Fall Festivals & Events

We invite you to come and enjoy some of Stratford’s finer and funkier autumn festivals, from Dragon Boats, Garlic and Quilts. Stratford has a wonderful variety of festivals, events and special exhibitions for all ages.

• It all starts with Once Upon a Thames Storytelling Festival in the charming stonetown of St. Marys from September 5 to 7 where young and old will be enthralled by tall tales from around the world.
• The Dragonboat Races, Saturday September 13th, transform the Avon River from the tranquil to the colourful and thrilling with competitors from throughout Ontario and further coming to test their skills. Come early the crowds will be huge.
• Fall in the county is the best place for kids to get in touch with their roots and would be incomplete without a celebration of the harvest scene. Starting September 13, and for every weekend in September and October, Birtch Farms and Estate Winery family fun rules with scarecrow making, hayrides, picking 15 varieties of apples and more.
• For those wishing to improve their ballistic aim McCully’s Hill Farm offers their famous Great Canadian Pumpkin toss every weekend from late September and well into October.
• The Quilt exhibition held annually runs throughout the fall culminating in the Airing of the Quilts in shop windows throughout the center of the city in October and the annual charity auction in November. Come view over 80 quilts from across North America as created and donated by people expressing their emotional and physical support for breast cancer survivors.