Historic Cane Hill will present the 2026 Harvest Festival on September 19, 2026. The Harvest Festival is one of the longest-running community events in Northwest Arkansas.
The Harvest Festival offers visitors an engaging experience combining history, Ozark culture, and a natural setting with modern amenities and entertainment. Visitors to the 2026 Festival can enjoy a country breakfast, food trucks, live music, an “Arts and Eats” market, sorghum pressing and cooking demonstrations, craft demonstrations, tours of historic buildings, a quilt show, a live pie auction, and a kids zone with free activities from Crystal Bridges, Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, the University of Arkansas Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, the Community Creative Center, the Illinois River Watershed Partnership, and more.
New this year are special activities commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary, and celebrating the people and ecology of Cane Hill throughout the last 250 years. Activities include learning about five Revolutionary War veterans who lived in Cane Hill and getting started on your own genealogy with the Marion Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution; learning about the plants that were in Cane Hill 100 years ago with the University of Arkansas Herbarium and making your own Christmas fern woodblock print; printing art on a printing press and learning about special Cherokee syllabary type that was found in Cane Hill; and getting started curating your own personal library with the University of Arkansas Special Collections.
“The Cane Hill Harvest Festival is one of the highlights of the year for our community,” said Historic Cane Hill Executive Director, Vanessa McKuin. “Each September, people come together from across the region to celebrate the music and artisan traditions that are key parts of Ozarks culture. Whether it’s watching sorghum making, enjoying the Ozark Country Breakfast, listening to live music, or making memories in the kids zone, the festival offers something for everyone! The festival is more than a celebration–it’s a key way that Historic Cane Hill fulfills its mission to preserve, connect, and inspire in a special corner of Northwest Arkansas.”
The Cane Hill Harvest Festival kicks off with a Country Breakfast from 7-10 AM. Festival activities begin at 8 AM and run until 3:30 PM. The festivities are held on the grounds of Cane Hill College, 14219 College Rd. (WC4762), Cane Hill, AR 72717.
Tickets to the festival are $5 for adults, kids ages 12 and under are admitted free. Breakfast tickets at $8 for adults and $5 for ages 12 and under. Bundled breakfast and festival admittance tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. HCH Members get two free adult admission tickets, and membership may be purchased online or at the festival.
Tickets are available at the entrance gate or may be purchased online at https://historiccanehillar.org/festival/ Parking is free.
Historic Cane Hill is located just off Hwy. 45 in Cane Hill, in the beautiful Ozark Mountains, 20 miles west of Fayetteville and 41 miles east of Tahlequah, OK.
Located just off Hwy. 45, 20 miles west of Fayetteville, and 41 miles east of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, this historically-significant area is nestled in the beautiful Ozark Mountains. Visitors enjoy more than 100 acres of pristine Ozark trails, orchards, and landscape, along with 14 historic buildings. The on-site museum and gallery showcase more than 1000 community artifacts and heirlooms as well as rotating special exhibitions and are open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
2026 Schedule of Events
*Enjoy the Country Breakfast 7:00 AM - 10:00 AM
$8 - Adults - (Adult festival & breakfast ticket bundle only $12!)
$5 - Kids (12 & under)
*Food Trucks (prices vary by truck)10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
3 Chicks Cones- Concessions and Catering
Blue’s Concessions
Deep South BBQ
Taqueria El Jefe
Nolen’s Kettle Korn and Cinnamon Roasted Nuts
Treats on the Streets by Amelia
Deli-Licious
*ENJOY LIVE MUSIC 8 AM - 3:30 PM
Put on your dancing shoes or bring a chair to enjoy a full lineup of live music, including:
8:00 AM - Meadow Makers
10:00 AM - Live Pie Auction
10:45 AM - Squirrel Jam
12:30 - The Illinois River Boys
2:00 PM - Lincoln High School Band
2:15 PM - The Boonsboro Bandits*
2:35 PM - The Broncos*
3:00 PM - The Cane Hillbillies*
*Live Pie Auction 10:00 AM
*15 Minutes of History: Marvelous Maud Duncan 9:00 AM
Join Rachel Whitaker, Historian at Shiloh Museum Of Ozark History, for a quick dive into the life of Maud Duncan, who with her “Petticoat Government” was the first female mayor in the state in 1925. Before she and her all-female city council were elected, Maud was a Cane Hill College alumna and publisher of the Winslow American.
ALL DAY ACTIVITIES 8:00 AM - 3:30 PM
- Kids Zone
- Activities from Crystal Bridges, Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, Washington County 4-H, the University of Arkansas Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, free face painting, and more!
- Print Like Maud
- Celebrate the centennial of Cane Hill College alumna and Winslow American publisher Maud Duncan being elected the first female mayor in the state by trying your hand at printing using old-fashioned techniques.
- Arts and Eats Market
- Shop for goods and gifts from local artisans and crafters
- Historic Building Visits
- Take the unique opportunity to peek inside the 1886 Cane Hill College and 1891 Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, winner of the 2020 Arkansas Preservation Award for Excellence in Preservation through Restoration.
- Sorghum Pressing Demonstration
- See the process of pressing sorghum cane with an antique press using local draft horses to transform the cane juice into sorghum molasses!
- Craft Demonstrations
- Including lace tatting, textile spinning & weaving, blacksmithing, beekeeping, antique tractors, and more!
- What’s a Syllabary?
- Cherokee syllabary type was found in Cane Hill from a newspaper printed here years ago! At this station, you can print a piece of art combined with syllabary and learn more about the Cherokee language.
- Community Creative Center’s Wheel Mobile
- Have a “wheel of a time” as you try your hand throwing pottery.
- Free 30-minute mini-workshops are available to ages 10 and up.
- Quilt Show & Drawing
- Featuring antique and contemporary quilts from the region
- Buddy Up with the Bur Oak
- Did you know that the state Co-Champion Bur Oak tree grows on HCH’s campus?
- In addition to its impressive size, this tree is a “witness tree” to the Trail of Tears.
- Gallery Exhibition:
- Arkansas Portraits: Black and White Photographs from the
- Farm Security Administration, 1935-1938
- “Arkansas Portraits” features 24 black and white photographs taken in Arkansas during the height of the Great Depression.
