The Eliada Homes Fall Festival is open every Friday 3-7 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., until October 29th. They are located on Compton Drive, just off of New Leicester Highway.

Many different activities are offered throughout the festival. Although a lot of them are more child appropriate, adults can still find some activities enjoyable, like trying out the corn cannon or finding your way through the corn maze. Other featured activities include hay rides, lawn games, slides and a big bouncy pillow. 

Eliada Homes was founded in 1903 and continues to serve the community through a flurry of different services for children. Some of their services include child care, after school programs, summer camps, foster care and different therapy programs. Originally, Eliada Homes opened as a traditional orphanage, but they later switched to a foster care style of programming when there was a nation-wide shift away from the traditional children’s home model.

After a quick, less than scenic drive down Patton Avenue and Leicester Highway, you pass through a small neighborhood before it quickly opens up to large fields surrounded by a tree line. This is where the Eliada Homes Fall Festival is set. Unlike the more traditional North Carolina Mountain State Fair, when you arrive you don’t get the smell of cheap fried food nor do you hear the screams of people on thrill rides. Instead, you get the fresh smell of Western North Carolina fall air and the laughter of children playing. Clearly, the Elaida Homes Fall Festival is more geared toward kids with the types of activities offered, but anyone can come enjoy a good old corn cannon and a corn maze, along with some freshly brewed coffee.