Well, we are officially only a few days from almost everyone's favorite season- FALL! Cooler weather, warmer clothes, and pumpkin spice...everything. Fall is one of the greatest times of the year for those who get to experience it, but I must say there's nothing like experiencing it below the Mason-Dixon Line. Here are my top 10 reasons why you just can't beat Fall in the South:
1. SEC College Game Day
Theres not a better feeling than spending a Saturday in Athens, or wherever else an SEC game is located. The atmosphere of a college game day is one that cannot explained, it just has to be felt. The cool air and even colder drinks makes for a perfect way to spend a saturday in the south. As we all know, "there's nothin finer in the land, than a drunk obnoxious Georgia fan!"
2. We Actually Have a Fall
When the mornings become cool and crisp, we can feel fall coming in the air. The leaves begin to change and the temperature slowly decreases. A mid 50's to low 60's is the best weather for being outside and taking it all in. Too many places go from hot to cold, entirely too quick, but around here we get to actually enjoy the climate change (unless El Nino comes around).
3. Festivals
With fall comes festivals, and lots of them. Whether they are big festivals in big cities or smaller festivals in smaller towns, they all show that fall is in full swing. People walk around to shop the arts, crafts, and food while mingling along with their community and it's a wonderful feeling.
4. Fall Attire
Duck boots, jeans, and flannels may sound like the eptimone of a basic white girl in the south, but really who doesn't love to cozy up in warmer clothes and not sweat to death or suffocate from the humidity? Southern clothing in the fall is easily one of the greatest reasons for even having a fall.
5. The Food
Sure, Thanksgiving feasts are prepared everywhere. But until you've tried my grandmamas honey baked ham, fried turkey, homemade dressing, green beans, made from scratch biscuits, and deviled eggs, I don't wanna hear about your yankee "stuffing." It's dressing. Not stuffing.
6. Kirklands
I know that Kirklands are technically all over the United States, but if you look at a map they are definitely clustered and packed in the South. But Southern Kirklands provides you with wooden signs saying "come in y'all!" and cotton wreaths, and anything else you could possibly dream of having in your ideal home. I know us ladies could easily drop four figures in there on any given day if allowed.
7. Bonfires & Truckpulls
There are few greater things in life than wearing big camouflage jackets and cowboy boots drinking a cold beer by a warm fire with all of your favorite friends and country music blasting through the speakers on a chilly October night. Side by side with that- truck and tractor pulls. Diesel smoke and dust fills the fall air and being with all your best friends having a real good time.
8. Leaving Windows Open
From the end of September to the middle of November, there is no air or heat running in homes in the South. We leave the windows up for weeks because the cool fall air brings relief to our hair and our power bills.
9. Cotton
Driving through the South in the fall, it is a beautiful sight to see a fields of white surrounding you. No, it isn't snow. It's cotton and many local farmers who earn their living with it. Though they don't get paid nearly enough for the work that they do, we sure do appreciate them and the beauty of their crop. We even use it for home decor and there are even festivals centered around it- aka The Bostwick Cotton Gin Festival in Bostwick, GA. right outside of my hometown. It's one of my favorite days of the year.
10. Deer Season
From mid October to early January, depending on the state, many people's lives revolve around their hunting schedules. Early mornings and evenings on the weekends, you'll have a hard time getting ahold of folks because most of them are in the deer stand. The flicker of a white tail gets everybody excited. We don't just hunt the deer to kill them- we eat it. Deer sausage, deer spaghetti, deer tacos, you name it- we can use deer in it.
