Hill Farmstead's Harvest Festival of Ales and Lagers is Saturday, September 19, 2026, at 403 Hill Road in Greensboro Bend, Vermont. Gates open at 11:00 a.m., the taps pour from noon to 4:00 p.m., and the 2026 festival is sold out. Which leaves a question worth answering, because the festival is four hours long and you are driving all the way to the Northeast Kingdom for it. The Wildflower Inn sits 38 minutes east, on Darling Hill in Lyndonville. Come up Friday and ride Kingdom Trails from our door. Stay through Sunday for quiet trails, 27 holes of disc golf, the first foliage of the year, and a pub that pours Edward and Sip of Sunshine every day of the year.
You do not have to be staying with us for any of it.
The festival, in short
When:
Saturday, September 19, 2026. Gates 11:00 a.m., taps noon to 4:00 p.m.
Where:
Hill Farmstead Brewery, 403 Hill Road, Greensboro Bend, VT 05842
Tickets:
Sold out for 2026. Hill Farmstead is the only ticket seller.
Rules:
21 and over (children under 5 allowed). Every group needs a designated driver to get in. No dogs, no camping, rain or shine.
From the Wildflower Inn:
38 minutes, 23 miles via VT-122 North (Google Maps, September 10, 2026)
One thing worth reading twice if this is your first year: you must arrive with your designated driver, or be validated by a volunteer at the roadside if a taxi or shuttle drops you off. No DD, no entry, no exceptions. Designated drivers get in with the group, plus a set of non-alcoholic drinks, a food-vendor voucher and the music. Sort that out now rather than in the parking lot.
Come up a day early and ride
The best-kept part of this weekend is Friday.
The Wildflower sits on the Kingdom Trails network. The trails start at our door, Rifugio's bike shop is on the property, and
mid-September is the window most riders miss: cool dry air, dust settled, the crowds of August gone home, and the first color climbing the high ground around Burke Mountain. Ride Friday afternoon, eat here Friday night, and you are rested and already in the Kingdom when the gates open Saturday morning.
If you would rather walk it, there are hiking trails and gravel roads out the same door, and they are just as good in the low September light.
Sunday is the one everybody misses
Here is the mistake people make: they drive home Sunday morning.
Saturday belongs to Hill Farmstead. Sunday belongs to the Kingdom, and it is the best day of the three.
Ride again. The trails are quietest on a Sunday morning in September, and the legs usually have one more day in them than anyone expects.
Play 27. Our disc golf course runs 27 holes across the fields and treelines on Darling Hill. Longer shadows, cooler air, the first color on the maples along the fairways. It is a forgiving, entirely unserious way to spend a morning with a group that was drinking barrel-aged stout the day before.
Walk up to Heaven's Bench. The overlook here on the property is the view down the valley people photograph and then keep on their phone for a year.
Then take a table. Sunday dinner on Darling Hill is the quiet one: the deck faces west, the sun goes down behind Burke Mountain, and the two beers people drive to Vermont hunting for are both waiting. Edward, Hill Farmstead's Vermont pale ale, is here every day of the year, and it is our best seller by a wide margin. Lawson's Sip of Sunshine, the flagship IPA from Lawson's Finest Liquids, is always here too. The kitchen is open 365 days, so the weekend can end at a table instead of a gas station on the interstate.
And if that sounds better than a three-hour drive on a full stomach, stay Sunday night. Sunday is the easiest night of the weekend to get a room, and Monday morning on Darling Hill is worth the extra day off.
Where the color actually is that weekend
Straight answer: September 19 is early, and it is still worth it.
In a typical year the sugar maples along Darling Hill start turning in the last week of September, with peak across the Kingdom running into the first week or two of October. Festival weekend catches the front edge: green and gold in the valley, real color climbing the high ground around Burke, swamp maples already gone red along the wet spots on the gravel roads. Lake Willoughby, the fjord-like lake between Mount Pisgah and Mount Hor, is 26 minutes north. Burke Mountain is 8 minutes away.
It is the quiet, underrated version of foliage season, a week or two before the roads fill up. Our week-by-week guide to
when foliage peaks in the Northeast Kingdom lays out how the color runs from here, and the
three-day leaf-peeping itinerary is the version with the gravel roads, the cheese and the views already mapped out.
If you still need a bed
Our
festival lodging packages sold out back in July, and so did both other partners'. Thank you, Kingdom.
We do still have a few of our biggest suites open for September 18 to 20 for crews who already have tickets. They sleep four to ten, which suits the way most people do this weekend anyway. Call 802-626-8310 and we will sort you out.
The Wildflower Inn is a 27-room resort on 300 acres in Lyndonville, Vermont, with a restaurant open 365 days a year, a Trailside pub with a west-facing deck, a 27-hole disc golf course, Kingdom Trails access from the door, and rooms for singles, couples and families. Dogs are welcome here. They are not welcome at the festival, so plan for that too.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Harvest Festival at the Wildflower Inn? No. The festival is at Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro Bend, 38 minutes from the inn. The Wildflower is one of its three official lodging partners.
Are tickets still available? No. The 2026 festival is sold out, and so are all three lodging partners' packages. Hill Farmstead is the only ticket seller and there is no waitlist we can add you to.
Can I get Hill Farmstead beer at the Wildflower Inn? Yes, at both of our bars. Edward, Hill Farmstead's Vermont pale ale, is our best-selling beer by a wide margin, and it is at the main restaurant bar every day of the year and at
Trailside, which sits right on the Kingdom Trails, while the season lasts. Hill Farmstead is 38 minutes away in Greensboro Bend, so this is about as close to the source as you can drink it without standing in their line.
What about Sip of Sunshine? Also always here. Sip of Sunshine is the flagship India Pale Ale from Lawson's Finest Liquids, the Vermont brewery out of Waitsfield. Between that and Edward, the two beers most people come to Vermont hunting for are both on Darling Hill, and the restaurant is open 365 days a year.
Do I have to be staying at the Wildflower to eat here? No. The restaurant and the Trailside pub are open to everyone, every day of the year. Sunday is the easiest night of festival weekend to get a table.
Can I play the disc golf course if I am not a guest? Yes. The 27-hole course is open to the public. Give us a call if you want to know what the fairways are doing in the leaves.
Where can I rent a bike? Rifugio's shop is on the property, and the Kingdom Trails network starts at our door.
Can I bring my dog? Not to the festival. Dogs are welcome at the inn, with a flat pet fee.
How is the foliage on September 19? Early, and quietly lovely. Green and gold in the valley with real color on the high ground around Burke. Peak on Darling Hill is usually the last week of September into early October.
How do I get a festival package for 2027? Hill Farmstead announces the festival and its lodging partners in early summer. Join the Wildflower email list or Wildflower Rewards and you will hear the day packages open.
See you on the hill.
The Wildflower Team
