Celebrate everything apple with family fun at the North Carolina Apple Festival. The 2025 NC Apple Festival runs from August 29 to Sept 1 (Labor Day) in downtown Hendersonville, North Carolina. It features a fun-filled celebration of apples, local culture, and community spirit. Hendersonville is a charming town and this is awesome opportunity to get delicious apple-inspired treats, experience the exciting street fair, or the family-friendly activities, there’s something for everyone! We have been several of the previous years – but this year (2025) is the best so far. The weather was picture perfect (on the Friday when we went), not too hot, not too cool. Living in the area, we learned that Friday is more of a ‘local’s day’ and not as crowded. This year we arrived just in-time for lunch at Mezzaluna’s cafe on Main Street. Mezzaluna has both indoor and outdoor seating, great pizza, salads, and pasta.

After lunch we enjoyed a causal walk down main street, stopping to look at the vendors, buying pretty silver earnings, and getting an Apple Slushie from one of the local Apple Vendors. There was a good variety of booths with apples, crafts, jewelry, and more! We also stopped at some of our favorite local shops along Main Street including Sherman’s and the Mast General Store. We also stopped at one of the vendors for fresh churned icecream.

While the festival is all about the Apples, nother unique feature of Hendersonville’s main street are all the uniquely painted ‘Bears’. Each bear is painted by a different artist, and then they are auctioned off for charity. These bears are out for public display along Main Street, from usually May until October – and every year they are new.

This event is also a great opportunity to check out the variety of shops along Main Street, visit with family, and meet up with friends. It’s good old fashioned fun, much like people have been doing since 1946 when Hendersonville hosted the first Apple Festival. It’s a charming town and well worth taking the time to visit.

A lot of the shop windows had festive Apple Displays! The one at the Hospice Store was one of our favorites, you could sit in the chair and get a photo! And most of the shops had good sales for the festive weekend!

Colette’s Recommendation:
Plan to go on Friday, and hunt down all the painted bears. There’s lots to do in the Hendersonville area, perfect for the long holiday weekend.

Travel Tip:
While there are numerous places selling parking for the day, we would recommend the $10 all-day rate at the Hendersonville Parking Garage at the corner of Church and 5th St (and is a very central location). When planning which day to attend, check the weather first … it’s not as much fun if you go on a rainy day. Staying close by, check out the new Ecusta trail. It runs from Horseshoe, all the way into town.