The last weekend before Halloween is packed across East Texas. Ben Wheeler’s Hog Festival takes over downtown Friday and Saturday with a parade, pageant and cook-off, while the Hopkins County Fall Festival fills the Sulphur Springs fairgrounds both days with a craft show, kids zone and market. Saturday morning brings the Hotdogs and Hotrods Benefit Car Show at 9 a.m. in Canton, raising money for Crossroads Church Canton.
If you drive a Jeep and have never tested it off pavement, East Texas Jeep 101 in Lindale runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, with an optional convoy to Barnwell Mountain afterward. Saturday night, Scare Affair 2026 runs 6 to 9 at Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant, and the Sweet Potato Festival Street Dance starts at 7 p.m. at the Golden Pavilion in Golden.
There’s more for families too: pumpkin patches across the region, at least 13 haunted houses and trails, Pine Tree Fall Fest, the Troup Community Block Party, and Saturday farmers markets in Mineola, Winnsboro, Tyler, Palestine and Longview. Most of it is free or low-cost, and several events support local causes. So what’s on your calendar: the hog parade, the car show, or the haunted trail?
