Four annual festivals brought together visitors, local vendors and fall recreation across the Catskills and Adirondacks.
Fall festivals offered opportunities to enjoy the mountains, visit local vendors and gather with family and friends at Olympic Authority venues this season.
Belleayre’s Fall Festival, Gore Mountain’s Harvest Fest, Whiteface’s Oktoberfest and the Flaming Leaves Festival at the Olympic Jumping Complex recorded combined attendance of 64,170 in 2026, compared with 43,466 in 2025—an increase of nearly 48 percent.
Across the four festivals, 211 vendor participants included 115 local vendors. Visitors also took 19,596 scenic gondola rides, making mountain views and fall foliage part of the festival experience.
Belleayre’s Fall Festival welcomed attendees over two weekends, with attendance reaching 33,558, compared with 21,059 in 2025. Seventy-one vendors participated, including 36 local vendors, and visitors took 8,031 gondola rides.
At Gore Mountain, Harvest Fest recorded attendance of 20,449, up from 11,408 the previous year. The event featured 70 vendors, including 30 local vendors, along with 5,086 gondola rides.
Whiteface’s Oktoberfest brought together seasonal festivities and scenic recreation, with attendance of 6,265, compared with 7,556 in 2025. Fifty-five vendors participated, including 45 local vendors, and visitors took 4,868 gondola rides.
In Lake Placid, the Flaming Leaves Festival paired fall activities with the U.S. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined National Championships. Attendance reached 3,898, compared with 3,443 in 2025. The festival included 15 vendors, four of them local, while the Olympic Jumping Complex recorded 1,611 gondola rides.
Each event offered a different way to spend time at the venues before winter-from browsing vendor booths and enjoying mountain views to watching athletes compete. Local businesses and organizations were part of that experience, connecting with visitors throughout the festival weekends.
Staff, vendors and community partners helped make these annual gatherings possible, continuing a fall tradition at venues across the Catskills and Adirondacks.