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Fall Into Festival Fun: 7 Can't Miss Events in Pensacola

Fall may be the best time of the year to visit Pensacola. Our calendar packed full of festivals, food and fun, and the weather is some of the most beautiful of the year — warm enough to enjoy the sun, sand and surf, but not so hot that you're longing to get back into the air conditioning.

But if the climate isn’t enough to sway you, the stellar array of entertainment options surely will. Here are some of the events you won’t want to miss.

Pensacola Interstate Fair

For 11 days across October and November, the Pensacola Interstate Fairgrounds are awash in color, lights and music. The midway roars to life for the return of the Pensacola Interstate Fair. For more than 90 years, families have flocked to the fair for good, old-fashioned entertainment including dozens of rides on the Reithoffer Midway, games of skill and chance, livestock exhibits and auctions, arts and crafts shows, live entertainment and the ever-popular fair food delicacies.

The Pensacola Interstate Fair is well known for bringing talented musical acts to its open-air stage. Some of the acts who’ve performed over the past several years include Trace Adkins, Sugar Ray, Smashmouth, Bret Michaels, Little Richard, Morris Day & the Time, Candlebox, and Lady Antebellum. You can expect a wide variety of artists to take the stage — all included with your fair admission.

Foo Foo Fest

Pensacola invites you to “Vacation Artfully” during the annual Foo Foo Festival. This 12-day event features a wide variety of cultural and artistic activities throughout the community. Each year, our community is graced with a variety of seasonal that typically includes concerts, art exhibits, interactive experiences and much more.

The Foo Foo Festival is anchored by long-running festivals on the weekend including the Blue Angels Homecoming Airshow, the Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival, and Pensacola Eggfest. Watch www.foofoofest.com for complete event listings and more information as it becomes available.

Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival


In Early November, Pensacola’ hosts a juried fine arts show featuring art booths all over the downtown historic district: the Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival. Along with hundreds of amazing artists who compete in the show, the event celebrates the arts in all forms, including musical, dance and theater performances, heritage arts and crafts, kids activities and a kids art show, and more. If you can only get to one arts festival, this is the one you should make time for.

Blue Angels Homecoming Show

The roar of the engines, the streamers of smoke, every formation in perfect symmetry. The U.S. Navy’s elite flight demonstration squad, the Blue Angels, returns to its home base in Pensacola each fall for a spectacular homecoming show that draws aviation fans in droves to the base for two days of thrills.

Frank Brown International Songwriter’s Festival

The Frank Brown International Songwriter’s Festival has become one of the nation’s premier songwriter showcases. This event brings songwriters from across the country down to the Gulf Coast to share their original works and the stories behind them, including some of the most famous songs they’ve written for your favorite performers.

With performances scattered across multiple Pensacola and Perdido Key venues, the festival will have the entire Pensacola Bay Area swaying to the sounds of live music.

Spooky Season Events

There are several ways to get into the spooky spirit in Pensacola. A haunted tour is a great way to get into the fall spirit. Whether you prefer donning costumes, embarking on family trick-or-treating adventures, exploring haunted locales, or simply having a spooktacular time, Pensacola offers a plethora of thrilling opportunities to indulge your Halloween spirit.

Explore Spooky Season Events

in Pensacola this year

Pensacola Beach Songwriter’s Festival

Pensacola Beach will be alive with the sounds of original music performed by the folks who wrote the tunes during the first two weekends of October. With a decade under its belt, the Pensacola Beach Songwriter’s Festival has become a treasured annual favorite, offering performances at nearly two dozen beachside bars, restaurants and other attractions. Attendees can expect to hear the stories behind great music while enjoying some of the best weather of the year.

Julio Diaz

Author

Julio Diaz

Julio Diaz is a freelance journalist with more than 20 years experience covering events, music, movies, food and pop culture, including more than 12 years as Entertainment Editor with the Pensacola News Journal. He is the host of Let’s Go, Pensacola, a weekly entertainment and events show on NewsRadio 92.3; the host of the Pensacola Movie Club; and the curator of the Merrill Movie Museum, one of the country’s most impressive collections of screen-used movie props and memorabilia. Those projects, as well as Pensacola's active nerd culture and hospitality scenes, have made Pensacola his home.

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