{"id":425655,"date":"2026-09-04T02:28:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T02:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/425655\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T02:28:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T02:28:23","slug":"el-pasos-favorite-fall-apple-festival-is-back-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/425655\/","title":{"rendered":"El Paso\u2019s Favorite Fall Apple Festival Is Back for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every fall I see the pictures, and every fall I wonder why I haven’t made it out to the Apple Festival yet!<\/p>\n

You know the pictures I’m talking about: everyone looks adorable picking apples in the mountains, apple cider in hand, fully enjoying their best fall life while I’m back in El Paso feeling a little jealous.<\/p>\n

Well, not this year!<\/p>\n

I am determined to do ALL the fall activities this year, and since I’ve somehow never been apple picking before, I think it’s finally time to see what all the fuss is about at the annual Apple Festival in La Luz, New Mexico.<\/p>\n

The Apple Festival Near El Paso Returns This October<\/p>\n

The 2026 Apple Festival returns to Nichols Ranch and Orchards in La Luz on Saturday, October 3 and Sunday, October 4.<\/p>\n

It’s an annual tradition celebrating more than 100 years of apple growing in the Sacramento Mountains, and it’s become a pretty popular fall road trip for El Pasoans.<\/p>\n

And I can see why.<\/p>\n

We’re talking apple picking at an actual working orchard, mountain air and gorgeous views of the Tularosa Basin. For those of us desperately trying to convince ourselves it’s fall while El Paso temperatures say otherwise, this sounds pretty perfect.<\/p>\n

Tickets can be purchased ahead of time online through Eventbrite <\/a>or at the gate.<\/p>\n

There Is A LOT Happening at the 2026 Apple Festival<\/p>\n

Obviously, I’m most excited about finally getting to pick my own apples, but there’s a whole lot more happening throughout the weekend!<\/p>\n

The festival will feature more than 70 arts and crafts vendors along with 20-plus food and snack vendors. There will also be apple pie, apple cider, a petting zoo, games for the kids and beer and wine from area breweries and wineries.<\/p>\n

Live music will be going throughout both days, too. Basically, you can make an entire fall day out of this one.<\/p>\n

What El Pasoans Should Know Before Heading to the Festival<\/p>\n

Before you throw on your cutest fall outfit and head for the mountains, remember that this is still a working farm.<\/p>\n

The festival sits at about 6,800 feet in elevation and is spread across a pretty large area with uneven and unpaved surfaces, so comfortable walking shoes are a must. Organizers also recommend bringing plenty of water because it can still get warm during the day.<\/p>\n

If you’re planning on doing some shopping, bringing a wagon isn’t a bad idea either. It’ll make hauling those apples, pies, cider and whatever else you find much easier.<\/p>\n

There’s even a free shuttle that’ll take you from the parking lot to the top of the festival grounds and back when you’re ready to leave. You can find out more do\u2019s and don\u2019ts here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Apple picking, mountain air, cider and a little break from El Paso? My fall activity checklist is officially ready.<\/p>\n

El Paso Menudo Spots People Swear By on Sundays<\/p>\n

Grab the pot and get ready for a Sunday menudo run! El Pasoans shared their favorite spots for menudo including some neighborhood gems you may not know.<\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Joanna Barba<\/p>\n

The One-Wish List El Pasoans Would Love to Make Reality<\/p>\n

From fun additions to heartfelt changes, El Pasoans reveal the one wish they would make for the Sun City if anything were possible.<\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Joanna Barba<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every fall I see the pictures, and every fall I wonder why I haven’t made it out to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139,64,143,2383],"class_list":["post-425655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-events","tag-local-el-paso","tag-new-mexico"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}