Some of the best Outer Banks’ gatherings are the ones almost no one hears about. With mostly mild year-round temps, the lion’s share of our area bashes take place at outdoor venues. There’s usually music, but not always. Food tends to be a big part of what’s happening. Kids are always welcome. But mostly it’s about getting together with family, friends and making new friends that make these lesser known events so wonderful. Here are five very unique settings hosting some of the area’s most enjoyable festivals.

By Kipp Tabb

Morris Farm’s Back 40 Live

Barco, NC (Mainland Currituck County)

Photo at top of page: Morris Farm Market’s success in bringing local, regional and national recording artists has led to the recent opening of The Back 40 Live, a new open-air, bring-your-own- seating music venue. Photo courtesy of S.K. Marshall Media

The first two of our festival venues making the “outlandish” list are situated on the Currituck mainland. Morris Farm Market has been a family founded and run business since 1983. Every year the Morris family invests back into the market to continue to make the experience better for all who stop by. Many have made the market a traditional family stop on the way down to the OBX. Always improving the experience and continually seeking new ideas to give back to the community, say hello to The Back 40 Live, a new event venue positioned just behind the market.

So much of the family’s heart went into planning and bringing this amazing vision to life. Every detail for The Back 40 Live was thought out carefully, based on how the folks at Morris Farm Market would want to personally experience an outing. From multiple food and drink options, bathroom attendants to maintain cleanliness, and VIP upgrade options, no details were spared.

Nestled in the heart of Currituck County, The Back 40 Live at Morris Farm is just a short trip from both the Hampton Roads area and the Outer Banks.

Currently offering concerts and community events, be sure to check out the upcoming happenings on their webpage: www.morrisfarmmarket.com. This new and exciting spot is a bring your own seating, open-air event venue. Always something fun to do, a visit to Morris Farm Market is truly an experience you won’t want to miss.

The Back 40 Live has already brought so much fun to the area with fantastic artists including Craig Morgan, Chayce Beckham, Jerrod Niemann and more! The Morris Farm staff has plans for an exciting fall and are already preparing for 2025. Stay tuned for upcoming events! Look for them on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Currituck Trading Post

Maple, NC (Mainland Currituck County)

Located just north of Morris Farm Market, about a half hour north of the Wright Memorial Bridge, the Currituck Trading Post is right on Currituck Sound. It’s a beautiful setting. With general manager and partner David Bessey behind the counter, they’re serving up some great food. But what this spot is all about is its waterfront setting, live music and a fantastic time on the sound.

While known for hosting numerous small events, we visited the Trading Post in early September for a larger party called Bay Bash. A spinoff of previous years’ Floatopia Music Fest, it’s the water that really sets this festival apart from others. A lot of that is necessity, as Bessey explained.

“With our lack of parking, we use the water to our advantage,” he said. “Everyone around here knows somebody with a boat. They bring their boats.”

The Bash is three days of live music, games for kids and floating in a protected bay off Currituck Sound. There is parking for the boatless, but this is really about being on the water.

Situated right on the Currituck Sound, cool vibes mixing with great food and friendly folks make the Currituck Trading Post a perfect destination for a festive gathering. Photos by Rachel Saddlemire Photography

And it’s all free, something that Bessey makes clear is an important part of what Currituck Trading Post is all about.

“Everything we do, we never charge. We just want something for the community to come in and enjoy themselves,” he said.

While this year’s Bay Bash was held over Labor Day Weekend, Bessey is pretty sure that will change for 2025.

“With the kids going back to school, it was harder for a lot of people to get out this time of year. So, we’ll be jumping on it in early August, next year,” he said.

Open year-round, the Trading Post has a few more ongoing events scheduled. Beginning this fall, each week through December, they’ll be hosting Fire Pit Friday, featuring some of the best local musicians and fun family time.

“The community has supported us, and this is a great way to give back,” Bessey said.

Banana Island

Roanoke Sound, Outer Banks

Five years ago, as COVID put a damper on local events, George Etheridge wanted to get outside, be on the water, hear some music and be with friends.
“I called up some friends and told them my idea, and we made it happen,” he said. “And we’ve just been doing it ever since.”

Etheridge’s idea for a party venue is a little-known place called Banana Island, which is basically on a sandbar in the Roanoke Sound between Manteo and Nags Head.

Aptly named Bananarama, the party has always been about getting together with friends and enjoying some time on the water. What passes for publicity is pretty much word of mouth.

“If you’re lucky enough to hear about it and you stumble upon it, of course, we’d love to have you…but we’re not going out of our way to get people there,” he said.

Warm & shallow waters of the Roanoke Sound make Banana Island the perfect setting for a family-fun, fund-raising shindig in July, called Bananarama. Photo by Wes Snyder

Jamie Wescott who has been helping organize Bananarama for the past few years, describes an event that has taken on a life of its own. “It’s always a great time on the water, there’s a lot of locals getting together, some great music—and food, of course. The last couple years it’s just been hot dogs and barbecue, free for a donation. And they sell T-shirts and have raffles, with prizes donated by different businesses. Really, we’re just trying to bring in money for whatever George chooses for that year,” he said.

“George is into raising money for all kinds of charities and fundraisers. That’s what he likes to do,” he added.

And that Etheridge admits, is really what Banarama is all about and it’s a real source of pride.

“This is our sixth year doing it, and we’ve probably given $25,000 away just from the donations that the event brings,” he said. “I mean, we are doing good for the community.”

Ocracoke Island

Hyde County, NC

Ocracoke Island has a quaint beautiful downtown, great beaches, a truly historic lighthouse, and a claim to fame that happened on November 22, 1718. That was the day Lieutenant Robert Maynard of His Majesty’s Navy trapped Blackbeard the Pirate in the waters off Ocracoke and took the pirate’s life…and his head for good measure.

That being the case, why not celebrate the event 300 plus years later. A two-day event, the annual Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree will begin November 1st this year.

“Ocracoke Island is one of the few places in the world that can claim genuine Blackbeard history. The man and many of his crew were vanquished off Springer’s Point…in an engagement with British Royal Navy sailors led by Lt. Robert Maynard,” Pirate Jamboree Secretary Connie Leinbach wrote to Outer Banks Coastal Living.

Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree, a weekend living-history festival, celebrating colonial life and Blackbeard’s legacy on Ocracoke, for all ages, Nov. 1 & 2, 2024, on Ocracoke Island, NC. Photo by Natasha Jackson

The festival highlights much of what happened on that fateful day. Sailing ships take to the waters of Silver Lake and fire cannons replicating the sounds of an 18th century sea battle. “With blanks,” Leinbach wrote.

Later in the day there is a pirate melee on the docks of Ocracoke.

That, though, is just one part of what makes Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree so much fun. There are games and historic reenactments that take a look at daily life in the 18th century including the food and medicine of the time. There’s also The Sword Circle, where sword fighters hailing from Raleigh help kids learn the art of sword fighting.

Taking place on the grounds of the Berkley Manor, the event hopes to provide a feel for what it truly would have been like on Ocracoke Island in 1718.

“We want to keep the encampment and activities as authentic to colonial times as possible,” Leinbach wrote.

A nice touch to end the event is the memorial service honoring the fallen sailors for Blackbeard and Lt. Robert Maynard.

Portsmouth Island

Carteret County, NC

Portsmouth Island, seven miles south of Ocracoke Village on the south end of Ocracoke Inlet is about as remote as it gets. At one time Portsmouth Village was a small but thriving port town, but over the years it became less and less important until finally in 1971, Elma Dixon and Marian Babb, the last two inhabitants of the Village, moved away.

The island was already part of Cape Lookout National Seashore, and when the last inhabitants left, the village became a ghost town. Ever since, it’s been carefully and meticulously preserved by the National Park Service.

There are many descendants of the families that lived on the island. Every two years they gather for Portsmouth Homecoming to celebrate the history and a way of life.

“The descendants are why we have the homecoming, so that they can come back to see the island, where their people in their family before them lived,” said Kathy McNeilly, President of the Friends of Portsmouth Island, the nonprofit group that sponsors the one day event.

“This year we had right at about 400 people,” McNeilly said, but added weather seemed to keep some people at home. “More than that in the past.” It’s a full day of memories from the past and making new ones too.

Typically held in even-numbered years in April, descendants of Portsmouth Island gather by the hundreds for the Portsmouth Homecoming. Photo by Ann Ehringhaus

There are oral histories to be recounted, a chance to walk around the restored village and food…lots of food.

“They just bring…enough food to feed a good part of the world,” McNeilly said. “It’s amazing.”

Even though McNeilly is not a descendant, there is something about Portsmouth Island that keeps calling her back. She remembers her first time stepping on the island and thinking “this is just about as close to God as you can get on Earth. And I’m not a terribly religious person.”

Holding the reunion every other year is by design. “It truly takes two years to organize something this big,” McNeilly said.

While typically held in April, the exact date for the 2026 homecoming has not yet been decided.

Author: Kip Tabb