October rolls in with the biggest small-town celebration of the fall: the Onalaska Apple Harvest Festival fills its weekend with a parade, a pancake breakfast, 90-plus vendors, and farm tours. Around it, the Chehalis Farmers Market keeps the harvest coming, pumpkin season officially opens at the patch on Goodrich Road, and Centralia offers live blues and a cinema-themed auction night. Here is what is happening around Lewis County from Monday, September 28 through Sunday, October 4.
Chehalis Farmers Market
Tuesday, September 29 · 10 AM – 3 PM
NE Boistfort St & N Market Blvd, Downtown Chehalis · Free admission
The Chehalis Farmers Market keeps its Tuesday rhythm going all the way through the end of October, and this week the stalls are dressed for the season. Expect the full fall lineup: apples by the bag, winter squash, pumpkins, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, garlic, and greens, alongside cheeses, farm-fresh eggs, honey, artisan breads, jams, cut flowers, and handmade crafts. The market accepts SNAP/EBT and WIC/FMNP benefits, runs rain or shine, and is a gentle, neighborly way to spend a Tuesday morning in downtown Chehalis with a full market bag and a little fall color overhead.
Lewis County Board of Commissioners
Tuesday, September 29 · 10 AM
Hearing Room, Historic Courthouse, 351 NW North St, Chehalis · Open to the public
Want to see how the county spends its October? The weekly legislative meeting of the Lewis County Board of Commissioners happens Tuesday morning at 10 AM in the board's Hearing Room on the second floor of the Historic Courthouse. Agendas are posted in advance on the county's website so you can see what is on the docket and weigh in during public comment. It is one of the simplest, most direct ways to take part in local government and stay in the loop on the issues shaping Lewis County, from land use to roads to the fall budget.
Onalaska Apple Harvest Festival
Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4 · All weekend
Downtown Onalaska & Carlisle Lake, ~15 minutes east of Chehalis · Free admission
This is the big one. The Onalaska Apple Harvest Festival, organized by the Onalaska Alliance, is the county's signature fall celebration, and the 2026 edition fills three days with apples in every form. Saturday begins with a pancake breakfast from 8 to 10 AM at the Onalaska Community Presbyterian Church (donations benefit the Onalaska Preschool), followed by the festival parade at 11:30 AM stepping off from the Onalaska High School parking lot at 5th and Carlisle Ave. All day on Carlisle Avenue, more than 90 vendors line the street alongside the annual quilt show, the apple pie contest, and fresh apple cider pressing, with the royal court bingo tournament and evening coronation rounding out the day. On Sunday, the free self-guided Farm and Homestead Tour opens 10 AM to 3 PM, starting at the Onalaska Alliance office at 310 Carlisle Ave, with a community farm dinner to close the weekend. Bring a jacket, a good appetite for pie, and a few hours to wander one of the friendliest small-town festivals in western Washington.
BIG Auction: An Evening at the Cinema
Friday, October 2 · 5:30 PM
Great Wolf Lodge, 20500 Old Hwy 99 SW, Grand Mound (Centralia) · Benefit auction evening
Friday night brings a dressed-up night out with a purpose. The 2026 BIG Auction takes an "Evening at the Cinema" theme to Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, just north of Centralia off I-5, with an evening of auction lots, dinner, and community spirit in a movie-inspired setting. It is the kind of night neighbors mark on the calendar: a good meal, a chance to bid on something special, and a warm, celebratory way to support what is happening in the community. Ticket and table details are handled by the event's organizers, so reach out through the auction's local listings if you would like to join the show.
Brothers From Different Mothers at The Juice Box
Friday, October 2 · 8 PM · $25 cover
The Juice Box Public House, 216 S Tower Ave, Centralia
For a little Friday-night music, the brothers are back in town. Brothers From Different Mothers brings its live blues and rock show to The Juice Box Public House in downtown Centralia on Friday night, a night of ripping guitar, big vocals, and toe-tapping originals and covers in one of the South Sound's most intimate music rooms. It is a short, easy hop from the auction crowd up at Grand Mound, and a great way to close out the first week of October with friends, food, and a glass of something local.
Pumpkin Season Opens at The Pumpkin Patch
Open daily, 10 AM – 6 PM, through Halloween · October is pumpkin month
518 Goodrich Rd, Centralia · Free admission; pick-your-own pumpkins priced by the pumpkin
October means pumpkin season, and The Pumpkin Patch on Goodrich Road in Centralia is open every day from 10 AM to 6 PM through Halloween. The family favorite offers a corn maze, tractor-pulled hay and wagon rides, pick-your-own pumpkins straight off the vine, a farm market, and plenty of farm animals, with a good bonfire-season snack stand to keep everyone fueled. Admission is free, so you can wander the maze or visit the goats without spending a dime, then load up the trunk for October's doorstep display. It is the perfect sunny-afternoon family outing to launch the month.
Also happening this week
The Timberland Regional Library branches in Centralia and Chehalis keep their free storytimes and teen hangouts running all week, a no-cost way to get the kids out into the community. For evening entertainment, McFiler's Chehalis Theater & Bar (543 NW Pacific Ave) runs karaoke Monday, Friday, and Saturday nights and live trivia on Tuesday at 6 PM, while The Hub Bar & Grill in Centralia (110 S Tower Ave) hosts karaoke Tuesday and Friday nights and trivia on Wednesday at 6 PM. Friendly spots to unwind with neighbors as the evenings turn cooler.
And a look ahead: the Pumpkin Trains roll out of the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad depot the weekend of October 10 and 11 with costumes, goody bags, and a pumpkin for every kid under 12, and the Lewis County Model Railroad Club's Train Show & Swap Meet fills the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds on October 17 and 18. The Centralia Fall Festival and Halloween Parade closes out the month downtown on October 31. The season is just getting started.
This is the week the orchards take over: catch the parade in Onalaska, fill a market bag in Chehalis, break in the corn maze in Centralia, and ease into October the neighborly way.
