Corn Mazes and Friday Night Strolls Launch the Fall Season
Nebo, NC · September 25, 2026
Main Street closes to vehicle bumpers and opens to lawn chairs right around dusk tonight. Once the week’s tools are put away, the foothills offer no shortage of ways to fill your autumn weekend.
The Lead
Autumn kicks into gear across the foothills this weekend, starting with tonight's Fourth Friday block gathering on Main Street and expanding Saturday as McKinney Farm opens its sixth annual Fall Festival. For the McKinney family, opening the farm gates on Dysartsville Road brings the season's first public access to their sprawling corn maze, pumpkin patch, hayrides, and animal pens. Just up the road at Lake James State Park, rangers and volunteers welcome four-legged hikers Saturday morning for a guided Tails and Trails trek along the Holly Discovery Trail. With morning temperatures dipping into the low fifties and early foliage dusting the Linville ridge, organizers across both destinations urge arriving before midday to avoid packed trailheads and farm lanes. Farm gates swing open Saturday at 10:00 AM.
Local Pulse
Foothills Food Hub Opens First Retail Storefront Business Shoppers can now purchase regional produce, dairy, and farm meats directly without placing advance orders online.
County Extends Telehealth Access for Local Students Health Families across all area public schools can now connect students with licensed medical providers directly from nurse stations.
Today's Outlook
- High 71°F · Low 51°F — Overcast
- Grab a light jacket this morning before comfortable, cloud-covered skies settle in.
What's On Around Town
Today
Barefoot Baby Skate Night The Box Factory (29 Logan St), Marion, 3:00–10:00 PM · Paid Community roller skating sessions raising support for local family assistance programs.
Fourth Friday Downtown Stroll Historic Downtown (45 N Main St), Marion, 6:30–9:00 PM · Free Artisan pop-ups, food trucks, and live acoustic music on Main.
Oktoberfest Block Party Mica Town Brewing (25 Brown Dr), Marion, 6:30–11:55 PM · Free Seasonal taps and evening patio festivities to launch the autumn weekend.
Tomorrow
- Marion Tailgate Market Market Pavilion, Marion, 9:00 AM–1:00 PM · Free
- Tails and Trails Quest Holly Discovery Trail (2229 Lake James State Park Rd), 10:00 AM–12:00 PM · Free
- Sixth Annual Fall Festival McKinney Farm (300 Dysartsville Rd), 10:00 AM–4:00 PM · Paid
Sunday
- Fall Festival and Corn Maze McKinney Farm (300 Dysartsville Rd), 1:00–6:00 PM · Paid
- Depot Heritage Open House The Old Fort Depot and Railroad Museum (25 W Main St), Old Fort, 1:00–4:00 PM · Free
Spotlight & Story
- Lake James Before 1916, the waters were simply the Catawba, the Linville, and Paddy’s Creek. When James Buchanan Duke built three earthen dams to electrify Carolina mills, the newly flooded 6,812-acre basin took the tobacco and utility magnate’s personal name.
Nebo Daily Digest — compiled from local sources as of 6 AM. For breaking updates, follow your local newsrooms.
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