If you have one day for Gold Rush Days 2026, make it Saturday, October 17. Be downtown for the 9:00 AM opening and stay through the 3:00 PM parade. Between those two times the organizer’s schedule lists four contests, the grand marshal announcement and the King and Queen coronation. Every time below is copied from the organizer’s 2026 schedule.
Before 9:00 AM: park outside and walk in
You cannot drive to the square. The organizer’s vendor page says downtown streets close to the general public at 6:00 PM on the Friday before the festival and reopen at 8:00 PM on Sunday. That page carries no year, and as of October 12, 2026 no city or sheriff’s notice for this year’s closures had been found.
Nobody has published a visitor parking plan for 2026 either. No primary source names festival lots or prices, and none confirms a shuttle. The visitors bureau’s year-round guide says the University of North Georgia parking deck, reached from South Chestatee Street and Choice Avenue, is open to the public all day on Saturdays and Sundays. Nothing confirms that for festival weekend. In 2025 the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office warned that traffic delays would be heaviest around the downtown square. The parking page tracks what has been published.
The Gold Rush 5K, sponsored by the Dahlonega Rotary, is at 8:00 AM. The race’s registration page says it starts and finishes at the University of North Georgia in front of Memorial Hall, on a course through the town square. It is a separate event with its own entry fee.
9:00 AM to noon: the morning program
The festival opens at 9:00 AM, and the first act is listed fifteen minutes later.
- 9:15 AM. Historic Holly Theater Presents Dahlonega’s Got Talent.
- 9:45 AM. Nealy Webster, listed by name only.
- 10:15 AM. Pie Eating Contest.
- 11:00 AM. Gainesville Ballet Company.
- 11:30 AM. Dahlonega’s Got Talent, the second of two Saturday slots.
The schedule names no stage for any act and gives no end times, so work out where the performances are when you arrive. Fit the booths around the acts you want. The organizer says more than 200 art and craft exhibitors and food vendors set up around the Public Square and Historic District, a figure its page does not date to 2026.
Noon to 2:00 PM: four starts in under an hour
The Raven Welch Band is listed at 12:00 PM. Then the items come close together.
- 12:50 PM. Beard Growing Contest.
- 1:00 PM. Grand Marshal Announcement.
- 1:15 PM. Apple Bobbing.
- 1:45 PM. Hog Calling.
Those four start within 55 minutes of each other, so this is the stretch to stay put for. Eat before the band or during it. The 2026 grand marshal had not been named on the organizer’s site as of October 12, which makes the 1:00 PM announcement the place to find out.
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM: the coronation, then the parade
The King and Queen Coronation is at 2:00 PM. The organizer says Kings and Queens are nominated by community members and must be over 60 years of age. This year’s pair had not been named on the organizer’s site as of October 12. The Oak Grove Boys are listed at 2:15 PM.
The Gold Rush Parade is at 3:00 PM, and the organizer’s parade page says it will proceed rain or shine. The route is published only as a map image. It shows the parade going around the square, and the organizer’s rules say it ends in the college Drill Field circle. No primary source recommends a place to watch from. The parade guide has the map.
After the parade
The last act on Saturday’s schedule is Radford Windham and Step Back Cadillac at 4:30 PM. The schedule itself gives no closing time. The 5:30 PM close comes from the organizer’s vendor page, which lists 9:00 to 5:30 as the hours booths are open, and AccessWDUN reported the same hours for the 2025 festival.
One caution. The schedule image was posted on September 9, 2026, more than five weeks before the festival. Look at it again on Saturday morning, or use the typed-out version on the schedule page.