If there is one Clay County weekend that can turn “we’ll just walk around for an hour” into an entire afternoon of shopping, eating and wandering, the Orange Park Fall Festival is a hard one to beat.

The 44th annual Orange Park Fall Festival returns Saturday, October 17 and Sunday, October 18, 2026, filling Town Hall Park with arts and crafts, food, live entertainment and family activities.

General admission is free, making this an easy fall outing whether you are coming from Orange Park, Fleming Island, Green Cove Springs, Middleburg, Oakleaf, Lake Asbury or elsewhere around Clay County.

Orange Park Fall Festival 2026 at a glance

📅 Saturday & Sunday: October 17–18, 2026

⏰ Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. both days

📍 Where: Town Hall Park, 2042 Park Avenue, Orange Park

🎟 Admission: FREE

🚗 Parking: Free parking + shuttle at Moosehaven, 1701 Park Avenue

🛍️ Expect: 200+ artists and vendors, 30+ food vendors, two stages + Kids Zone

🌴 What’s Good Tip: Use the free Moosehaven shuttle, come hungry, wear comfortable shoes and give yourself at least a couple of hours.

If your kids love inflatables, Kids Zone wristbands run $15 or $20 per day, and rides are extra.

The festival began in 1982 with roughly a dozen craft booths and a couple of guitar players, and it has grown into what the festival calls Clay County’s oldest and largest arts-and-crafts festival.

Do you need tickets for the Orange Park Fall Festival?

No. General admission is free. Only Kids Zone wristbands and tickets cost extra, and you buy them on site.

Parking is easier if you use the shuttle

Moosehaven is the festival’s designated parking, with a free shuttle to Town Hall Park.

Use the Park Avenue entrance at 1701 Park Avenue, then take the shuttle to the festival grounds.

The shuttle runs continuously from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Festival organizers specifically ask visitors not to use the Winn-Dixie and CVS parking lot for festival parking.

Limited accessible parking is available at the Orange Park Police Station at 2025 Smith Street.

Our vote: skip the hunt for a close spot and head straight for the Moosehaven shuttle.

More than 200 artists and vendors

At its heart, the Orange Park Fall Festival is still an arts and crafts festival, and the 2026 vendor lineup gives shoppers plenty to work through.

Expect handmade jewelry, pottery, woodwork, candles, soaps, sewn items, home decor, artwork, pet products, clothing, accessories and plenty of things that are very good at turning “I’m not buying anything” into a lie.

There are also artisan food and farm vendors selling items such as sauces, baked goods, produce and other take-home treats.

The festival gives preference to original work and homemade products, which is part of what keeps the event feeling more like a maker festival than a generic vendor fair.

If holiday shopping is already creeping into your brain, this is a very reasonable place to knock out a few gifts early.

Orange Park Fall Festival 2026 food vendors, and yes, come hungry

The food lineup includes seafood, barbecue, Filipino and island-inspired fare and classic festival food.

Vendors on the 2026 list include:

• Cousins Maine Lobster
• Cedar River Seafood
• Brochachos Fusion Eats
• Cely’s Filipino Food
• Hapa Li
• Sajima Street Fare
• Southern Smoke BBQ
• Thigpen’s Turkey Legs
• Uncle KCs Dogs

There are also plenty of sweet options, including:

• Hendra’s Funnel Cakes
• Churro Churro Jax
• Southern Scoops
• shaved ice
• lemonade

          Vendor list subject to change

In other words, eating before you go is completely optional and possibly a tactical mistake.

The festival also includes artisan food vendors, so you can eat lunch on the grounds and still leave carrying sauces, sweets, coffee, or something spicy for later.

What the Kids Zone costs in 2026

The Kids Zone includes inflatables, a rock wall, pony rides, Atomic Bungee, and music from The DJ Co.

• $15 wristband: unlimited inflatables for one day
• $20 wristband: unlimited inflatables plus two activity tickets
• $5 per ticket for the rock wall or Atomic Bungee (each ticket is one turn)
• $5 per pony ride

Prices include sales tax, apply for one day only and are nonrefundable.

If your child sees an inflatable and immediately decides to move in permanently, the unlimited wristband is probably the math that makes sense.

Additional kids vendors listed for 2026 include face painting, AirTatBodyArt, My Gym Children’s Fitness Center and The Sand Booth.

Two stages keep the weekend moving

The festival has two stages with entertainment from local and regional performers throughout the weekend.

For anyone who wants to plan around a specific performance, the festival’s mobile guide is especially useful because it includes stage schedules, a festival map, the vendor lineup, food menus and sponsor information.

Install the free Grandstand Events & Guides app, enable location, and the Fall Festival appears first in the event list.

Even if you are not a schedule-every-minute person, the map can save some backtracking when you are trying to find a particular vendor or food truck.

What to know about dogs, cash and Florida October

Dogs are not banned from the festival, but organizers encourage visitors to leave pets at home because the grounds get crowded and can be stressful for animals.

Service animals are welcome.

ATMs are available on site near the food row and main stage, but bringing more than one payment option is still smart when you are dealing with a large mix of independent vendors.

And then there is the weather.

October in Clay County can deliver a gorgeous fall day, a summer encore, or both before lunch, so check the forecast and dress for the actual temperature rather than the pumpkin-spice fantasy.

Comfortable shoes, sunscreen, and water are still solid choices for an outdoor event where you may be walking and standing for several hours.

Florida fall is less of a season and more of a negotiation.

Is the Orange Park Fall Festival worth going to?

For Clay County locals, this is one of the easiest fall events to recommend because it offers enough variety for people who aren't necessarily die-hard craft-festival shoppers.

You can browse handmade goods, eat your way through food row, catch live entertainment, let the kids burn energy, and still spend nothing on admission.

It is also one of those events that feels genuinely local, with community groups, makers and small businesses mixed throughout the grounds.

If you are coming from another part of the county, the free Moosehaven shuttle makes the logistics easier than trying to wedge yourself into the closest possible parking space.

Plan for a couple of hours at minimum, longer if you want to shop seriously, eat, catch performances, or give the Kids Zone a proper workout.

The 2026 Orange Park Fall Festival runs October 17 and 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Town Hall Park, with free admission and free shuttle parking from Moosehaven.

More details are on the official festival site.