Fall Fun Is Just Getting Started With These Three Local Events

Issue #826

September 28, 2026

In this What’s Up Columbia issue…

☀️ Columbia’s Tuesday Weather - Sunny w/ high of 86, low of 48

🎃 Fall Fun Is Just Getting Started With These Three Local Events

🔭 10/3: Astronomy Fest at Henry Horton State Park

🗓 List of Upcoming Events

🎵 This Week’s Live Music

🗓 Know of Some Local Events Not Listed? Send us the Details!

Fall Fun Is Just Getting Started With These Three Local Events

Happy Fall Y’all! Here are a few Fall events to get you out there and enjoying this MUCH nicer weather we’re having!

First Fridays Fall Fest

First Fridays is back in Downtown Columbia!! Join us for this monthly free event on October 2nd from 5–8 PM in downtown Columbia!

Shop craft vendors and support vendors who are young entrepreneurs.

Grab dinner from a food truck or a downtown restaurants.

Interact with local businesses, organizations, and non-profits.

Enjoy LIVE music from the Main Stage plus buskers playing music around the downtown.

Game Zone for all ages.

October’s Theme: FALL FEST!! Yes, this is our annual FALL FEST event now co-scheduled with First Fridays! Enjoy fall-themed activities like pumpkin painting, pie-eating contest, fall-themed decor and more..so dress the part and come have fun with us at First Fridays.

Annual Fall Fun at Fernwood

Join Fernwood Garden Center for 4 days full of fun! Scavenger Hunt, Face Painting, Daily Kids Crafts*, Games, Sensory Bins, Photo Opportunities, Gift Bags for the Kids, Daily Chances to Win Gift Cards for the Adults, all of which are FREE. There will be Food Vendors, sale specials, pumpkins, mums, corn stalks, straw bales, and assorted fall decor.

Stop in and we'll grow some memories together!

*Please register for Crafts on our website events page to ensure we have the craft supplies set aside for you.

Millers Thrillers

The Zombie Hayride is back at Millers Thrillers, and this year the entire course got a major overhaul with new targets and new scenes. On this ride, you're the one doing the scaring: guests load into trailers (up to 18 people each) pulled by 5-ton military trucks and head into the woods to shoot the zombies before they break containment. It's a hayride without the hay: about 25% traveling through the woods, 50% shooting zombies and 25% stage show, wrapping up in the all-new Zombie Decontamination Chamber. The ride is for ages 8 and up, and that age limit is strictly enforced.

If you'd rather walk into the scares, there's Hillbilly Hollar, an outdoor haunted woods with a backstory built around a 1952 phosphate mine collapse and the miners who supposedly never left. This one isn't for anyone under 10.

While you wait in line, the entertainment zone keeps things going with a zombie drumline, stilt walkers, fire performers, jugglers, pogo stick stunts, a light show set to music with lasers, and fireworks. 

There's also concessions and five new photo spots. Tickets are sold online, and line-skipping passes are available if you don't want to wait. Check out the Millers Thrillers website for tickets and more details.

10/3: Astronomy Fest at Henry Horton State Park

Are you a night sky enthusiast looking to get hands on experience with astronomers? Do you love space exploration and dark sky viewings?

Join us for Astronomy Fest, an evening filled with astronomy themed events and workshops. Join us for Astronomy Fest, a day filled with astronomy activities for all ages and experiences. Starting at 3pm at the Multi-sport Facility, enjoy a variety of programs covering topics like planets, telescopes, nighttime photography, and more. End the night with an evening of night sky viewing alongside our resident astronomers. All of the programs will happen at the Multi-Sport Facility beginning at 3pm and continuing into the night sky viewing at 6pm.

Visit the links below to get information on each event and to sing-up and save your space:

3PM: Choosing a Telescope

3PM: Night Sky Photography - skills session at 3pm; Photography session at Night sky viewing at 6pm

4PM: Scaling The Solar System

4PM: Smart Telescopes: What Are They?

5PM: Solar System Walk

6PM: Dinner, night sky presentation, and astronomy under the stars.

*A small offering of various cookout foods will be provided by astronomy volunteers at the 6pm night sky viewing. While this dinner is free and available to the public, we highly encourage donations to support the generous efforts of our astronomers/cooks.

This program will be located at the Multi-Sport Facility on Skeet Range Road. Directions will be shown below. We will have bathrooms available, picnic tables (very limited amount), and a covered shelter.

Address: Skeet Range Road, Lewisburg, TN 37091

The sporting lodge will be about a quarter mile passed down the road.

From Nashville Highway, turn onto Warner Road, drive about a mile and you will take a right onto Skeet Range Road

Upcoming Local Events

🗓 Have an event to add? Send us the Details!

Tuesday, September 29th

Wednesday, September 30th

Thursday, October 1st

Friday, October 2nd

Saturday, October 3rd

Sunday, October 4th

👇 Click the Links to Learn About our Local Business Sponsors! 👇

🎵 This Week’s Live Music

Tuesday, September 29
Songwriters Round - Whiskey Alley Saloon, 6-9 PM

Thursday, October 1
Todd Ciprian - Tito's, 6-9 PM

Friday, October 2
Golden Soul Revue - Grinder's Switch Winery, 6-8 PM
First Fridays with James Carothers - Puckett's, 6:30-8 PM
Unredacted and Speed Trap - Twisted Copper Brewing Co, 6:30-9 PM
Scott Burt Big Band - Riverwalk Park, 7 PM
Live on the Square - Box of Rox - Puckett's, 8-10 PM

Saturday, October 3
The Vineyard Sessions - Natchez Hills Vineyard, 2-5 PM
Nick Bentley - Keg Springs Winery, 2-5 PM
TBA - Amber Falls Winery & Cellars, 3-7 PM
Curated Writers Round - The Bourbon Gospel, 7:30 PM
Vintage Voltage - The Rebel Bar & Grill, 7:30 PM
Lucie Tiger - Puckett's, 7:30-9 PM

Sunday, October 4
Maddie Rose - Amber Falls Winery & Cellars, 1-5 PM
Twisted Sunday Jam - The Rebel Bar & Grill, 3-7 PM

Want to get your business in What’s Up Columbia? Let’s talk