Downtown Gastonia turns into one big backyard party this Saturday as the city's Annual Fall Festival takes over Rotary Centennial Pavilion and the surrounding blocks from 3 to 7 p.m. Expect live music, food trucks, children's activities and vendors spread across the pavilion grounds and downtown streets, all free to attend.
The City of Gastonia hosts the festival. The pavilion sits at 107 N. South Street in downtown Gastonia. The festival includes a beer garden and children's activities.
Open Containers Allowed Along Main Avenue
Because the festival falls inside Gastonia's Downtown Social District, visitors 21 and older can carry approved alcoholic drinks in designated cups along Main Avenue between CaroMont Health Park and Broad Street. The social district was created in April 2023 and was designed to boost foot traffic for downtown merchants, as reported by WCNC.
Downtown has designated free parking zones.
A Growing City Leans on Downtown Events
The festival takes place amid downtown development and investment.
Getting downtown just got easier, too. Earlier this month, the city opened a 0.7-mile extension of the Highland Branch Greenway linking Rankin Lake Park directly to downtown and the Highland Rail Trail, as Hoodline reported, giving pedestrians a new route into the festival footprint.
Downtown Dining in Flux
The festival also arrives during a transition period for downtown dining. Ray's Country Smokehouse & Grill, a 60-year-old staple on South Broad Street, closed its doors for good on October 3 after operating there since 1997, as Hoodline previously reported.
The Fall Festival is an anchor event on Gaston County's autumn calendar. It will be followed by Christmas in the City on December 6, which brings the Gaston County Jaycees Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting to the same corner of downtown. The Lincoln County Apple Festival in Lincolnton gives visitors across Gaston and neighboring counties another fall option.
