The Corn Maze on Old Harding Pike Closes November 1. Warner Parks' Fall Runs Two Weeks Longer.

On Saturdays this fall, a hot-air balloon goes up on a tether at 8687 Old Harding Pike, over a corn maze, a seven-acre sunflower field and a pumpkin patch along the South Harpeth River. It goes up on two more Saturdays, October 24 and October 31. The Nashville Fall Festival's 2026 season ends Sunday, November 1.

Bellevue's fall doesn't end there. A few miles east, the Warner Park Nature Center calendar runs into mid-November with owl walks, bird banding and migratory bird searches. This year those programs take place in woods that lost more than 2,000 trees along their trails and paved roads in February. The worst of that damage sits along the drives and trail edges where most visits happen.

Six Days Left on Old Harding Pike

The festival's regular schedule is Fridays through Sundays, so as of Thursday, October 22, six operating days are left: October 23 to 25 and October 30 to November 1. Hours are 3 p.m. to dark on Fridays, 9 a.m. to dark on Saturdays and noon to dark on Sundays. According to Nashville Guru, the festival runs rain or shine.

Admission includes one free pumpkin. Extra pumpkins are priced individually. The ticket also covers the petting zoo, hayrides, the playground and games, weekend live music, and the river walk along the South Harpeth. Food trucks and vendors are on site.

The best date on the remaining schedule is Saturday, October 31. That night is Halloween Flashlight Night: visitors bring their own flashlights and walk the corn maze after dark, and the balloon rides run at dusk, weather permitting. Halloween also falls on a balloon Saturday this year, so the last full day of the season is also the busiest one on the program. The festival's site has tickets, and buying online saves $2 per adult and $1 per child.

What February Did to the Woods Next Door

The rest of Bellevue's fall happens in Edwin and Percy Warner Parks, and the parks look different this year. Friends of Warner Parks called Ice Storm Fern the most severe weather event in the parks' history. In early February, ecologist Terry Cook surveyed the damage by drone. The Friends' damage update reported his estimate of more than 2,000 trees lost along trails and paved roads.

Where the damage happened matters for anyone walking the parks this fall. In the same update, Cook said trees deeper in the forest often handle ice storms better, because they grow close together, share a canopy and are more protected from wind. So the worst losses were along the edges: the paved drives, the primitive trails and the roadside stands that visitors see from the car or on foot. The deep woods were better protected.

WPLN reported in April that the fallen trees were mostly oaks. Cook told the station he thought his count was low:

"Which I think is really – it's an underestimate. You could either see that double or triple or quadruple in terms of when we think about the entire park."

The Nature Center was hit as well. Several of its buildings and the Bob Brown Field Station had roof damage from falling trees and limbs. Much of the campus lost power, and the center closed until further notice. Edwin Warner Park was back open by a February 26 update. Percy Warner reopened on Saturday, March 21, with primitive trails, paved trails, horse trails and shelters available. Contract crews from Save A Tree, Davey Tree, Bartlett Tree Experts and Tanksley worked with Metro Parks and the Warner Parks SWEAT crew, and the reopening came weeks after what many expected to take months.

When Percy Warner reopened, the mountain bike trails, Vaughn's Creek Cross Country Course and Burch Reserve stayed closed, and Friends of Warner Parks said cleanup and restoration would continue. If you're planning a ride or a visit to Burch Reserve this fall, check current status with Metro Parks before you go.

The Nature Center Calendar Picks Up Where the Maze Leaves Off

Programs are back on the Warner Park Nature Center calendar at 7311 Highway 100, and the late-season schedule is about paying close attention to this changed forest. The festival's last two weekends overlap with the first few dates below. After November 1, only the park calendar continues.

1. Saturday, October 24, 1 to 3 p.m. Nashville's Native Orchids at the Nature Center with scientist Soraya Cates Parr, for ages 13 and up. That afternoon, the corn maze is open across town.
2. Friday, October 30, evening. A Haunted House in Warner Woods is a short mystery-solving hike with a campfire, s'mores and ghost stories, for ages 16 and up. The listing shows two session windows, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. or 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
3. Saturday, October 31, 10 to 11:30 a.m. Creature Casualties is nature trivia with candy for ages 8 and up. You can do this in the morning and still reach Old Harding Pike in time for Flashlight Night.
4. Wednesday, November 4, noon to 4 p.m. Fall Migration Bird Banding Research at the Nature Center. Families and individuals don't need to register.
5. Saturday, November 7, 4:30 to 7 p.m. Searching for Owls of Warner Parks follows a route near the Little Harpeth River and toward the forest edges around Ridgefield in Edwin Warner Park.
6. Saturday, November 14. A migratory bird search in Edwin Warner Park and a drop-in Curious Naturalist program at the Nature Center are on the November calendar.

The owl walk is a good example of how this year changes the experience. It goes to the edges, along the river and the borders of the Ridgefield woods, and edges are where Cook said the forest was most exposed.

November 1 Belongs to Both Calendars

Sunday, November 1, is the festival's last day, open noon to dark. Earlier that day, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friends of Warner Parks holds its 37th annual Sunday in the Park luncheon on Ridge Field in Edwin Warner Park, for guests 21 and older. This is the first Sunday in the Park since the storm, and Friends of Warner Parks has asked supporters for donations to help pay for cleanup, trail restoration and stewardship work still underway.

The following Saturday, November 7, the Friends host a Fall 2026 Volunteer Hike for their volunteer community. It starts at 8 a.m. with coffee and a light breakfast at the Percy Warner Golf Course Clubhouse, 1221 Forrest Park Drive. At 8:30, the group walks the easy 1.6-mile allée loop. The RSVP deadline is November 2. In February, the Friends said volunteers would have a role later in the recovery, especially on the primitive trail system, while explaining that early tree removal had to be done and documented by Metro-authorized crews for the city to qualify for FEMA assistance. This hike gives anyone who has thought about volunteering an easy way to meet the group.

A Forest on a Decades-Long Clock

The festival's season is a fixed seven weeks, September 18 to November 1. The forest is on a much longer schedule. Cook told WPLN that the woods will largely heal on their own over the next few decades, with some human help. The same report noted that most surviving trees around Nashville carry some scar from the storm. The city won't know the full extent of its canopy loss until 2028, when the next tree canopy assessment is due.

So this fall, a walk on the paved loop or a primitive trail shows a forest about eight months into a recovery that will take decades. The Nature Center's November programs on birds, owls and migration all take place in that recovering forest. For Bellevue, this is the first season the parks can be seen in fall color since the storm, and the Bellevue neighborhood page and our earlier look at how the Highway 70 corridor's restaurants have shifted cover the rest of the area's routines.

Warner Parks has always been part of daily life for Bellevue households, and many of them plan a walk around a Nature Center program before they plan anything else. If you'd like to talk about homes close to the parks, or anything else on your mind this season, Bainbridge Realty Group would be glad to hear from you. Start Your Journey whenever you're ready.