Fall signals a set change, a transition from summertime wildflowers to red, gold, and orange foliage unfolding overhead. But what if you’re not ready to trade the floral for the arboreal? You’d like to have your zinnias and your sweetgums, too. If you want to give fall its flowers, you’re not alone.
“Fall is for dahlias,” Devery Bellingham says, who owns of Aurora Flora, a pick-your-own flower farm in Mooresville. “No two seasons are the same, and that’s what I love about having a seasonal farm. There are always new varieties.”
Bellingham opened her farm in 2023. Her original inspiration was Floret Flowers, a farm in Washington state she read about in a 2018 issue of Magnolia Journal. Still working as an educator at the time, Bellingham started her small-scale version with a 32-square-foot garden in Lubbock, Texas, where she and her family lived.
Flowers don’t end with the summer months — at Aurora Flora, you can gather beautiful blooms well into autumn. Photography courtesy of Visit Mooresville
When Bellingham and her family moved to Iredell County from Texas in 2022, she saw an opportunity to live out a dream. She bought a 32,000-square-foot parcel on Judas Road, named it for her daughter, and sowed it with 20 types of flowers. Fall varieties include the aforementioned dahlias, amaranths, sunflowers, plume and crested celosias, zinnias, and strawflowers. “I always knew I wanted it to be a you-pick farm because I wanted people to come and be immersed in nature,” Bellingham says. “The idea was that people could find connection with nature, family, and friends.”
Opportunities to connect with nature and spend time with loved ones set the theme for things to do throughout the year in Mooresville. As summer paves the way for fall, add the following activities to your seasonal itinerary — and don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers along the way.
From farms to festivals, markets to music, cozy autumn days spent around Lake Norman or downtown flow into lively nights. Just north of Charlotte, Mooresville is the perfect place to enjoy a fall weekend all season long.
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Take a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch at Carrigan Farms. Photography courtesy of Visit Mooresville
Plenty of roadside and churchyard stands bring pumpkins closer to people. But for four decades now, Carrigan Farms has been bringing people to the pumpkins.
Beginning September 27, Carrigan visitors pile in for a tractor-pulled hayride to the pumpkin patch, and along the way, they hear from the farmers themselves about seeding the fields in early summer, welcoming pollinators when flowers bloom, and then keeping irrigation steady as the pumpkins grow in September and October.
“Our big concept is to bring people out to see how their food grows,” Terrell Chestnutt says, who leads marketing for Carrigan Farms. “Farming is technical and scientific, and we like to show people that.”
William Carrigan, the youngest in the fifth-generation farming family who grows the pumpkins, says customers can expect an even bigger variety of types, colors, shapes, and sizes in the patch this year. And pumpkins aren’t the only fall essential at Carrigan: Apple cider doughnuts and slushies are available on weekends.
Spooky lights, masked characters, and more transform the farm each night in October. Photography courtesy of Carrigan Farms
So are spooky season scares. Each night in October, the place becomes Scarrigan Farms. Open to guests ages 13 and up, the forest on the 275-acre farm fills with human and animatronic movie slashers, ghouls, goblins, and clowns.
One-fourth of the haunted trail changes every year, Chestnutt said, so repeat visitors can always expect something new. “If you’ve got a phobia, we’re trying to find it,” he says.
Travel tip: Reservations are required for the haunted trail, as well as pumpkin and apple picking.
You don’t have to drive to the mountains to find brilliant fall colors — just head to the roads and trails at Lake Norman State Park. photograph by Brad Harper Photography
North Carolina’s largest manmade lake boasts some of the finest fall foliage in the Piedmont. Hundreds of hickory, sweetgum, red maple, dogwood, and oak trees, as well as four varieties of pines, line 38 miles of trails in Lake Norman State Park. From roughly mid-October to late November, the trees’ leaves turn orange, yellow, red, and even purple.
With 15 trails from 0.25- to 30-miles long, the park has hikes and biking trails to fit every fitness level. If you have about an hour to spare, consider the 2.5-mile Hawk Loop Trail, an easy walk on a well-maintained path that offers new views around every curve. Start by Park Lake and take in the waterfront vista at Hicks Creek.
Shop for pumpkins, chrysanthemums, local produce, and other tasty treats at Josh’s Farmers Market, open daily. photograph by @Novasmama
Thirty years ago, Josh Graham was a kid selling cantaloupes beside the road. Now, he runs a hub for Iredell-area growers and purveyors.
Four miles from downtown Mooresville, Josh’s Farmers Market sells a full array of seasonal fruits and vegetables, as well as dairy products, local meats, fresh seafood, and homemade baked goods. Autumn brings pumpkins and chrysanthemums in fiery fall colors to the market. They’re available throughout September and October, along with fresh apple cider sourced from Perry Lowe Orchards in Moravian Falls.
The weekend seafood selection at Josh’s Farmers Market is particularly plentiful, owing partly to the presence of its sister business Josh’s Seafood Market. The fall selection often includes oysters, scallops, shrimp, crabmeat, and salmon. Lucky weekend visitors may also see the Cousins Maine Lobster food truck.
On Saturday, September 13, rock legends and local breweries take over downtown Mooresville and Liberty Park for the annual Bands, Brews & BBQ Festival. Jefferson Starship and Night Ranger (of “Sister Christian” fame) will headline the event.
And it’s not just musical maestros in attendance. Festivalgoers also have the unique opportunity to meet members of the National Bobsled and Skeleton Teams. Because the Mooresville-based deBotech, Inc. sponsors the festival — and because they manufacture the bobsled for the U.S. Olympic team — athletes come to the festival to join in the fun.
Expect more than 20 food trucks, rides, and games at Liberty Park. If you get thirsty, the B3 Beer Garden offers a selection of craft beer from local and regional breweries, including Ghostface Brewing’s special brew made to benefit the U.S. Bobsled Team.
Ready to experience it for yourself? Click here to start planning your fall adventures in Mooresville and learn more about what to see and do in Race City USA.
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