City of Fairfax Fall Festival 2026: Your Guide to Old Town

The 50th annual City of Fairfax Fall Festival runs Saturday, October 10, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Old Town Fairfax. Admission is free, there are more than 400 vendors, and the event goes on rain or shine with no reschedule date. The City says it started as a small market where artisans showed their work.

Most of the 400 vendor booths are only in town for the day. This year the more interesting stops are permanent downtown places that open their doors for the festival: a fire station, a game shop, an 1870s schoolhouse, and a farmers market that has run for more than 25 years. Plan your day around those buildings and the vendor rows sort themselves out along the way.

Start at Page Avenue at 9 a.m.

The Fairfax Saturday Farmers' Market is open on festival day too, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 10500 Page Avenue, a block from Old Town. The Downtown Fairfax Coalition started it more than 25 years ago, and it has about 45 vendors. The market's own listing warns that popular vendors draw lines and sometimes sell out early. On a Saturday with festival crowds, an early visit is the safer bet.

Pets are the other reason to start here. The market describes itself as pet friendly and asks that dogs be leashed. The festival asks people to leave pets at home, though service animals are welcome. If you want to bring the dog, come to the market before the festival opens at 10, then take the dog home.

Getting downtown without a car is easy this year. Free, ADA-accessible shuttles run from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. from two stops: George Mason's Rappahannock Parking Deck at 4400 University Drive, where parking is also free, and Fairfax High School at 3501 Lion Run. If you ride a bike or scooter, a free valet operates at 10413 North Street, in the lot just east of Old Town Square. Bikes and scooters are not allowed inside the festival.

A route through the buildings that open for the day

The City's September 23 feature on the anniversary lists several downtown places with their own programs for the day. Put them in order by when they close and they make a good route:

1. Legato School Museum, 4117 Chain Bridge Road. The open house runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., so it closes three hours before the festival does. The schoolhouse sits next to the festival grounds, and the tour covers what school was like there from 1870 to 1928.
2. Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center, 10209 Main Street. It's open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on festival day. Its current exhibit, "Indigenous Perspectives," features the voices of Virginia's tribal communities.
3. Paradise Games & Gifts, 10385 Main Street. Fall for the Book is holding a free "Meet an Author Day" here, with five authors who write for young readers. Session times are posted at fallforthebook.org/october10.
4. Fire Station 3, 4081 University Drive. Sparky's Harvest Bash runs the full festival day, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The station opens for tours of fire trucks and emergency vehicles, and there's an educational trailer on home fire safety and evacuation. Fire Station 3 is also the festival's first aid location.

The two headline acts both play at the end of the day. Cruel Summer, a full-scale tribute to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, and Herr Metal, which plays 1980s-style arena rock, are the acts the City highlighted. Herr Metal closes the Main Stage in the 4103 Chain Bridge Road parking lot from 3 to 5 p.m. Cruel Summer closes the Children's Stage in the 4020 University Drive parking lot from 2:30 to 5 p.m. The Old Town Square Stage at 10415 North Street finishes with Keeton from 3 to 5 p.m. The beer gardens are at the Main Stage, at Old Town Square, and at Food Court #1 on the corner of University Drive and Sager. They serve from 10:30 a.m., sell the last beer ticket at 4:30 p.m., and pour the last beer at 4:45 p.m. Domestic beer is $6 and craft is $8. Local groups including the Lions Club and Kiwanis run them, and the City says the beer gardens support local nonprofits. Check the official event map PDF on the festival page before you head out. The Parks and Recreation tent, which also handles lost and found, is at University Drive and South Street, and the ATM is at University Drive and Sager Avenue. To get informational and emergency texts during the day, text "FALLFEST" to 888-777.

Mayor Catherine Read summed up the anniversary in the City's announcement: "There have been significant changes in our region over the last half century, but this festival is a call to community that includes area residents, visitors, and our George Mason University neighbors."

What's different on the walk since last October

Downtown has changed since last year's festival, and you'll notice it on the walk.

University Drive lost its brewpub. Ornery Beer Company closed its Old Town Fairfax restaurant at 3950 University Drive, Suite 106, on July 26 after nearly eight years there. Founder Randy Barnette told FFXnow the company was scaling back to "become leaner." Ornery's Herndon restaurant, which opened last November, is still open. As of the most recent reporting, no new tenant has been announced for the space.

Main Street has a new menu to try. SimSim at 9998 Main Street held a grand opening on September 6, 2026. The restaurant says the crowd filled Main Street. It now serves a 100% halal menu of Palestinian and Ukrainian dishes, from mansaf and maqluba to borshch and varenyky. Earlier in the year, the City's economic development office profiled SimSim at the same address as a Palestinian and Yemeni restaurant co-founded by Nabeel Al-Nowairah. So the September event was a grand opening with an expanded menu rather than a restaurant new to the block. SimSim takes reservations, which is useful if you want a sit-down dinner after the festival ends at 5.

Old Town Hall is still under construction. The City's project page lists the building as under construction, with completion expected in fall 2026. An April CityScene issue had said it would reopen this summer, and neither source gives an exact date, so treat the reopening as unconfirmed. The hall was built in 1900. The City started this rehabilitation after a structural failure in 2020. Phase 2 is paid for with $2.1 million in federal HUD grant money and $1.8 million from the City's General Fund.

The closure has already moved events. In February, the Chocolate Lovers Festival moved its Taste of Chocolate to the Stacy C. Sherwood Center because Old Town Hall was under renovation. The Sherwood Center is also hosting one of this week's biggest literary events.

The calendar after Saturday

Once the festival tents come down, Old Town Square and a few nearby venues host most of downtown's fall and holiday events.

Fall for the Book runs October 6 through 10 at George Mason's Fairfax campus and other venues around Fairfax, so Saturday's author event at Paradise Games & Gifts is its last day. The Holiday Craft Show vendor list was still marked "Coming in October!" when we checked. The Festival of Lights and Carols starts at noon on December 5, with live holiday music, s'mores, cider, children's activities, and photos with Santa before the tree lighting.

One date outside downtown belongs on the same calendar. The IKEA plan-and-order showroom at Fairfax Corner closes November 30, 2026, so any planning visit there needs to happen before then.

The 2026 Chocolate Lovers Festival ran February 6 through 8. The City hasn't set 2027 dates yet and says to watch for updates. If Old Town Hall reopens on the fall 2026 schedule, the Taste of Chocolate could return to its usual venue.

If the festival has you wondering how downtown's changes affect what your Fairfax home is worth, Bobby Pichtel can walk you through it block by block. Get a free home valuation or start your DMV search. Contact Bobby today.