Pineville and Fort Mill all have something going on, and the two biggest ones overlap in the early afternoon. If you’ve been meaning to do more than one, this is the Saturday where you’ll have to choose.
The largest is the Battle of Charlotte American Revolution Reenactment and Living History Weekend at the Museum of the Waxhaws, 8215 Waxhaw Highway. Gates open at 9:50am, and the museum publishes an hour by hour schedule: musket firing at 10:30am, artillery at 11:00am, cavalry at 11:30am, and the Battle of Charlotte reenactment at 2:00pm. Gates close at 4:00pm. It runs again Sunday, September 27, with gates at 9:45am, a church service at 10:00am, and the Battle of McIntyre’s Farm reenactment at 2:00pm.
Three details from the museum’s own page that a roundup won’t tell you. Your ticket is good all day, so you can leave and come back. Park at Waxhaw Elementary School, whose lots connect directly to the museum grounds, which matters because the museum’s own lot is small. Children 5 and under get in free, and it runs rain or shine.
Meanwhile, at 1:00pm, the Village of Marvin cuts the ribbon on Houston Ross Park. That is one hour before the reenactment starts, in a different town. Marvin is running shuttles from Marvin AME Zion Church at 1525 Crane Road, which is worth reading twice, because the shuttle location changed and you’ll still see the older announcement circulating. The Village’s own news item is headed “UPDATED SHUTTLE LOCATION.” I wrote about which South Charlotte parks are actually open on September 15, and Houston Ross was the one with a firm date and almost no published detail behind it.
The rest of that Saturday is quieter, and you can fit most of it around the big two. Pineville runs its Fall Community Yard Sale at Lake Park, 1000 Johnston Drive, from 7:00am to noon. The Waxhaw Farmers Market and the Fort Mill Farmers and Artisans Market both run 9:00am to noon. And Waxhaw closes the day with a Movie Night at Waxhaw Downtown Park, 6:00pm to 9:00pm.
Why do Mint Hill and Pineville share the same weekend?
Because neither one schedules around the other. Mint Hill Madness and Pineville Fall Fest both run Thursday October 15 through Saturday October 17, 2026, and their hours overlap almost exactly. Nobody publishes the two side by side, so here’s how they line up.
Mint Hill Madness is at Mint Hill Veterans Park, 8500 Fairview Road. Thursday runs 4:00pm to 9:00pm, Friday 4:00pm to 10:00pm, and Saturday 11:00am to 10:00pm. The fireworks are Saturday at 9:30pm. Mint Hill Events, the nonprofit that runs it, describes Madness as the festival celebrating the founding of the town, and it is their flagship.
Pineville Fall Fest is at Jack D. Hughes Park. Thursday and Friday run 5:00pm to 9:00pm, and Saturday runs 10:00am to 9:00pm. So Saturday’s the long day at both. If you want both in one weekend, Thursday or Friday at one and Saturday at the other is your only clean split.
That weekend gets busier still, and here’s where it starts to bite. The Museum of the Waxhaws Haunted Trail runs Friday October 16 and Saturday October 17, both nights 7:00pm to 9:30pm, which puts it squarely inside both festivals’ evening hours. And TD Amp in Ballantyne has shows both nights: a Taylor Swift tribute called Feeling 22 on Friday October 16 at 7:00pm, and Trampled By Turtles with Futurebirds on Saturday October 17 at 6:30pm. Four things, two nights, one weekend.
A week earlier is your gentler option if you’d rather not fight a crowd. Autumn Treasures takes over downtown Waxhaw on Saturday October 10 from 10:00am to 6:00pm, and it is the only large festival on that date.
The October 15 to 17 collision is the thing I did not expect to find. I assumed two towns this close together would have sorted this out years ago, and the plain reading of the two calendars is that they simply run in parallel and always have. I’m not going to guess at why. What I can tell you is that if you want the carnival at one and the craft booths at the other, you get one weekend to do both and you’ll be driving.
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Marvin and Waxhaw hold their trick or treat events on consecutive days, Friday October 23 and Saturday October 24, so you can do both without choosing. That’s unusual here and worth knowing.
Marvin goes first. Trick or Treat in the Park is Friday October 23, 5:00pm to 8:00pm, at Marvin Efird Park, 8909 New Town Road. The Village lists it with the note “More information coming soon!” so the date’s firm and the detail isn’t there yet.
Waxhaw’s Fright Night is Saturday October 24, 4:00pm to 6:00pm, and the Downtown Waxhaw Association publishes more structure around it than any other event I checked. Trick or treating runs downtown for those two hours, with businesses handing out candy. The community costume contest has moved to 113 E. North Main Street near the pedestrian bridge, and it runs by age slot: 4:00 to 4:30pm for ages 5 and under, 4:30 to 5:00pm for ages 6 to 10, 5:00 to 5:30pm for ages 11 and up, and 5:30 to 6:00pm for groups. A block party with live music and food trucks follows on E. North Main Street.
There’s also a storefront decorating contest you can vote in from October 24 through October 31, and the winner of what the association calls the Pumpkin King Trophy is announced on November 3. The association is running a candy drive ahead of the event, with a drop-off at the Duncan McDonald House, 115 McDonald Street.
Two other things land on that same Saturday, and you can get both in before Fright Night. Marvin holds Arbor Day at Marvin Efird Park from 10:00am to noon, and the Museum of the Waxhaws hosts History Morning at 9:00am, a gathering for museums, historical organizations, genealogists and preservationists. Both wrap up well before Fright Night starts.
December 5 is three towns at once, and Weddington is still blank
If you’re after a tree lighting or a Christmas parade, the picture changed over the course of September 16. Three towns that had nothing posted that morning had dates up by that evening, and two of them landed on the Saturday Mint Hill had already claimed.
Saturday December 5 is the crowded one. Fort Mill runs the 79th Annual Fort Mill Christmas Parade from 11:00am to noon, listed at Walter Y. Elisha Park. The Village of Marvin lights its tree at Marvin Efird Park, 8909 New Town Road, with the time still to come. And Mint Hill holds its Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting from 5:30pm to 9:00pm in downtown Mint Hill. The morning and the evening don’t fight, so Fort Mill at 11:00am and Mint Hill at 5:30pm is a real double if you want both. Marvin’s time is the piece that decides whether you can fit all three.
Fort Mill has the fullest December of any town here. Past the parade, the Christmas Village and Lighting of the Tree is Thursday December 3, 5:00pm to 8:00pm at Walter Y. Elisha Park. Cookies with Santa is Thursday December 10, 4:00pm to 6:00pm at Town Hall. The Fort Mill Cookie Crawl is Saturday December 12, 10:00am to noon in downtown Fort Mill.
Waxhaw lights its tree Saturday November 21, 4:00pm to 6:00pm. That’s a long day in a small downtown. The 15th Annual GingerSnap 5K, which benefits Girls on the Run Union County, runs 8:00am to noon, and the Waxhaw Farmers Market runs 9:00am to noon, so the tree lighting closes out a Saturday that started at eight in the morning. A Waxhaw Christmas parade is the one holiday date still missing from the association’s calendar.
Weddington is the holdout. The Town of Weddington calendar carries board meetings and a note that Town Hall closes for the Christmas holiday, and nothing else. The town’s iCal feed comes back empty. There’s no tree lighting date and no fall event of any kind sitting on it. Weddington has an active Park and Events Advisory Board that meets monthly, and it has run real events before, so I read this as a calendar nobody has filled in rather than a town with no plans. If you want to see how Weddington handles this kind of thing, the town park question is the longer version of the same story.
Three of those four dates went up between one check and the next on September 16. That’s the whole argument for going to the organizer instead of a roundup. A list of what a town hasn’t announced yet is only true until somebody hits publish.
The Saturday standbys: markets, a scarecrow trail and two road races
Underneath the festivals there’s a weekly rhythm you can count on, and most of it runs straight through the fall.
Two farmers markets run Saturdays from 9:00am to noon. The Waxhaw Farmers Market is at 27283 Waxhaw Parkway, operates rain or shine, and runs April through December. The Fort Mill Farmers and Artisans Market is at 106 N White Street. The association encourages you to walk on into downtown afterward, and the Fort Mill market sits on White Street in the middle of its own downtown.
Fort Mill also runs the 12th Annual Scarecrow Crawl through the whole month, October 2 to October 31. Businesses install their scarecrows between September 25 and October 1, so the trail is up the day it opens. It costs you nothing, and it works as a walkable afternoon in a way a single-day festival doesn’t.
Two road races bookend late September and early October, both at Lake Park in Pineville, 1000 Johnston Drive. The Pineville 4 Miler is Saturday September 19, 8:00am to 9:30am, run on the Sugar Creek Greenway starting at the dog park. The Richard Sheltra Memorial 10K, 5K and Fun Run is Saturday October 3, 7:00am to 10:00am.
October 3 is busier than it looks. Mint Hill runs its Madness Pop-Up Market at Mint Hill Veterans Memorial Park from 10:00am to 4:00pm, and downtown Waxhaw has the WWC Pink Pumpkin Event from 9:00am to 5:00pm. So the race, the market and the pumpkin event all share that Saturday, and you can string all three together if you start early.
And SCarowinds is the long backdrop to all of it, running select nights from September 11 through November 1 at Carowinds. Two things from Carowinds’ own page are worth knowing before you buy: it’s not recommended for children under 13, and every guest needs their own paid admission regardless of age.
Two towns run a series called Music on Main
This is a small thing that will send you to the wrong town if nobody flags it. Pineville and Monroe both run a concert series called Music on Main, and they’re different events on different nights.
Pineville’s is Thursdays from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at Town Hall, 505 Main Street. The last one of 2026 is Thursday October 1, so you’ve got three left: September 17, September 24 and October 1. Monroe’s is on a Friday, September 25 at 6:30pm, with a band billed as Yacht Rock Radio.
Monroe has one more you might want. Its America 250 Movie Series screens “Unbroken” on Thursday September 17 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at 120 S Main Street.
Ballantyne rounds out the music side. TD Amp, which you may still see referred to as the Ballantyne Amp, has Houndmouth with Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country and Molly Tuttle on Friday September 25 at 6:15pm, and Clint Black with Midland on Thursday October 8 at 6:00pm, alongside the two October 16 and 17 shows already mentioned.
Marvin runs civic events on a schedule too, if you want to meet the people making decisions. Coffee with Council is 9:00am to 10:00am on Thursday October 1, Thursday November 5 and Thursday December 3. Council with Kids is Monday October 19, 6:00pm to 7:00pm at Marvin Village Hall, and the Village notes a quorum will be present but no business will be conducted. For anyone weighing Waxhaw specifically, the Cureton neighborhood and the Waxhaw library pieces cover what the rest of the week looks like there.
Frequently Asked Questions About South Charlotte Fall Events
When is Mint Hill Madness 2026?
Mint Hill Madness runs Thursday October 15 through Saturday October 17, 2026 at Mint Hill Veterans Park, 8500 Fairview Road. You will find hours of 4pm to 9pm Thursday, 4pm to 10pm Friday, and 11am to 10pm Saturday. The fireworks are Saturday at 9:30pm.
What dates is Pineville Fall Fest this year?
Pineville Fall Fest runs Thursday October 15 and Friday October 16 from 5pm to 9pm, and Saturday October 17 from 10am to 9pm, at Jack D. Hughes Park. It shares all three days with Mint Hill Madness, so you will have to pick one.
When is Fright Night in downtown Waxhaw?
Fright Night is Saturday October 24, 2026, with trick or treating downtown from 4pm to 6pm. The costume contest runs the same two hours at 113 E. North Main Street, organized by age group in half hour slots.
Is there a fall festival in Waxhaw before Halloween?
Yes. Autumn Treasures takes over downtown Waxhaw on Saturday October 10, 2026 from 10am to 6pm. It is the only large festival on that date, which makes it the easier of the two October weekends for you.
When does SCarowinds run in 2026?
SCarowinds runs select nights from September 11 through November 1, 2026 at Carowinds. Carowinds states it is not recommended for children under 13, and every guest needs a separate paid admission regardless of age.
What is happening on Saturday, December 5 in South Charlotte?
Three towns hold holiday events that day. Fort Mill runs the 79th Annual Fort Mill Christmas Parade from 11am to noon. Mint Hill holds its Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting from 5:30pm to 9pm in downtown Mint Hill. The Village of Marvin lights its tree at Marvin Efird Park with the time still to be announced. The Fort Mill and Mint Hill times do not overlap, so you can do both.
Has the Waxhaw Christmas parade been scheduled for 2026?
Not as of September 16, 2026. Waxhaw does have a tree lighting, Saturday November 21 from 4pm to 6pm on the Downtown Waxhaw Association calendar, but no parade date appears there. Fort Mill is the town with both, a tree lighting on Thursday December 3 and its Christmas parade on Saturday December 5.
About the Author
I’m Steve Jarrell, team lead of The Longleaf Group, a team at eXp Realty. Amanda and I lead the team together, and our work covers every town in this piece. A published calendar is a small thing, but the gap between a town that keeps one current and a town that does not tells you something real about living there.
Before real estate I joined VisualTour as President, led its rebrand to Paradym, and led the company to its acquisition by Constellation Software in 2020. That background is why I’d rather pull a date off a town’s own calendar feed than trust a listicle. If you’re weighing one of these towns against another, call me at 704-774-7170 or find more at thelongleafgroup.com.
How we sourced this
Every date here was confirmed on September 16, 2026 by opening the page of the organization that runs the event, not by reading a roundup. Where a town and a third party disagreed, I used the town.
Three holiday dates went up on town calendars between the first check that morning and the last one that evening: Marvin’s tree lighting, Waxhaw’s tree lighting, and Fort Mill’s December slate. They are in this piece because the calendars were read a second time right before it published, not because the first pass caught them.
Primary sources: Carowinds SCarowinds page, Museum of the Waxhaws events, the Town of Pineville events calendar, Mint Hill Events festival page and its parade page, the Village of Marvin Community Events page, the Downtown Waxhaw Association calendar and its Fright Night page, the Town of Fort Mill Scarecrow Crawl listing, TD Amp Ballantyne, the Town of Weddington calendar, and the City of Monroe calendar.
I dropped three things rather than publish them unverified. A Weddington tree lighting on November 20 appears in our own earlier notes, but I couldn’t confirm it against any live town page, and the town’s calendar and iCal feed are both empty of events, so it’s not in this piece. I couldn’t confirm a Union County farmers market in Monroe either. The county site didn’t respond to us, and the only site trading under that name belongs to Union County, Ohio. And I couldn’t confirm a reported October 14 Wegmans opening in Ballantyne, because the store page returned a server error.
Event dates change. Before you drive, check the organizer link above for the event you want, because that’s the page that gets corrected first when something moves.
Last updated: September 16, 2026