Most years, the Bluemont Fair and Great Country Farms' pumpkin season don't compete for the same afternoon. One is a two-day village tradition that closes out summer. The other is a six-week farm event that opens as the leaves start to turn. In 2026, they land on the exact same day. The Bluemont Fair runs Saturday and Sunday, September 19 and 20, and Great Country Farms opens its Pumpkin Harvest Fest on Saturday, September 19, the same day it hosts the first of two Family Flashlight Corn Maze Nights that keep the farm open until 8:30 p.m.
That's not a scheduling coincidence anyone announced. It's just what happens when you line up two calendars for a village where the biggest events of the year both tend to fall in mid-September. If you live here, it means the narrow roads that carry you home most days, Snickersville Turnpike through the village and Foggy Bottom Road up toward the farm, are going to carry more traffic on this one Saturday than they typically see across an entire month.
One Saturday, Two Draws
The Bluemont Fair has been organized entirely by volunteers since 1970, and this year marks its 56th run. It's spread through the historic village itself, centered on the Bluemont Community Center, with roughly 80 juried artisans set up on the front lawn and in the barn behind it. Admission is $10 at the gate, cash or credit, kids nine and under get in free, and pets aren't allowed. The fair runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
Great Country Farms sits about a mile up Foggy Bottom Road from the village, and its pumpkin season runs daily from September 19 through October 31. On the two Family Flashlight Corn Maze Nights, September 19 and September 26, the farm stays open until 8:30 p.m. so families can walk the maze after dark, well past its usual closing time.
Put those two schedules next to each other and the overlap is obvious. Fair traffic peaks midday and starts thinning by late afternoon as the 5 p.m. close approaches. Farm traffic is just getting going for the evening crowd heading to the flashlight maze. For about an hour in the late afternoon, both crowds are on the same short stretch of road at the same time, one leaving the village, one arriving at the farm.
How to Actually Split the Weekend
If your plan is to do both events on Saturday, you can, but it means threading that overlap. The easier move, and the one that actually gets you more out of each stop, is to split the two days.
When | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
Saturday morning | Bluemont Fair | Artisan barn and lawn are least crowded before noon, and the Community Center's model train display and quilt show are easiest to see without a line |
Saturday evening | Great Country Farms | Flashlight Corn Maze Night runs until 8:30 p.m., and going after 6 avoids the fair's late-afternoon exit traffic |
Sunday | Great Country Farms or Dirt Farm Brewing | The farm's regular pumpkin season hours resume at 11 a.m. with no fair traffic competing for the same road |
If Saturday is already booked, the farm's pumpkin season runs through the end of October, so nothing about missing opening weekend costs you the season. The fair, on the other hand, is only here for these two days.
What's Actually at the Fair This Year
This year's fair theme is bears, chosen by the fair chairs to reflect the wildlife that shares western Loudoun's trails and back pastures. The theme shows up on the official poster and the fair t-shirts, both produced through a juried art competition open to local artists.
Beyond the crafts and the theme, a few fixtures are worth building your visit around. The Snickersville Academy log cabin, built around 1825, sits a short walk up the Turnpike and across the creek from the Community Center. It's been restored by the Friends of Bluemont and is open during the fair with interpretive signs and old-fashioned games on the lawn. Inside the Community Center's second floor, Northern Virginia NTRAK sets up an extensive model train display that draws kids back more than once over the two days.
Across the street, the Bluemont United Methodist Church runs its Hospitality Center out of a stone church building, with a quilt show inside, videos on Bluemont's history playing in the lower level, and a table selling hot dogs, brats, and the fair's well-known apple dumplings, with proceeds supporting local and global missions. There's also a standing archaeology demonstration and a free children's fair and petting zoo included with admission.
The Farm Doesn't Slow Down After the Fair Leaves
Once the fair wraps Sunday evening, Great Country Farms keeps running its full pumpkin season through Halloween. Wagon rides out to the pick-your-own pumpkin patch run from 9:15 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the last wagon departing at 4 p.m. on weekends so there's time to pick before the farm closes at 6. The Oinkintucky Derby pig races run three times a day, at 11, 1, and 3, and the farm's 1.5-acre Farmer's Choice corn maze, built as a tribute to the local community with photo stops along the way, typically takes about 30 minutes to finish.
Weekend admission is $18 per guest age three and up. Weekdays drop to $10 for kids and $12 for adults, plus a small ticketing fee, and kids two and under are free every day. The farm's Roosteraunt snack bar serves pizza, chicken tenders, and kettle corn from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends, and the 1865 apple press runs demonstrations three times a day for anyone who wants to taste cider pressed the way the farm has always done it.
Two More Stops Worth the Extra Mile
If you're already up Foggy Bottom Road for the farm, two more stops round out the day without much extra driving. Bluemont Vineyard sits directly across the street from Great Country Farms, and anyone wearing a farm wristband gets 10 percent off bottle purchases. Reservations are required on Saturdays and Sundays this fall, since the vineyard's harvest season events tend to fill the tasting room.
A short drive further up the mountain, Dirt Farm Brewing is run by the Zurschmeide family, who have farmed in Loudoun County for decades and built the brewery as an extension of the same land that supplies Great Country Farms. The taproom and patio sit on the mountainside with views across the Loudoun Valley, and the property includes hiking trails if you want to walk off the fair or the farm before heading home. The brewery is open daily, with later hours on Fridays.
The Rest of the Season
If this particular Saturday doesn't work for your household, the calendar gives you a second shot. The next Flashlight Corn Maze Night falls on September 26, a full week after the fair has cleared out and the roads through the village are back to normal. Weekday visits to the farm any time through late October are quieter across the board, since the $10 to $12 weekday pricing and lighter crowds make it an easier trip with younger kids.
Living in a place small enough that its two biggest weekends can collide on a single Saturday is part of what makes Bluemont worth paying attention to. Most towns this size don't have both a 56-year-old community fair and a working farm drawing visitors from across Northern Virginia in the same month, let alone the same day.
If you're weighing what it's like to actually live with Bluemont's calendar, not just visit it once, Celeste Linthicum spends enough time in western Loudoun to walk you through what a full year here actually looks like. Reach out to schedule a consultation whenever you're ready to talk specifics.
