Fall is one of my favorite times of year. The heat finally begins to break, making way for cool autumn breezes. The trees transform into spectacularly vibrant colors, and you can finally start cozying up in jackets and sweaters. It’s the calm before the storm of the holiday season and the perfect time to gather with friends and family to make new memories and try new things. Here in Winston Salem, there are plenty of autumnal experiences to enjoy with the entire family. Here are a few of the best Winston-Salem fall activities for you to try this year!
Have Fun With The Whole Family At These Winston-Salem Fall Activities
Old Salem
Old Salem Museum & Gardens is a historic site that invites the community in to learn the stories of some of Winston Salem’s residents, including Moravian, Black, and Indigenous peoples. Featuring architecture, furniture, artwork, and other items from eras gone by, you can learn a little about what life in Salem used to be like. On Saturdays in the fall, as the leaves change and the smell of hearth fires burning fills the streets, you can visit Old Salem to interact with historic tradespeople! They demonstrate their crafts while you learn about the process of harvesting and processing food before winter. It’s an experience as educational as it is entertaining! So everyone in the family will feel the cozy spirit of fall!
Carolina Classic Fair Winston-Salem Fall Activities
There’s nothing like a good ol’ fashioned county fair! So, the Carolina Classic Fair represents everyone’s favorite parts about going to the fair. From the food (think fried Oreos, funnel cakes, turkey legs, and all the other indulgences) to the rides (like ferris wheels, carnival swings, and plenty of others that will make your stomach drop) to the live entertainment, it’s a great way to experience a day (or evening!) at the fair. Be sure to check out all of their competitions, too, to see who has the best livestock, produce, artwork, baked goods, and more!
Alpha & Omega Corn Maze
Alpha & Omega is a beautiful family-owned property that was created to bring Winston-Salem families together and celebrate the joys of agriculture and fall activities. While the epic corn maze is at the heart of the farm, there’s also a variety of other activities to enjoy with the whole family! Try your hand at axe throwing, or take a ride on the Corn Cob Express. Take in some live music, feed adorable farm animals, or delight in a pony ride or a horse-drawn carriage ride. When you get hungry, stop by the Alpha & Omega Barn Grill for a delicious snack or meal to refuel before you go explore the rest of what Alpha & Omega has to offer!
Jones Strawberry Farm
Don’t be misled by the name; Jones Strawberry Farm isn’t just about strawberries. Family-owned and operated by Orval and Sylvia Jones, they brought a vision to life in 2021 when they created their 5-acre corn maze and pumpkin patch. The maze itself is considered to be quite challenging and can take around 30 to 45 minutes to complete. As the sun starts to set, be sure to bring your flashlight! Then, once you’ve tackled the maze, be sure to check out their other attractions, like hay rides, sack races, a football toss, and pumpkin tic tac toe, among others!
Apple Picking
Apple picking is an autumnal pastime and one that truly marks that fall has arrived! Whether you’re planning to bake, dehydrate, brew, or eat your apples fresh, there’s nothing like taking home a basket of apples that you’ve picked yourself. Many of the apple-picking farms around Winston-Salem also include retail spaces with plenty of delicious, made-from-scratch baked goods, jams, and other products, and some even feature plenty of other fall-related activities to keep the entire family entertained. Check out our blog on our favorite places for apple picking in Winston Salem here!
Wicked Whimsies
For some people, fall is all about pumpkin spice, cozy sweaters, and football Sundays. For others, it’s all about the spooks, scares, and everything creepy in between. Wicked Whimsies is a haunted trail with plenty of dark, hidden secrets and evil just waiting to jump out and scare the living daylights out of you. Face the truth of the fairy tales you learn as a child as you wander through the forest…That being said, if haunted experiences aren’t really your thing, check out the nights they offer Whimsies Jr., a slightly less scary adventure, and Lil’ Whimsies, a kid-friendly experience with no scares whatsoever.
Armstrong Artisan Farm
At its heart, Armstrong Artisan Farm is a family-owned agricultural organization dedicated to sustainable and humane farming. In order to share their love and passion for their animals and farmland, they have now grown to include a fantastic Corn Maze and Fall Festival! Open every Saturday in September and October, your Winston-Salem family can enjoy fall activities, hayrides, apple cannons, a pick-your-own-pumpkin patch, bounce houses, live music, ice cream, horse-drawn wagon rides, and SO much more!! Be sure to check out their incredible sunflower fields for some epic family photos or to pick a few stems to bring home with you!
Tanglewood Stables
Located in the historic Tanglewood Park at the Tanglewood Stables, home to privately boarded horses as well as Tanglewood Stables’ own horses used for their hay rides, trail rides, and riding lessons. In the fall, take a hayride out to the pumpkin patch, where you can pick your own perfect pumpkin for the season! Take lots of pictures amidst pumpkins, hay bales, scarecrows, and other fall decor, and be sure to enjoy every moment of your special hayride!
Winston-Salem Fall Activities
Whether you’re looking to pick apples or pumpkins, explore a challenging corn maze, enjoy a nostalgic corndog, or have the pants scared off of you, there are plenty of ways to appreciate Winston Salem in all of its glory throughout the fall. I hope you’ll check out some of these Winston-Salem fall activities, and let me know which one your family loves best!
Fall is our absolute favorite time of year! Nothing beats the colors and flavors of this season! Except maybe Christmas? But luckily, as a photographer, fall is the perfect time for your family Christmas card photos! So I get to have Christmas fun early! So, reach out today to set up your seasonal family photo session!
