Ellicottville Fall Festival Celebrates 50 Years
Ellicottville Fall Festival Celebrates 50 Years
Ellicottville’s biggest weekend returns October 10-11 for its 50th anniversary, bringing hundreds of vendors, new family activities, fall foliage and five decades of tradition to the village.
If you’ve spent any amount of time in Ellicottville, you know there are certain weekends that simply have a life of their own. And then there’s Fall Festival.
For one weekend every October, the sidewalks fill up, vendor tents stretch through the village streets, the hillsides are bursting with color, and thousands of people descend on Ellicottville for what has become one of Western New York’s most recognizable autumn traditions. This year, however, there’s another reason to celebrate. The Ellicottville Fall Festival turns 50.
The festival returns this Saturday and Sunday, October 10-11, marking a half-century since the tradition began. Presented by the Ellicottville Chamber of Commerce and sponsored in 2026 by Green Mountain Energy, Fall Festival has certainly changed and grown over those five decades, but the heart of the weekend remains much the same: get outside, enjoy the fall colors, wander the village, do a little shopping, eat something good, and spend the day here.
And apparently, the rest of the country has taken notice. Just ahead of its 50th anniversary, Ellicottville Fall Festival earned the #12 spot on Country Living Magazine’s list of top fall festivals in the country! Pretty impressive for our quaint little ski town in Western New York.
“For 50 years, Fall Festival has brought together families, friends, businesses, and visitors to celebrate everything that makes autumn in Ellicottville so special,” said Ellicottville Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Barb Pump.
For those who make Fall Festival an annual tradition, part of the fun is knowing what to expect, and part of it is discovering what’s new. This year, around 275 vendors will set up throughout the festival, bringing everything from handcrafted goods and artwork to clothing, gifts, specialty products, food, and lots of other things you probably didn’t know you needed. Pump said the mix includes newcomers as well as plenty of familiar faces.
“We definitely have returning vendors that not only love this event, but visitors return each year to visit their booths and grab the items they love before the holidays,” she said.
That has become a tradition in itself. For many festival-goers, Fall Fest doubles as an unofficial start to holiday shopping. Favorite vendors become annual stops, and finding that booth you remember from last October can be just as much a part of the weekend as grabbing lunch at the Food Court or popping into your favorite bar for a cold one.
Families will also find something brand new this year: the KD Kids Zone. “The kids’ area will feature a charm bar, slime bar, and Color Me shirt station, giving younger festival-goers an opportunity to get creative and bring something home from their Fall Fest adventure,” said Pump. There’s a charitable side to the business as well, with the owner donating to various organizations each holiday season to help provide gifts for children.
Of course, Fall Festival has never been contained to the village streets. Up on the hills, October provides one of the best opportunities of the year to see Ellicottville from a completely different angle. Holiday Valley’s scenic chairlift rides have become a Fall Fest favorite, carrying visitors above the trees for picture-perfect views of the surrounding hills covered in autumn color.
Over at HoliMont, mountain bikers can trade the crowded sidewalks for the trails and squeeze a little adventure into their Fall Fest weekend. Between the village and the slopes, visitors can easily make an entire day (or weekend) out of exploring Ellicottville.
And with 50 years now in the history books, there’s a little extra memorabilia to take home this time around. Special 50th Anniversary Fall Festival posters and apparel will be available at the Studio 4 East booths located between The Gin Mill and Mud, Sweat & Gears. For anyone who has been coming to Fall Fest for years, it’s a chance to bring home a piece of this milestone weekend.
“To reach this milestone anniversary and receive national recognition as one of the country’s top fall festivals is an incredible honor,” Pump said. “We are grateful to our community, sponsors, volunteers, and visitors who have helped make Fall Festival a tradition for generations.”
This weekend, the tents will go up once again. The sidewalks will fill. The chairlifts will carry sightseers above the fall foliage. Familiar vendors will welcome familiar customers, while first-time visitors try to figure out just how they’re going to see everything in one day.
