Apple Festival weekends in Ellijay: the free Apple Arts Festival downtown vs the $10 fairgrounds festival

“Going to the Apple Festival” in Ellijay can mean two different places in the same town. One is the big ticketed festival at the fairgrounds on South Main Street. The other is a free festival downtown, by the square. They run on the same October weekends, and a lot of visitors only learn about the second one when they walk into it.

This is how the two lined up in 2026. The 2026 festival is over: it ran October 10-11 and 17-18. Dates for 2027 haven’t been published yet, so check the organizers before you plan.

The two festivals side by side

The Georgia Apple Festival at the fairgrounds

The 2026 event was the 55th Annual Georgia Apple Festival. According to the organizer’s FAQ, it is held on the second and third weekends of October at the Ellijay Lions Club Fairgrounds, 1729 South Main Street. That’s south of downtown, not on the square.

The organizer’s home page describes two weekends of hundreds of vendors selling handmade and hand-crafted goods, on-site demonstrations, live music and fair food. The Chamber’s calendar listing says “over 250 vendors.” The festival started as a small arts and crafts show and is named for the apples ripening in local orchards.

The vendor rules are what make it a craft festival rather than a flea market. Every item has to be handmade, handcrafted or grown by the artist, the artist has to be there, and wholesale resale and multi-level-marketing goods aren’t allowed. Applications are juried.

The practical rules, all from the organizer:

• Admission is $10 per person, and children 12 and under get in free. The Chamber’s calendar says “under 12,” but the organizer’s own wording is “12 and under,” and that’s the one we follow.
• Tickets are always available at the gate.
• No pets. Service animals are allowed, but no animals of any kind can ride the shuttle buses, a school policy (the Chamber says the buses must stay allergen-free for school use). The organizer asks visitors with service animals to be dropped at the gate before parking.
• The festival runs rain or shine, is smoke-free and bans weapons.
• It doesn’t rent wheelchairs or scooters, and handicap parking is first come, first served.

The Apple Arts Festival downtown

The Chamber calls the Apple Arts Festival the Georgia Apple Festival’s downtown “sister festival.” It’s held on the same weekends at the Downtown Ellijay Welcome Center, 10 Broad St., and it’s free, pet-friendly and accessible, with arts and crafts vendors and food. The city’s Downtown Development Authority lists “Apple Arts on the Square” among the events it helps with.

One loose end: the hours. The Chamber’s calendar listed 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for October 17-18, a downtown directory listed 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the Chamber’s own description and the main festival’s FAQ say the downtown festival keeps “the same days and times” as the fairgrounds festival. If the opening hour matters to you, call the Chamber at 706-635-7400.

The downtown festival is the better fit if you have a dog with you, don’t want to pay admission, or want to pair a few craft booths with lunch and the shops around the square. See our downtown restaurants page for where to eat.

Parking and the shuttle

The Chamber’s parking page lists paid lots around Ellijay with a free shuttle to the festival:

• Downtown Ellijay (Hipp Street)
• Gilmer County Head Start, 305 Calvin Jackson Dr.
• Mountain View Elementary, 350 Calvin Jackson Dr.
• Gilmer High School, 408 Bobcat Trail
• Larry Walker Education Center, 1860 South Main St. (handicap parking with an accessible shuttle)

Lots within walking distance of the festival are the Ellijay Lions Club (1729 South Main St.), Gilmer County Parks & Rec (2150 Old Hwy 5), the Gilmer County Civic Center (1561 South Main St.), Gilmer County Parks & Rec (1361 South Main St.) and River Gate Parking (Soccer Field Rd, East Ellijay). Visitors with service animals should use these, since service animals can’t ride the shuttle.

Local community organizations run the lots, and fees vary by lot. The Chamber says cash is preferred, lots fill quickly and traffic patterns can change without showing up in map apps. No per-lot prices are published.

The Hipp Street shuttle lot is the only downtown parking named in any official source we found. Outside the festival, neither the city nor the DDA publishes a downtown parking page, so we can’t tell you where to park on an ordinary day.

Doing both on one Saturday

If you want both festivals in a day, the simplest plan from these sources is to park at the downtown Hipp Street lot, browse the Apple Arts Festival and the square, then ride the free shuttle to the fairgrounds. Leave the dog at home if the fairgrounds are on your list, because it can’t go in or ride the bus.

Two things around town close for the festival. The Gilmer County Historical Society’s Tabor House History Museum at 138 Spring Street was closed October 10 and 17, 2026, so its volunteers could attend. And the festival’s kickoff race, the Apple Festival 5K and 1-Mile, was held the morning of October 10, 2026, presented by the Ellijay Lions Club, according to a downtown event listing.

Apples beyond the festival

The orchards keep going after the festival. The Gilmer Chamber says the county harvests over 22 apple varieties from June through November. U-pick seasons vary by orchard, so check the orchard before you drive out.

What about 2027?

Neither organizer has published 2027 dates. The organizer’s FAQ describes the Georgia Apple Festival as a second- and third-weekend-of-October event, but treat that as a pattern, not a date. No parade date or route was published for 2026 either. General questions go to the Gilmer Chamber at (706) 635-7400 or info@gilmerchamber.com, which the festival’s contact page lists. We’ll add 2027 dates to our events calendar once the organizers post them.

Questions people ask

Written by the Downtown Ellijay Editorial Team. AI tools help us draft; people check every fact before it publishes.

Dates, hours and fees change. For anything official, the city has the final word: City of Ellijay official site