The gorgeous kitchen inside this David Weekley-built Avignon home on this year’s Parade of Homes tour.

Get ready to window shop your way through some of the Greater Charlotte area’s newest and nicest homes this weekend!

The annual Parade of Homes begins Oct. 7 and lasts 2 more weekends through Oct. 23.

Whether you are in the market for a new home, a building site or just design ideas for a renovation, Parade of Homes is free and it’s fun.

This year’s parade includes more than 75 homes, including model homes, homes for sale and communities with available building sites.

The Parade of Homes web site offers a tool that allows you to choose the homes you want to see and then map your tour route. The parade can take you all the way from Lake Wylie to Lake Norman!

Twenty builders are represented on this year’s tour, including Alan Simonini Homes, Bonterra Builders, David Weekley, Saussy Burbank and Toll Brothers.

Parade home prices range from $200,000 to more than $1 million.

Some of the in-town and SouthPark neighborhoods on the tour include: Central Living at Iverson, Cherry, Eastover City Homes, Churchill Commons, Channing Hall and Avignon.

For a complete map of homes and list of homes on the tour, see the Parade of Homes Charlotte site. The tour is hosted by the Home Builders Association of Greater Charlotte.

Tour dates are as follows: Oct. 7-9, 14-16 and 21-23. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

Gather round as Plaza Midwood merchants host their annual Fall Crawl Art Fest.  Head out to Midwood this weekend for funky finds and unique treasures as Midwood residents and artists collaborate to bring you local art in what feels like a culturally rich blockparty.  But wait a minute, this won’t be your typical art crawl.  Midwood business owners, residents and artists will have live street art featuring dance, performance art, drum circles, hooping, jewelry, crafts, cartooning, music and painting!  Plaza Midwood’s website describes the festival as a “fun-filled and culturally eclectic experience throughout the streets of the business district. In a neighborhood known for its diversity, we bet you will find some hidden gems you never knew were here!”

You won’t want to miss it!

Yiasou Greak Festival 2015

It’s that time of year again– the leaves are starting to fall, football season has begun and Autumn wreaths are hung on doors– so get ready for some delicious Greek food, music and dancing… that’s right, synonymous with fall in Charlotte is the best Greek Festival in the Southeast, the Yiasou Festival.  The warrior reenactments are so much fun to watch and the folk dance performances are also very entertaining, you’ll want to get up and dance too!  Admission is just $3 and children under 12 free.

Greek Fest has been a Charlotte tradition since 1978 when Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral first held the festival in the heart of Dilworth.  Since then the Yiasou Festival has become one of the Queen City’s most popular cultural events.  Drawing huge crowds each year, many Charlotteans eagerly await Charlotte’s first festival of Fall. Yiasou  is the Greek word for Hello, Goodbye and Cheers and you will certainly feel cheerful at the festival.  Featuring Hellenic cultural exhibits, to-die-for Greek food, Cathedral tours, entertainment, art, shopping and more, Yiasou will not disappoint!  Fun for the entire family, this is Charlotte’s time of year to embrace all things Greek.