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The Port City Run 5K starts the biggest Saturday of Frankfort's fall.

The course leaves Open Space Park, follows the Betsie Valley Trail into Elberta, and loops back along Betsie Bay — flat, fast, and lined with peak fall color.

107 runners crossed the line last year — some chasing a PR, most just out for a good morning on the trail. Strollers, walkers, and dogs on leashes are all welcome.

Your registration supports the Frankfort High School Track Program and helps put on the Fall Festival itself — so that $29 is funding local track kids and the pumpkin drop in the same breath. You'll finish right as Main Street fills up, which is excellent timing on your part!

Fall is the market's best season. The summer rush is over, the growers have time to talk, and the tables fill up with apples, cider, honey, and cut flowers that somehow keep going into October.

Our local makers are here too, so you'll find handmade work sitting right next to the produce — which is exactly how you end up leaving with a tote of squash and a gift you weren't planning on.

Stop by the Benzie Shores Library (630 Main St.) during Fall Fest to pick up a festive take home craft. This year’s craft = Yarn Pumpkins!

While supplies last.

50 vendor spaces this year, which is the most we've ever hosted — pottery, jewelry, woodwork, textiles, original art, and unique finds.

Give yourself more time here than you think you need. It's the part of the day people plan to walk through in twenty minutes and end up spending an hour in.

Local floats from our schools, businesses, and community groups come down Main Street first. Then every dog in town, in costume, for the Mutt March.

The Scottville Clown Band closes it out — a Michigan institution since 1903, playing, honking, and making a wonderful mess of things. Don't wander off before they come through. They're the whole reason people line up early and stay late!

Every kid gets a pumpkin. What happens to it after that is between them and the glitter.

Set up a station, hand them the supplies, and let them go — no carving, no sharp anything, just paint and stickers and whatever wild ideas they show up with. It's free, it takes as long as your kid wants it to take, and everybody goes home with one.

Crystal Lake Alpaca Farm & Boutique is bringing the alpacas downtown, and this is the stop your kids will still be talking about on the drive home.

The farm brings their boutique along too, so while the kids are busy, you can shop the alpaca yarn, socks, and knitwear that come off these exact animals.

One giant pumpkin. One brand new bike. One kid who guesses closer than anybody else.

Come size it up and write down your best number. Parents, this one's not for you. Let them guess it themselves.

Guesses close at 2:45 pm. Winner announced right before the pumpkin drop.

The tent runs games all day with prizes to win, staffed by volunteers who genuinely like doing this. Drop in between the parade and the pumpkin drop, or park there for an hour — either works.

The Oliver Art Center team will be on hand sharing details on upcoming classes and workshops, gallery exhibitions, youth art camps, and their Little Free Art Galleries project.

Admission to the Center is always free — and so is stopping by their booth, so come say hi and find your next creative outlet!

All ages, all day. Blush Face Painting is here doing the good stuff — not cheek stickers, actual designs, done well.

Come as yourself, leave as a tiger. Or a pumpkin. Or whatever you talk them into.

By noon you'll have walked the craft fair, watched the parade, and hauled a pumpkin around. Here's where you sit down.

TC Taco · Lake Bowls MI · The Elberta Pizza Co. are parked at Open Space Park with tacos, bowls, and pizza. Cash and cards both work at all three.

The First Congregational Church of Frankfort is running the cake walk, and yes — the cakes are homemade, and yes, you can win a whole one.

If you've never done a cake walk: you walk in a circle, the music stops, and if you're standing on the lucky number you pick a cake off the table and carry it home — it’s as simple as that!

Slow the day down for twenty minutes.

Two Fools is running horse-drawn carriage rides through downtown Frankfort. Climb up, let the horses do the work, and watch Main Street go by at exactly the right speed.

It's a doubles bracket, it's open to anyone who registers ahead of time (linked above) or shows up, and it runs right through the middle of the day — so bring a partner, bring a drink from the Beer, Wine & Spirits Tent, and settle it on the boards.

Registration = $40 per team - Winner takes all entry money

Nikki's set up with a sketchpad and is ready. Sit down, make a face, get a drawing.

Free, all ages, and worth the wait if there's a line — this is the souvenir people actually keep.

Details still falling into place!

After they close out the parade, the Clown Band sets up and plays for two solid hours. This is the good stuff — a Michigan institution since 1903, playing loud, dressed ridiculously, and having more fun than any band has a right to. Pull up a chair or just stand there grinning like everybody else does.

More acts still falling into place — check back soon!

The Lord of the Gourd is carving live, and it's one of the best shows at the festival.

Pull up and watch a pumpkin become something you wouldn't believe a knife could do. Then get your name in the raffle, because the finished piece is going home with one lucky person.

This is what everybody stays for.

Every year we hoist a giant pumpkin high above Open Space Park, park a car underneath it, and let go.

That's the finale. That's the whole town standing in one place at 3 pm counting down, and loving it!

A GIANT thank you to Zupin Crane for helping make this happen!