Unicoi County Apple Festival
- Dates
- Expected October 2027
- Status
- Expected
- Venue
- To be announced
- Price
- Free
- Camping
- None on site
- Last checked
- Aug 31, 2026
Unicoi County Apple Festival's 2027 dates haven't been announced yet. The last festival was 2 October 2026 in Erwin, TN. Froligo tracks free-entry details, attendee feedback and travel details.
What to eat & drink
Use the apple-cooking contest as the tasting compass, beginning with pies and the year’s most inventive sweet entry.
You must try…
- A homemade apple pie from the cooking-contest tradition
- A creative apple sweet from the current contest
- A current food-vendor apple specialty
Festival weekend in pictures
The people, producers and atmosphere around the festival.
Watch before you taste
Food tours, crowd favourites and festival highlights.
The experience
What's special
Erwin’s six-block Appalachian fall celebration draws a vast crowd with more than 400 vendors, two music stages, crafts, family activity and an apple-cooking contest
What people love
The event connects contemporary festival scale to regional agricultural heritage and small-town hospitality in a mountain setting
Music & entertainment
Lineup not yet announced. Email me the day it lands.
Getting there
How do I get to Unicoi County Apple Festival?
By car
Most people drive to Unicoi County Apple Festival. Check current road and traffic conditions before you set off, and see parking below.
By train
No direct passenger rail to the venue was found. Drive, fly in, or use a shuttle instead.
By bus & public transit
No scheduled intercity bus or public transit route to the venue was found. Drive, fly in, or use a shuttle instead.
Taxi & rideshare
Rideshare operates in the Tri-Cities region but driver supply is thin in this rural market, and TRI has no taxi stand (schedule ahead). Confirm availability, especially for a return trip, rather than assuming an on-demand pickup for the ~36 mi airport-to-Erwin run
Book / info →Taxis and rideshare such as Uber and Lyft can be limited near the venue, especially late at night or in rural areas. Agree a pickup point and time in advance and keep a backup plan.
🅿 Parking
On site parking available. Per the festival FAQ, multiple parking lots throughout downtown Erwin surround the festival, a mix of free and fee-based; many fee lots are run by civic organizations at nominal prices, and the festival doesn't control those lots or their pricing. This is a very popular regional festival drawing large crowds to a small downtown, so the closest lots fill early, arrive early or expect to walk in from a farther lot. No official festival shuttle is mentioned
🚙 Car hire
Compare car hire
The primary option for fly-in attendees: TRI (~36 mi) has no transit or airport shuttle and rideshare supply is thin out here, so a hire car covers both the airport-to-Erwin leg and getting between an Erwin/Johnson City hotel and the downtown festival across the weekend
Search car hire →Live price search coming soon.
Where
Camping & Accommodation
Where can I stay near Unicoi County Apple Festival?
No on site camping. Here is where to stay nearby.
Budget stays 1
Off I-26 in Erwin, a few minutes' drive from downtown
≈ $70-105 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Check rates →Mid-range hotels 2
Off I-26 in Erwin, ~2 mi from the downtown festival footprint (~5 min drive). Free WiFi, seasonal outdoor pool
≈ $95-140 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Check rates →In Johnson City, ~16 mi / ~20 min north of Erwin via I-26. Full range of chain amenities
≈ $130-175 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Check rates →Luxe hotels 1
In Johnson City near ETSU, ~16 mi / ~20-25 min north of Erwin. Historic-style full-service hotel with spa
≈ $180-250 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Check rates →Airbnb & private camping
Erwin and the surrounding Unicoi County / Nolichucky River area have a good spread of cabins, riverside cottages, and mountain homes on Airbnb, an appealing fit for this Appalachian festival, and often nicer than the limited in-town hotel stock. Because this is the region's biggest annual event drawing large crowds, book well ahead: local lodging tightens sharply on festival weekend. Link points to the Erwin Airbnb search
Search Airbnb →This stretch of the Appalachians is strong Hipcamp country, riverside and mountain private-land sites cluster around the Nolichucky River, the Cherokee National Forest, and the Appalachian Trail corridor near Erwin, a genuinely scenic camping alternative to a hotel for outdoorsy attendees (a car is essential). Link points to the Tennessee statewide Hipcamp directory; filter to the Erwin / Unicoi County area
Search Hipcamp →Accessibility & comfort
What the organiser or venue publishes about getting around, and what they do not.
Checked unicoicountyapplefestival.com homepage, /festival/, /festival/faq/ and /contact/ on 3 Sep 2026. No accessibility page or statement, no ADA, wheelchair, accessible parking, accessible toilet, viewing, companion ticket, interpretation or quiet space information, and no description of the street surface. The FAQ says only that service animals are allowed, that admission is free, that the festival runs 8am to 8pm on 2 and 3 October in downtown Erwin, and that parking lots around downtown are run by civic clubs, non profits, churches and school groups for a nominal fee and are not managed by the festival, so accessible parking cannot be confirmed from the site. No email address is published. The only contact routes are the phone number 423-743-3000 for the Unicoi County Chamber of Commerce at 100 S Main Ave, Erwin, and the web form at unicoicountyapplefestival.com/contact/
Confirm your specific needs with the organiser's access team before you travel.
Pricing
Watch
Daytime LIVE at the 48th annual Unicoi County Apple Festival-Part 2, WJHL on YouTube
Got fresher info? Tell us, a real person checks every tip, and we love fresh info.