9 October Events in Butte County

With a rich abun­dance of tree vari­eties in the area (espe­cial­ly in Chico, ​“the City of Trees”), Butte Coun­ty is spoiled for some breath­tak­ing views as foliage starts to turn col­ors. While the area starts to see some col­ors turn­ing in late Sep­tem­ber, when the oaks and sycamores begin to turn, the explo­sion of yel­lows, oranges and deep reds real­ly takes off in Octo­ber; a dri­ve down the Esplanade in Chico is prob­a­bly the most well-known local scene for tree-gazing.

Orchard coun­try, how­ev­er, is also beau­ti­ful in the fall. In Durham, the burst­ing pinks and greens of spring that pre­ced­ed har­vest sea­son will soon give way to a brief but gor­geous yel­low-and-orange rush of lined trees. Whether you’re cruis­ing the back roads of Butte Coun­ty or decide to take your bike out for a ride specif­i­cal­ly to catch these views, you might con­sid­er bring­ing a cam­era along.

What’s Octo­ber with­out a trip to the pump­kin patch?

From Chico to Big­gs to Durham, Butte Coun­ty has half a dozen unique pump­kin patch­es to vis­it, so you’re sure to find the per­fect pump­kin for carv­ing, paint­ing, or even bak­ing! And with cer­tain pump­kin patch­es offer­ing hay rides, cart rides, and oth­er chil­dren’s activ­i­ties, you can make it a whole after­noon activity! 

The Butte Coun­ty Winer­ies and Spir­its Pass is a month-long har­vest cel­e­bra­tion. Set your own pace and enjoy the spe­cial offers and expe­ri­ences Butte Coun­ty award win­ning winer­ies and dis­til­leries have to offer each week­end in Octo­ber. Get ready to sam­ple the deli­cious offer­ings from more than a dozen par­tic­i­pat­ing winer­ies and dis­til­leries across the county!

Enjoy every week­end in Octo­ber start­ing Octo­ber 7, 2023.

Spend Sun­day after­noons by the water at Oroville’s River­bend Park dur­ing the Oroville Fall Con­certs in the Park. From Octo­ber 1 — Octo­ber 29, 2023, enjoy live music from 3:30pm‑5:30pm, with local ven­dors and food trucks ready to serve you start­ing at 2:30pm. This is a won­der­ful way for fam­i­ly and friends to gath­er in local parks to enjoy live music per­formed by tal­ent­ed bands.

A major Par­adise pride point is its two-day fall fes­ti­val now known as the old­est har­vest in the state, one that dates back to 1888. All things apple are on dis­play in cel­e­bra­tion at John­ny Apple­seed Days, which pop­u­lar­ly fea­ture apple pie and ice cream as well as DIY apple pie kits, a children’s area with face paint­ing and games, non­stop enter­tain­ment over the course of the fes­ti­val, and even an appear­ance from John­ny Apple­seed, who shares some sto­ries with young visitors.

Cel­e­brate in 2023 on Sat­ur­day Oct. 7 and Sun­day Oct. 8.

A selec­tion of Down­town Chico busi­ness­es par­tic­i­pate in this month-long Chico Art & Wine Walk that kicks off Fri­day, Oct. 4, 2024 from 5 – 8pm, and fea­tures live music and a dis­play of local artists’ works, includ­ing paint­ings, ceram­ics, and sculp­tures — and it’s all paired with com­pli­men­ta­ry tast­ings from area winer­ies and breweries.

A kick­off to the hol­i­day shop­ping sea­son, Down­town Chico gets things going with the Chico Har­vest Side­walk Sale on Oct. 12, 2024, with mer­chants show­cas­ing their busi­ness­es and goods with spe­cials and sales all week­end. Par­tic­i­pat­ing down­town restau­rants will offer fall-themed menu items and sig­na­ture dish­es, and Down­town Chico will adopt a dis­tinct­ly fall vibe as store­fronts and the town dec­o­rate appro­pri­ate­ly with hay bales, scare­crows and pumpkins.

Clas­sic car enthu­si­asts won’t want to miss the 44^th annu­al Con­cours d’Elegance, the county’s pre­mier car show. Held at lush and scenic Butte Creek Coun­try Club this year, the event dates back to 1979, when Chico Con­cours start­ed the annu­al endeav­or of show­cas­ing beau­ti­ful clas­sic auto­mo­biles. With grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty sup­port each year — and now the intro­duc­tion of clas­sic motor­cy­cles — the Con­cours d’Elegance is one of those events that start­ed with niche appeal and has grown into a full-fledged tradition.

The event takes place Sat­ur­day, Oct. 21, 2023.

Whole­some Hal­loween? Sold! Designed to be a safe adven­ture for chil­dren 12 and under, the set­up for Treat Street couldn’t be sim­pler: Super­vised chil­dren in cos­tumes cruise Down­town Chico going door to door trick-or-treat­ing, and busi­ness­es hand out treats for Halloween!

A ton of activ­i­ties and enter­tain­ment are on hand, plus local police and fire pros offer­ing safe­ty tips for trick-or-treaters who will be con­tin­u­ing their night into oth­er neigh­bor­hoods. Local Rotar­i­ans also will be present to help guests cross down­town streets safely.

Whether you are look­ing for a fam­i­ly-friend­ly way to appre­ci­ate the fall har­vest and Hal­loween or seek­ing a get­away to take in the local agri­cul­tur­al scene, Butte Coun­ty has plen­ty of activ­i­ties to fill your Octo­ber calendar.