What's on around Charleston in October 2026

Every date below was confirmed for 2026 with the organizer, the city or the county, and anything I could only find on a previous year's listing was left out of this post.

I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, a mortgage broker licensed in South Carolina through C2 Financial Corporation, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. I work out of Bluffton, in Beaufort County. What follows is public information, cited beside the date it came from, and it was checked on September 24, 2026. If you're looking at homes in the area this fall, the Charleston area buyer's guide covers the three counties, the tax rules and the flood questions that go with them.

The first weekend, October 2 to 4

Friday the 2nd has two things going at once. The Charleston Gallery Association's First Friday ArtWalk runs from 5 to 8 p.m. through the French Quarter galleries, and it happens on the first Friday of every month apart from January and July (Charleston Gallery Association). The same evening, the City of North Charleston holds its third annual Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Park Circle Community Building. The city lists food vendors, an art market, live music from the Marcel Portilla Band and dance demonstrations by Holy City Salsa Dance Studio (City of North Charleston).

Saturday the 3rd is the crowded one, and the four events on it are spread across four different parts of the area. Mermaids & Mateys takes over Center Street on Folly Beach from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with live music, a costume contest and more than eighty art and craft vendors (Visit Folly Beach). Summerville Oktoberfest runs on Hutchinson Square in downtown Summerville, and the town closes Little Main, part of West Richardson and part of West Doty for it (Town of Summerville). Goose Creek's Fall Festival is at the Daning Amphitheater from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the city added fair-style rides this year (City of Goose Creek). Out on Johns Island, Charleston County Parks debuts the Mullet Haul n' Hustle, which is a marathon relay, a half marathon, a 5K and a kids' dash on the trails at Johns Island County Park (Charleston County Parks).

Sunday the 4th brings the Latin American Festival to Wannamaker County Park in North Charleston, from noon to 5 p.m., with merengue, bachata and salsa music, folk arts and crafts, dance performances and food (Charleston County Parks; WCBD).

Live music

Riverfront Revival returns to Riverfront Park in North Charleston on October 9 and 10, its fifth year. Darius Rucker puts it on with SRE Entertainment, and the 2026 lineup includes Old Dominion, Nelly, BigXthaPlug, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Gavin Adcock, Charles Wesley Godwin and the Gullah Collective (ABC News 4).

The Palmetto Park Jam follows on Sunday the 11th at Palmetto Islands County Park in Mount Pleasant. Gates open at 11 a.m., the Novatones play at noon, and the Allman Brothers tribute band Idlewild Revival goes on at 1:30 p.m. The music runs until 4:30 (Charleston County Parks).

Up in Goose Creek, the city has country singer Avery Anna at the Joseph S. Daning Amphitheater on Saturday the 17th. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the show runs from 6 to 9 (City of Goose Creek).

Tours, and the month-long one downtown

The Preservation Society of Charleston runs its Fall Tours across the whole month, October 1 through 31, and this is the fiftieth year of them. The schedule mixes walking tours with tours inside private homes and gardens downtown (Preservation Society of Charleston). If you're new to the peninsula, walking it with somebody who knows the architecture is a reasonable way to spend an afternoon. It is the quickest way to see why the homes on one block look nothing like the homes four blocks over.

Farmers markets, and when each one closes

October is when most of the area's markets finish for the year, so the closing dates matter more than the opening ones.

The West Ashley Farmers Market at Ackerman Park is on Wednesdays from 3 to 7 p.m., and October 14 is the last one of the regular season. The city then holds a separate Thanksgiving Market at the same park on Sunday, November 22 (City of Charleston).

The North Charleston Farmers Market is on Thursdays from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Park Circle Pavilion, with a different food truck each week and live music from 5 to 7. Its 2026 season ends October 29 (City of North Charleston).

The Charleston Farmers Market at Marion Square keeps going past October. Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the city's season runs through November 21 (City of Charleston).

Two more worth knowing about. The Summerville Farmers Market is on Saturdays behind Town Hall on South Main Street and runs into mid-November, though the organizer has not published an exact closing date for 2026, so I have left it out of the list above. The Mount Pleasant market on Coleman Boulevard is a Tuesday market that the town schedules April through September, so it has already wrapped for the year (Experience Mount Pleasant).

Fall festivals and Halloween

Halloween in the Swamp at Cypress Gardens in Moncks Corner expanded to two weekends this year, October 15 and 16 and then October 23 and 24, running 7:30 to 11:30 each night. Berkeley County says tickets go on sale October 1 and have to be bought online ahead of time, with none sold at the gate. The Haunted Swamp Experience is a boat ride followed by a walking trail, and the county recommends it for ages 12 and up (Berkeley County).

The North Charleston Harvest Festival, in its thirteenth year, is Saturday October 17 from 4 to 7 p.m. along East Montague Avenue in the Olde Village. The city lists an artist market, live music from High Tide, costume contests, a petting zoo and trick-or-treating along the street from 4 to 6 for children 12 and under (City of North Charleston).

The Mount Pleasant Children's Day Festival is Sunday October 18 from noon to 5 p.m. at the Park West Recreation Complex, its thirty-eighth year. The town runs shuttles from Cario Middle School and from Charles Pinckney and Laurel Hill (Experience Mount Pleasant).

Charleston Beerfest is Saturday October 24 at Riverfront Park in North Charleston, with more than seventy-five breweries, The Stone Foxes headlining, and proceeds going to Palmetto Community Care. It is a 21-and-over event (Charleston Beerfest).

The Moncks Corner Halloween Festival, its fifteenth, is Wednesday October 28 from 5:30 p.m. on Main Street and at Unity Park (Town of Moncks Corner).

On Halloween itself, Trick, Treat and Trail is at Wannamaker County Park in North Charleston. Treat bags go out from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the trail course opens at 10:30, the costume contest is at noon, and everything closes at 1 p.m. (Charleston County Parks).

Two more things run in October and keep going into November, which is why they are not in the dated list above and will appear in next month's post instead. The Coastal Carolina Fair opens Thursday October 29 at Exchange Park in Ladson and runs eleven days through November 8 (Explore Charleston). The Boone Hall Pumpkin Patch in Mount Pleasant is open on select Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from September 25 through November 1, with its own entrance off North Highway 17 rather than the Long Point Road gate (Boone Hall Plantation).

Voting in October

Early voting for the November 3 general election runs October 19 through October 31. Centers are open 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and are closed on Sunday, October 25. Any registered South Carolina voter can vote early without giving a reason, at any early voting center in the county where they are registered, with an accepted photo ID (South Carolina Election Commission).

Two county questions on that ballot matter to anyone buying here, because both would change a sales tax rather than a property tax. Charleston County is asking voters to extend its transportation sales tax program, which the county projects at about $4.25 billion over twenty-five years across roads, transit and the Greenbelt (Charleston County). Dorchester County is asking about a 1% education capital improvements sales tax for up to fifteen years, split 85% to School District Two and 15% to District Four, with groceries exempt (Dorchester County). North Charleston is holding a public information meeting on the Charleston County question on Tuesday October 28 at 5 p.m. (ABC News 4).

I am not taking a position on either one. If you're buying in Dorchester County and trying to understand how a school tax question could touch your monthly payment, the mechanics are in how escrow accounts work and in what happens to property taxes after you buy.

What changed around the area this year

Fort Pemberton Park opened on James Island. It is 8.7 waterfront acres at 221 Yates Avenue in Riverland Terrace, on the Stono River, with a fishing dock, a kayak launch, walking paths and a picnic shelter. The city bought the land in 2019 with Greenbelt money, and it is open to the public now for the first time (Charleston City Paper).

The Main Library at 68 Calhoun Street is closing for an eighteen-month renovation, the last phase of the building program voters approved in 2014. Charleston County Public Library has leased a temporary location at 1142 Morrison Drive on the upper peninsula, which will offer checkouts, holds, public computers and Wi-Fi (Charleston County Public Library).

Boeing is building out its North Charleston site. The company broke ground in November 2025 on a second 787 final-assembly building of about 1.2 million square feet, and says it expects more than a thousand new jobs over five years (Boeing). In August 2026 it agreed with the U.S. Department of Labor to roughly double its registered apprenticeship program there, from about 500 apprentices to more than a thousand within two years (Live 5 News).

A new job offer or an apprenticeship start date changes how income gets documented on a loan file. The documents a lender asks for depend on whether you are taking a salaried position or going out on your own once you get here, so it helps to say which one it is early. The South Carolina page covers the state-level rules, and getting pre-approved in South Carolina covers what a lender reads before anybody writes a letter.

Common questions

When is the last farmers market of the season around Charleston?

It depends which one. West Ashley's last regular Wednesday is October 14, North Charleston's last Thursday is October 29, and the Marion Square market keeps going on Saturdays through November 21 (City of Charleston; City of North Charleston).

When does early voting start in South Carolina for the November 3, 2026 election?

October 19, and it runs through October 31. Centers are open 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday October 25, and you can use any early voting center in your own county with an accepted photo ID (South Carolina Election Commission).

What is happening around Charleston on Halloween weekend 2026?

Halloween falls on a Saturday. Trick, Treat and Trail runs that morning at Wannamaker County Park in North Charleston, and the Coastal Carolina Fair is already open in Ladson, having started on October 29 (Charleston County Parks; Explore Charleston).

Are any of these events outside Charleston County?

Several are. Halloween in the Swamp and the Moncks Corner Halloween Festival are both in Berkeley County, the Goose Creek Fall Festival and the Avery Anna show are in Berkeley County as well, and Summerville Oktoberfest is mostly in Dorchester County. Which county a home is in changes its tax bill and its school district, and the Charleston area buyer's guide walks through that.

I am moving here from out of state. Where should I start?

With which county the home is in. Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties set different tax rates and different school districts, and several towns here cross county lines, so a mailing address will not tell you. After that, the South Carolina page covers the statewide rules, and if you're using a VA loan, VA loans in South Carolina covers how Joint Base Charleston and the Beaufort installations fit into this market. I work out of Bluffton and the Bluffton page explains the tax reset that catches people on the coast, which works the same way in Charleston County.