For 361 days a year, Benson is a town you could drive through without noticing you'd arrived. Roughly 4,000 people call it home, tucked into the spot where I-95 crosses I-40, closer to a quiet stretch of Main Street than a destination. Then, on the fourth weekend of September, it turns into something else entirely. This year, from Thursday, September 24 through Sunday, September 27, the 77th Annual Benson Mule Days Celebration will pull an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people into that same small footprint. If you live here, you already know the feeling of your town filling up around you. What's different in 2026 is that downtown Benson isn't just bracing for the crowd this time. It's trying to keep it.
The Weekend, Hour by Hour
Mule Days has never been a single event. It's four distinct days stacked on top of each other, and each one has its own rhythm.
- Thursday, 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Downtown vendors set up, trolley rides start running, and the carnival opens. The kickoff concert happens at 6 p.m. in the historic Benson Singing Grove, with performances this year from Raynorshine Band, Jason Michael Carroll, and Zac Lee Band.
- Friday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. The action shifts to Chamber Park and Arena for mule pulls, coon jumping, racing, and a crowd favorite called Mules Got Talent. Judges name a Grand Champion who gets a spot in Saturday's parade. Friday night also brings the first of two professional rodeos.
- Saturday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. The parade steps off at 10 a.m. down Main Street, and it's not a small one. Hundreds of mules, horses, antique tractors, classic cars, and marching bands make the walk, and the parade alone draws about 20,000 spectators. Saturday night is the second rodeo.
- Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Things wind down, though stable tours and horse-drawn wagon rides through historic Benson run through Friday and Saturday for anyone who wants a quieter look at the town's last remaining mule stable.
Where Your Car Actually Goes
The logistics of Mule Days aren't complicated, but they only make sense once, and that's usually the year you learn them the hard way.
| Where | Hours | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Downtown Benson | All weekend | General parking, plus a handicap lot |
| Chamber Park and Arena | All weekend | Overflow and rodeo parking, plus a second handicap lot |
| J. Lee Road park and ride | 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily | Free lot, but every vehicle must be moved by 5 p.m. to make room for rodeo parking |
| Church Street | Parade day only | Closed to parking, open to traffic flow only, for safety |
If you're driving in from outside town on Sunday, September 27, expect delays on I-95. The town's own advice is to take I-40 to Exit 325 instead. It's a small reroute that saves a real headache once the interstate backs up.
The Rules That Only Show Up Once a Year
A few things about Mule Days exist only because of Mule Days, and they catch people off guard every year.
- Golf carts need a permit. Electric and gas-powered carts are allowed, but they require a $60 Town of Benson permit, proof of insurance, seatbelts for every occupant, a rear-view mirror, and a reflective slow-moving sign. Carts can only run from sunrise until 30 minutes before sunset, and they're subject to the same traffic and DWI laws as any vehicle. The Chamber doesn't rent carts, so if you want one, you're arranging it yourself and clearing it with the Benson Police Department.
- Unplated side-by-sides, ATVs, and mechanical mules aren't allowed at all. Only DMV-licensed and plated UTVs make the cut.
- Every equine needs paperwork. North Carolina law requires a Coggins test for all horses, mules, and donkeys at the event, and state inspectors check for it. No papers means the animal, and its owner, gets asked to leave.
- Dogs are welcome on a leash. Large dogs are not permitted, so plan accordingly if you're bringing a pet downtown.
None of this is new information if you've lived through a Mule Days before. What's worth paying attention to this year is what's happening around the edges of the festival, not just inside it.
The Group Betting the Crowd Can Do More Than Pass Through
Benson's downtown has always had more going on than a festival weekend implies. Historic Downtown Benson sits inside a 54-acre National Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1984, and the town counts more than 100 shops, eateries, and service businesses still operating in that core. For most of the year, that density is a quiet asset. During Mule Days, it's usually just scenery for people walking between the carnival and the parade route.
A Johnston County Visitors Bureau report describes a group of downtown merchants working to change that. Calling themselves Elevate Benson, they've started meeting to talk about how to turn festival foot traffic into something that outlasts the weekend, borrowing directly from the playbook of Activate Selma, the merchant-driven revival effort a short drive away in Selma that's already reshaped that town's own downtown identity. It also quotes one Main Street shop owner involved in the group:
"The amount of people that wander into my store from other places just to explore and are charmed by our little town."
The group's stated goal is to get residents to notice that same charm instead of treating it as background noise, and their early ideas include more organized events on Main Street throughout the year and a closer partnership with the state's official Main Street America program, which already designates Benson as a Main Street community.
Why This Year's Weekend Actually Matters
Every Mule Days brings a temporary population that outnumbers the town itself by several times. What's changed is that downtown Benson now has an organized group actively trying to convert some of that temporary traffic into people who come back on a regular Tuesday, not just the fourth weekend of September. If Elevate Benson's early plans hold, this year's festival isn't only a parade and a rodeo. It's the closest thing downtown Benson has to a public test of whether a few thousand out-of-towners wandering past a shop window can turn into a reason to return.
For anyone who lives here, that's worth watching regardless of how you feel about mule pulls or funnel cake. A downtown that works for a festival weekend and a downtown that works every other week of the year aren't automatically the same thing, and Benson is in the middle of finding out if it can be both.
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This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.