Beaufort NC November Events 2026: Pirates and Local Highlights

The 2026 Beaufort Pirate Invasion lists its main event at Gallants Channel Annex, 293 W. Beaufort Rd. Ext., for Nov. 14 and 15. Weekend admission is $10 per person, free for ages 12 and under, and parking is included. The last two invasions ran through downtown. The 2026 listing takes the biggest crowd of the late-fall calendar to a separate site with its own gate and its own lot. That changes the rest of November downtown, which now leans on smaller events with set start times and capped tickets.

What changed between 2024, 2025 and 2026

In 2024, the Carteret County News-Times described vendors opening throughout downtown on Friday afternoon, followed by a cannon salute and Parlay at Eury Park at 5 p.m. In 2025, the paper's coverage was mostly about street closures. Front Street closed to traffic between Marsh and Queen Streets on Saturday for pirate parades. The 100 block of Turner Street was already closed for infrastructure work, so visitors were directed to the free Ann Street lot.

The 2026 organizer page lists cannon demonstrations, living history, entertainment, vendors, food trucks, performances and sea battles, all under the Annex address. Visit North Carolina's listing adds the Spanish Pirate Attack of 1747 reenactment and an evening parlay to Saturday's activities. The Pirate Parlay is ticketed separately. It runs Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Annex, with pirate bands and a fire performance by Kinetic Fire Entertainment.

Some things are still open. The organizer's schedule page has no details posted yet, so it's unclear whether any 2026 activities, sea battles included, will still reach Taylors Creek or Front Street. Beaufort Pirate Invasion Inc. runs the event, with Capt. Carl Cannon as host and organizer. Neither the organizer, the Town nor local news has given a public reason for the new venue or the new weekend fee. The best source for downtown closures this year will be the full schedule, once it's posted.

As for the site itself, WCTI reported in January 2025 that Gallants Channel Annex is owned by the North Carolina Maritime Museum. That's separate from the museum's planned Gallants Channel education campus. On Oct. 2, the Friends of the North Carolina Maritime Museum wrote that the campus remains a long-term vision, with its scope, funding, design and timeline still subject to state planning and approval. In practice, a vacant waterfront site is getting one busy weekend in November.

Downtown starts on Oct. 24, at the Historic Site

The run of downtown events opens at the Beaufort Historic Site with its Fall Party on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. There will be live jazz and food from Beaufort Grocery Company. The Beaufort Historical Association's next event follows a week later and sets the pattern for the month: small groups, fixed times, limited tickets.

Nov. 1 has two events, one capped at 100 people and one free

On Sunday, Nov. 1, the Beaufort Historical Association holds Voices of the Past, a lantern-light tour of the Old Burying Ground timed to Allhallowtide. Tours leave at 4:00, 4:30, 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. Each session is capped at 25 people, for 100 total, and each tour lasts about 45 minutes. Tickets are $24 for adults and $12 for ages 6 to 12. You can buy them online, by calling 252-728-5225, or at the Old Beaufort Shop at 130 Turner Street. Each group gets a Caretaker Guide, and the BHA says the tour honors the past rather than trying to frighten anyone.

The Día de los Muertos festival runs on Middle Lane the same afternoon from 4 to 8 p.m. It's free and family-friendly, with food and drinks, live Latin music and dancing, children's crafts, a display of ofrendas honoring loved ones, and a free screening of Coco. The local nonprofit Beaufort Picture Show sponsors it. The BHA's listing says the businesses of Middle Lane host the festival and adds a beer garden to the lineup.

Because the festival starts at 4 and runs until 8, it lines up with every tour slot. If you book the 4:00 tour, you'll be done around 4:45 with about three hours of festival left. If you book 5:30, it makes sense to spend the early part of the afternoon on Middle Lane.

Nov. 7 is the busiest day of the month

Beaufort Wine & Food's Shuckapalooza fills the first full weekend of November. New this year are wine dinners on Thursday, Nov. 5:

• 34° North Restaurant: Chef Tyler Smith cooks a multi-course farm-to-table menu with Changing Tide Oyster Co., paired with wine from Champagne Jeeper.
• Blue Moon Bistro: Chefs Jayson Foster and Josh Macklin cook with Changing Tide Oyster Co., with wines from David Milligan Selections.

Friday night's Brews & Bivalves runs from 6 to 9 p.m. on the Beaufort Hotel's front lawn at 2440 Lennoxville Rd. It features local craft beer and a clam bake with clams, shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn. Tickets are $110 plus a service fee.

Saturday has two events back to back, a few hours apart:

1. 8 to 10 a.m.: The Beaufort Lions Club's 8th Annual Beaufort Bridge Run 5K and 1+ Mile Dog Strut. According to the Lions Club, these are the only events that cross both of Beaufort's bridges, the high-rise Gallants Channel (Grayden Paul) Bridge and the Turner Street Bridge. Registration is open on RunSignup.
2. 1 to 4 p.m.: The Shuckapalooza Oyster Roast on the Beaufort Hotel's front lawn. Tickets are $135 plus a service fee and cover food, wine, beer, spirits, oysters and music.

The BWF Fan Pass covers Brews & Bivalves and the Oyster Roast for $220 plus a service fee. That's $25 less than buying both tickets separately. Beaufort Wine & Food says its event proceeds go to a core group of local charities. The Bridge Run raises money for charitable causes supported by the Beaufort Lions Club. That means a single Saturday supports two separate local fundraising groups.

The Bridge Run route also points ahead to the following weekend. The Gallants Channel Bridge carries runners toward the same side of town where the Pirate Invasion will set up a week later.

After the pirates, the Jumble Sale on Nov. 21

The Beaufort Historical Association closes the month with its 2026 Jumble Sale on Saturday, Nov. 21, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Beaufort Historic Site. Admission is free. It falls the Saturday after the Pirate Invasion. The Historic Site hosts the downtown events that open and close this stretch, on Oct. 24 and Nov. 21.

For weekday plans in between, the North Carolina Maritime Museum on Front Street reopened earlier this year after HVAC work. It added new exhibits on coastal recreation and on North Carolina's maritime role in the American Revolution, a useful bit of background before the 1747 reenactment. WCTI reported hours of Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with free admission. Watermark Books, the newer independent bookstore at 131 Turner St., is across from the Historic Site's address at 130 Turner.

Here's the full stretch in one place:

Our team follows changes like the Pirate Invasion's new address because they affect what a downtown Beaufort address is like through the year, from parking on a Saturday in November to which streets close and when. If you own near Front Street or Middle Lane and are wondering what your home is worth this fall, the Copeland & Bernauer Real Estate Team can give you a local read on it. Get Your Instant Home Valuation.