What's on around Hilton Head and Bluffton in October 2026

Every date below was confirmed for 2026 with the organizer, the venue, 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 live in Bluffton, so this is my home market. 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 here this fall, the Hilton Head-Bluffton area buyer's guide covers the two counties, the bridges, the transfer fee and the flood questions that go with them.

The first weekend, October 2 to 4

The Beaufort Shrimp Festival is Friday the 2nd and Saturday the 3rd at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, and this is the 32nd year of it. Admission is free. Friday's music starts at 5:15 with Anna Barnes and continues at 7:30 with The Reflex, a Duran Duran tribute band. Saturday opens with Peach Patrol at 11:15, the Parris Island Marine Corps band at 12:30, the Rotary Shrimp Race at 2, and Willie Jackson & The Tybee Blues Band right after it. There is also a morning 5K and a children's area that runs 11 to 4 (Main Street Beaufort; City of Beaufort).

Out in Jasper County, Holiday Farms opens the Great Pumpkin Patch on the 2nd and keeps it open through the 31st, its nineteenth season. The farm is at 10884 Grays Highway in Ridgeland, and the hours are Thursdays and Fridays noon to 6, Saturdays 9 to 6 and Sundays noon to 6, closed Monday through Wednesday. Along with the pumpkins there are hay rides, a corn maze, duck races, the Haytona Speedway and cow milking (Holiday Farms).

The Lowcountry Fish & Grits Music Festival is on Saturday the 3rd, noon to 6, at Lowcountry Celebration Park on Pope Avenue. It is built around Gullah Geechee music and food, with folk, funk, jazz, spoken word and R&B on the bill and a market of clothing, art and crafts alongside it. Admission is by ticket, and the organizer's page carries the current prices (Hilton Head Island VCB; Charleston Daily).

Thursday nights at Shelter Cove, through the 15th

Music & Taste on the Harbour has three Thursdays left in its fall run: October 1, October 8 and October 15. The music is from 6 to 9 around the Neptune statue at Shelter Cove Harbour, the harbour restaurants set up with light appetizers, wine and beer, and the whole thing is free and pet friendly. Seating is limited, so a folding chair helps. The organizer asks for a canned good for the Deep Well Project at the gate (Shelter Cove Harbour & Marina; Hilton Head Island VCB).

The second weekend, October 9 and 10

Jeep Island runs Friday and Saturday on the south end of Hilton Head. Friday is a meet and greet at Lincoln and South from 5 to 7, where drivers check in and pick up a bag. Saturday is the main event at Lowcountry Celebration Park from noon to 3, with a Show and Shine, live music, a kids zone and a Slider Showdown that has more than fifteen local restaurants competing. The after party is at The Bank from 3 to 7 (Jeep Island; Hilton Head Island Chamber of Commerce).

West of the bridge, Hardeeville holds Festival on Main on the same two days at 205 Main Street, Friday from 5 to 10 and Saturday from noon to 10. The city lists live music, rides, and food and craft vendors (City of Hardeeville).

Bluffton's ten days, October 9 to 18

The Historic Bluffton Arts & Seafood Festival is in its 22nd year, and it runs ten days, October 9 through 18, at venues around Old Town. The week is built around locally harvested seafood and Lowcountry cooking, with boat tours, children's activities and gallery events mixed in (Historic Bluffton Arts & Seafood Festival; Visit Bluffton).

The last weekend is the big one. Street Fest takes over Old Town on Saturday the 17th from 10 to 5 and Sunday the 18th from 10 to 4. There is a juried fine art show of more than a hundred artists from ten different states, area restaurants cooking, and music through both days (Visit Bluffton). If you are looking at homes in Old Town, walking Calhoun Street on a festival Saturday is a good way to get a feel for that part of Bluffton.

Saturday the 17th has three things going at once

Besides Street Fest in Bluffton, two festivals land on Hilton Head that same Saturday.

The Gullah Food Festival is the 8th annual, 11 to 4 at the Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island on Georgianna Drive. It is about the island's Gullah foodways, with traditional cooking, music, cultural demonstrations, local vendors and storytelling (Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island; Hilton Head Island VCB).

The Italian Heritage Festival is the 15th annual, also 11 to 4, on the grounds at Honey Horn. The Italian American Club of Hilton Head Island puts it on, and the day includes an inflatable kids' zone, arts and crafts vendors, a silent auction, the Hilton Head Big Band and the yearly pizza eating contest. Parking on site is free and the event runs rain or shine (Culture HHI; Coastal Discovery Museum).

Farmers markets, and the ones that stay open all winter

All three of the markets below run year-round, so none of them closes for the winter, which is worth knowing if you are moving here from somewhere colder.

The Hilton Head Island Farmers Market is Tuesdays from 9 to 1 at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn, rain or shine, all year. October Tuesdays are the 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th (Coastal Discovery Museum).

The Farmers Market of Bluffton is Thursdays at Martin Family Park on Boundary Street in Old Town, and it switched back to its cool-season hours of noon to 4 in September. October Thursdays are the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th (Farmers Market of Bluffton).

The Port Royal Farmers Market is Saturdays from 9 to noon at Naval Heritage Park on Ribaut Road, rain or shine, all year, with South Carolina produce, seafood, beef, cheese, honey, flowers and live music (Visit Beaufort).

There is one more I looked at and left out. The Downtown Beaufort market runs Wednesday afternoons, and the organizer has not published its season end for 2026, so there is no date here I can stand behind.

Halloween weekend, and the Friday before it

Friday the 23rd carries two events, one on each side of the bridges.

The Town of Bluffton and the Bluffton Police Department hold the 6th Annual Safety Spooktacular at Oscar Frazier Park from 5 to 7. It is free, and it mixes trunk-or-treating, inflatables, a trunk decorating contest and costume contests across four age groups with a chance to meet the area's first responders (Town of Bluffton).

The Island Recreation Association runs its Pumpkin Patch the same evening, 4 to 7 at Shelter Cove Community Park. It is free, there is a field of pumpkins, bounce houses and games, and the children's costume contest starts at 5:45. Train rides, the rock wall and concessions are sold separately (Island Recreation Association).

Halloween itself falls on a Saturday this year. Several shopping centers and libraries here run trick-or-treat events in the last week of October, and I could not confirm a 2026 date for any of them from the venue, so none of them are listed above. The same goes for the Old Town Bluffton art walk, which galleries hold on second Fridays; no 2026 schedule has been posted, so I have left October out rather than guess it.

The symphony opens its season on the 25th

The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra opens its 2026-2027 Orchestra Series on Sunday the 25th at 4 p.m. John Morris Russell conducts, and pianist Olga Kern plays Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, the "Emperor." Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet fantasy overture is on the same program. Orchestra Series concerts are at First Presbyterian Church on William Hilton Parkway (Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra).

Two things that start in October and finish in November

Both of these do start in October, and because they run past the 31st they are not in the dated list above. They will be in next month's post instead.

Crescendo opens on October 10 and runs through November 23, its ninth year. The Town of Hilton Head Island's Office of Cultural Affairs and the Arts Council of Hilton Head build it around October's National Arts and Humanities Month. It collects exhibits, performances, tours and author events at venues all over the island (Hilton Head Island VCB).

The Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance & Motoring Festival is October 29 through November 1, and the 2026 Honored Marque is Jaguar. The showfield is the 1st and 18th fairways of Port Royal Golf Club's Planter's Row course on Sunday, November 1, with close to two hundred vehicles and seventy-five judges. The days before it carry the Aero Expo, the driving tour, the fashion awards and the collector gatherings (Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance; Hilton Head Island VCB).

If you are looking at homes on the island that week, the south end and the Port Royal Plantation area will be busier than usual, so it is worth allowing extra time to get between showings.

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).

One county question on that ballot matters to anyone buying here, and it would change a sales tax rather than a property tax. Beaufort County is asking voters to approve a 1% transportation sales tax starting in 2027, running up to nine years or until it raises $780 million, whichever comes first. The county says it would not apply to groceries, medication, gas, utilities, rent or mortgage payments. A second question on the same ballot would authorize up to $450 million in bonds if the first one passes, so the projects can start sooner (Beaufort County One Cent Sales Tax Program; Post and Courier). A similar question for $950 million over ten years failed in 2024.

I am not taking a position on it. If you want to understand how a county tax question could reach 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

Islanders Beach Park on Hilton Head is closed until next summer. The Town closed it on September 8, 2026 for the second phase of a $5.1 million upgrade, and it is scheduled to reopen June 1, 2027. The work adds more than fifty parking spaces, for a total of 187 resident spaces, 26 paid public spaces and 24 golf cart spaces, along with a new playground, better pathways and lighting, picnic areas and bike racks. It is paid for with accommodations-tax money set aside for the beaches. The Town points people to Folly Field Beach Park, Driessen Beach Park and Burke's Beach while it is closed (Town of Hilton Head Island; Post and Courier).

Bluffton has a 24-hour emergency department now. Novant Health opened a freestanding emergency department at 8 Parkside Drive, just off Buckwalter Parkway, and it began taking patients on July 21, 2026. The building is about 10,000 square feet with ten treatment rooms and a trauma room, and it is open around the clock. It is the first phase of the Washington Square Medical Park campus (Novant Health; WTOC).

Hardeeville picked up several hundred manufacturing jobs. TS Conductor opened a $134 million plant in the Hardeeville industrial district near the Port of Savannah in May 2026. The company had filled 288 positions by the opening and expects about 462 at full capacity, making advanced conductors for power grid upgrades. It is hiring machine operators, maintenance technicians and quality inspectors through readySC and SC Works (Southern Carolina Regional Development Alliance; WTOC).

A new job here changes how income gets documented on a loan file. The documents a lender reads depend on whether you are taking a salaried position or working for yourself once you arrive, so it helps to tell me which one it is early. Getting pre-approved in South Carolina covers what a lender looks at before anybody writes a letter, and self-employed mortgages in South Carolina covers the other side of that.

Common questions

Do the farmers markets around Hilton Head and Bluffton close for the winter?

No. All three of the area's main markets run year-round. Hilton Head is Tuesdays from 9 to 1 at Honey Horn, Bluffton is Thursdays at Martin Family Park, and Port Royal is Saturdays from 9 to noon at Naval Heritage Park. Bluffton's hours shift with the season, and from September through May it is noon to 4 (Coastal Discovery Museum; Farmers Market of Bluffton; Visit Beaufort).

When is the Bluffton Arts & Seafood Festival in 2026?

October 9 through 18, with the Street Fest weekend on Saturday the 17th from 10 to 5 and Sunday the 18th from 10 to 4 in Old Town (Visit Bluffton).

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).

Which of these events are in Jasper County rather than Beaufort County?

Festival on Main is in Hardeeville and the Holiday Farms pumpkin patch is in Ridgeland, and both of those are Jasper County. Everything else listed here is in Beaufort County. Which county a home is in decides its tax rates and, in some towns, whether a transfer fee is due at closing, and the Hilton Head-Bluffton area buyer's guide walks through that.

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

With which county and which town the home is in, because addresses here do not always match either one. After that, the South Carolina page covers the statewide rules, and the Bluffton page explains the property tax reset that catches people on the coast. If you're using your benefit, VA loans in South Carolina covers how Parris Island and MCAS Beaufort fit into this market.