With leaves changing colors and area residents starting to feel some relief from summer heat, the City of Warrenton is gearing up for its annual Fall Festival, set for Saturday, Sept. 19.
The festival will take place from noon to 9:30 p.m. on Main Street in Warrenton, with a highlight of the event being The Marshall Tucker Band’s headline performance on the main stage at 7:30 p.m. The event will also feature performance by Rough Ryders on the east stage from noon to 3 p.m., as well as Drew Cagle & the Reputation from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
City of Warrenton Director of Operations Jon Struckhoff said the 2026 festival will be much like last year’s event, although there have been some changes in the five years he has been organizing it.
The festival used to feature a car show, he said, but the city eliminated that event a couple of years ago. “That opened up space for additional vendors and expansion of the Kids Korner, which is always a big hit,” Struckhoff said.
“So the Kids Korner this year is going to have a petting zoo, pony rides, and a bunch of bounce houses. We’ve brought back Lawn Game Village, which is a little side street where we put a bunch of lawn games for adults. We’re going to have axe throwing there this year also, so that’s new.”
The Fall Festival used to feature only one band on the east stage, but added one within the last few years. “So now we have live music all day,” Struckhoff said.
The festival will feature a cornhole tournament with social and competitive divisions. Registration is $40 per team, with check-in and warm-ups at noon, and cash prizes for first-, second- and third-place winners.
Main Street/Booneslick Road will be closed from Morgan Street to Troy Road, and there will also be road closures on side streets including Thurman, Dryden, North East, North Market, North West, South West, South Market, South East and Hudson between Walton and Oak streets. The road closures will start before the festival itself and continue until after it is over, Struckhoff said.
“The road closures actually start at 6 o’clock in the morning, and they’ll go until we’re cleaned up, so it will be roughly midnight, 1 a.m.,” he said.
The best place to park will be Blackhawk Middle School, according to Struckhoff. Two shuttle buses will run back and forth from the school to the festival from noon until everyone gets back to their cars, “so wait times should be minimal,” he said.
As of Sept. 10, the city had received 72 vendor applications for the festival. “And there’s a bunch of different food, crafts, you name it, we’ve got a vendor for about everything,” Struckhoff said.
The Warrenton Fall Festival grew out of an earlier annual event, Struckhoff noted.
“Originally, back in the day it was called ‘Catch the Glow,’” he said. “It was kind of a fall event that the city did. That went away for a couple years, and then it got switched to the fall festival.”
Extensive planning goes into the city’s preparations for the annual festival, Struckhoff said. While he is the city’s main contact person for the event, he credited Events Director & Communications Specialist Jenna Jones with also being heavily involved.
“We’re already trying to book the band for next year’s event now,” he said, “so it’s really a year-long planning event.”
For more information, visit www.warrenton-mo.org/events.
