The Atwood Area Fall Festival is held at the Atwood Lake Campgrounds with over 100 crafters and exhibitors, live music and shows at multiple stages, food, Mountain Men, an antique engine show and more.
2024 DATE: October 4-6, 2024
Location: Atwood Lake Campgrounds
9500 Lakeview Rd
Mineral City, OH 44656
Website: https://www.atwoodfallfest.org/
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This post documents my experience on October 8, 2023.
Festival Structure
The Atwood Area Fall Festival takes place at the Atwood Lake Campgrounds where there is an admission charge per person.
Nearest the parking area, visitors can find attractions that include an antique engine show, a mountain man encampment and a large car show on Sunday. Another area of the festival grounds is where guests can find a large craft vendor area with more attractions, food and entertainment.
There is shuttle service available.
A second festival, the Three Sisters Intertribal Pow Wow, takes place alongside the Atwood Area Fall Festival but is a separate festival. You can read about that festival at https://ohiofestivals.net/three-sisters-intertribal-pow-wow-ohio
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Festival Attractions and Entertainment
From the moment you got out of the car, there were things to see…
…including a rather large car show (on Sunday)…
…with all sorts of interesting cars…
…an antique engine show…
…and a Mountain Men encampment…
…which held demonstrations and informative discussions.
From there, you needed to either catch a shuttle…
…or take the trail by foot…
…to get to the main festival area…
…where over 100 crafters and exhibitors awaited…
…along with various stages offering gospel music, comedy hypnotists…
…and some great classic rock tributes (Eclipse).
There was also a designated kids’ area with a climbing tower, inflatables…
…a petting area…
…skunks…
…and a chance to get up close with some hides and taxidermized critters at Division of Wildlife exhibit.
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Vendors
Vendors lined the paths near Atwood Lake…
…and could be found inside designated tents…
…offering ways to decorate your walls…
…your lawn…
…the geese on your lawn…
…and even yourself.
Along with the decor, crafter offerings included license plate bird houses, handmade brooms for kitchens and witches…
…custom wood products and hand crafted marble board games.
Some even offered treats that you could eat…
…and smell.
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Food
While it seemed that there were some traditional food vendors at the festival offering beer battered fish and bourbon chicken…
…many food stations with assorted menus seemed to be run by either fire departments…
…churches (with a potato bar)…
…or local organizations…
…and there was pretty much everything from BBQ to all sorts of pies and dumplings.
But I will say that, by 2 o’clock, many food items were sold out and the lines for those with food got rather long. So plan accordingly before it’s too late.
Fortunately for me, I found the fried strawberry table…
…and this sweet orb of deliciousness…
…helped get me through the rest of the festival.