One of the bonuses of living in a tri-state area has to be the amazing arts, cultural, food, and beverage festivals that take place throughout the year. With that said, I decided to pull together a diverse list of some the of the annual festivals that take place in the DC/Maryland/Virginia metropolitan area.
Enjoy the list, and be sure to attend and enjoy as many festivals as possible. These festivals are not only entertaining, but they help support many local businesses.
Other Lists: Music Festivals | Concert Venues
March
The National Cherry Blossom Festival
The National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates spring in Washington, DC, the gift of the cherry blossom trees, and the enduring friendship between the people of the United States and Japan. Various events are scheduled throughout a three-week period.
Date: March 20 – April 16, 2023
Location: Washington, DC
Website: nationalcherryblossomfestival.org
April
The Maryland Chicken Wing Festival features some of the best establishments in the area. This is a family friendly event and children under 12 are free.
Maryland Chicken Wing Festival
Date: April 1, 2023
Location: Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds, Crownsville, MD
Website: Maryland Chicken Wing Festival Website
May
Canton Spring Festival
The Canton Spring Festival is a free event and open to the public. It features food trucks, vendors, kid zone, live music, and Ravens player appearances.
Date: TBA
Location: Patterson Park, Baltimore, MD
Website: bmorespringfest.com
Savor Bowie Food, Wine & Music Festival
Savor Bowie is an annual festival with a focus on music, wine tasting, and food. The event is put on by Concert for Causes with provides musical instruments to students.
Date: April 15-16, 2023
Location: Bowie Towne Center, Bowie, MD
Website: concertsforcausesinc.org
Wine In The Woods
Wine In The Woods has been a staple in Howard County for more than 20 years. The two-day festival showcases Maryland wines, artisans, specialty foods, wine education, and live music.
Date: TBA
Location: Symphony Woods Park, Columbia, MD
Website: wineinthewoods.com
Brew at the Zoo and Wine Too
The Maryland Zoo’s biggest fundraiser featuring, food, beer, wine and live music. Tickets to the event includes admission to the zoo. Traditionally three live bands play each day of the multi-day festival.
Date: May 27-28, 2023
Location: Maryland Zoo, Baltimore, MD
Website: marylandzoo.org/events/
Charles Village Festival
The Charles Village Festival brings together the entire Greater Charles Village community for a two-day festival that includes a block party with live music, a garden walk tour, a 5k & 1k kids fun run. All proceeds raised from the event benefit local non-profit organizations.
Date: TBA (October)
Location: Wyman Park Dell, 29th and Charles Streets, Baltimore, Maryland
Website: charlesvillagefestival.net
Washington Folk Festival
The Washington Folk Festival showcases the diversity of traditional music in the Washington area. All musicians, storytellers, dancers, and crafts people live in the the greater Washington metropolitan area and volunteer their talents to put on the festival.
Date: TBA
Location: Glen Echo Park, Glen Echo, MD
Website: fsgw.org
June
St. Anthony’s Italian Festival
An annual celebration of Italian culture, food, and entertainment in the heart of Little Italy in Baltimore, MD.
Date: TBA
Location: Little Italy, Baltimore, MD
Website: promotioncenterforlittleitaly.org
St. Mary’s County Crab Festival
Put on by the Leonardtown Lion’s Club. This festival is in its 37th year. If you are serious about crabs, this festival is for you. “The Crab Festival is a celebration of St. Mary’s Crab Culture and Cooking.”
The festival offers plenty of steamed hard crabs, crab soups, crab cakes, and other seafood dishes available for purchase.
Date: TBA
Location: 42455 Fairgrounds Road, Leonardtown, MD
Website: St. Mary’s County Crab Festival Website
Honfest
HonFest is a local Baltimore tradition. The Bawlmer term of endearment, Hon, short for Honey, embodies the warmth and affection bestowed upon our neighbors and visitors alike by historic working-women of Baltimore. HonFest is an annual celebration in honor of these women.
Date: TBA
Location: The Avenue 36th St., Baltimore, Maryland
Website: honfest.net
Baltimore Pride
The Baltimore Pride Celebration is a program of the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore, a community-based nonprofit organization founded in 1977.
Date: TBD, 2020
Location: Baltimore, MD
Website: baltimorepride.org
Greek Folk Festival
The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Greek Folk Festival, or St. Nicholas Greek Folk Festival or Greek Folk Festival for short, is one of the Mid-Atlantic region’s largest and longest running annual Hellenic events and is the most attended Greek-American community event in Maryland.
Date: TBA
Location: 701 Ponca St, Baltimore, Maryland
Website: greekfolkfestival.org
Giant National BBQ Battle
A combination of a food and music festival, the Giant BBQ Battle offers a sampling pavilion, 3 performance stages, a health and wellness stage, and of course a BBQ battle.
Date: June 24-25, 2023
Location: Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
Website: bbqindc.com
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival
This festival, held every summer on the National Mall, celebrates several US and foreign cultures each year with music, crafts, food and demonstrations of practical skills. The festival usually takes place at the end of June and goes into July.
Date: June 28-July 4 and July 6-9, 2024
Location: National Mall, Washington, DC
Website: www.festival.si.edu
July
Fringe Festival
Fringe Festival is a festival that features independent, Fringe theatre, music, art, dance and unclassifiable forms of live performance and visual art.
Date: TBA
Location: Multiple Venue, Washington, DC
Website: capitalfringe.org
Baltimore Caribbean Carnival Festival
The Baltimore Caribbean Carnival Festival celebrates the heritage of the island nations. The festival provides a taste of authentic island cuisine, international entertainment, a parade and more.
Date: TBA
Location: Lake Clifton Park, 2701 St Lo Drive, Baltimore MD 21213
Website: baltimorecarnival.com
August
Vietfest
The Vietfest is a two-day outdoor festival that showcases the best of Vietnamese culture, talent, business, and people. The festival also includes cultural cuisines and vendors, exhibits, entertainment, Miss Vietfest Pagent, various fun competitions, a childrens carnival, and more. The festival takes place in Northern Virginia.
Date: TBA
Location: McLean, VA
Website: vietfest.com
St. Gabriel Italian Festival
The feast of St. Gabriel Italian Festival is held in the streets of Little Italy. The festival includes, food, wine, beer, bocce, bingo, music, and much more.
Date: TBA
Location: Little Italy, Baltimore, MD
Website: promotioncenterforlittleitaly.org
September
Adams Morgan Day Festival
An annual festival featuring food from around the world and live music. The festival is held in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Date: TBA
Location: Adams Morgan, Washington, DC
Website: admoday.com
Baltimore Wine Festival
The Baltimore Wine Fest features gourmet eats prepared by local restaurants, chef cooking demos, wine seminars, craft beers & spirits, a wine bar, live music, arts and crafts vendors, a family zone, and the Kohler truck.
Date: TBA
Location: Canton Water Front Park, Baltimore, MD
Website: baltimorewinefest.com
Baltimore County African American Festival
Annually, the festival celebrates the rich and thriving traditions of the African American community. Drawing in national and local entertainers, small and large businesses, and approximately 50,000 attendees.
Date: TBA
Location: Towson, MD
Website: aaculturalfestival.com
H Street Festival
A neigborhood festival celebrating H Street in Washington, DC. The festival features live music, ethnic eateries, beer tents, shopping, and more.
Date: TBA
Location: H Street, Washington, DC
Website: http://hstreet.org/events
Clarendon Day
Claredon Day is an annual festival that features live music, crafts, food, non-profit exhibitors, business exhibitors, and an occasional cook-off. The festival takes place in Arlington, VA.
Date: TBA
Location: Arlington, VA
Website: clarendon.org/clarendonday
Hampdenfest
HampdenFest features 4 stages of music and art performances, an activity area for kids, an emerging artists exhibit and a film festival, as well as four blocks of arts and crafts vendors and other wares from a wide range of merchants and artists.
Date: TBA
Location: Hampden Neighborhood, Baltimore, MD
Website: hampdenfest.blogspot.com
Annual Maryland Wine Festival
The Annual Maryland Wine Festival is billed as a “celebration of Maryland wine”. The festival takes place on the grounds of the Carroll County Farm Museum. Festival attendees are invited to enjoy delicious food, local wine, shop juried artisans tables, and dance to live music!
Date: TBA
Location: Carroll County Farm Museum, 500 South Center Street, Westminster, Maryland 21157
Website: marylandwine.org/mwf
Artscape
Artscape is a 3-day arts festival that features live concerts, theater, fashion shows, films, experimental music, opera, dance, jazz and vocal competitions, crafts, the fine arts, children’s entertainers and much, much, more. The festival is the largest free arts festival in the country with an average attendance of 350,000 people.
Date: September 20-24, 2023
Location: Baltimore, MD
Website: artscape.org
Maryland Microbrewery Festival
The Union Mills Homestead, a historic landmark in Carroll County, the annual Maryland Microbrewery Festival. This festival celebrates and promotes the best of Maryland’s handcrafted and distinctive microbrews.
Date: September 30, 2023
Location: Union Mills Homestead, 3311 Littlestown Pike – Westminster, MD
Website: marylandmicrobreweryfestival.com
October
St. Gabriel Italian Festival
The feast of St. Gabriel Italian Festival is held in the streets of Little Italy. The festival includes, food, wine, beer, bocce, bingo, music, and much more.
Date: TBA
Location: Little Italy, Baltimore, MD
Website: promotioncenterforlittleitaly.org
Hops & Harvest Festival
Hops & Harvest Festival is a beer festival that offers unlimited tastings, live music, and fresh local food.
Date: TBA
Location: Columbia, MD
Website: hopsandharvestfest.com
Charles Village Festival
The Charles Village Festival brings together the entire Greater Charles Village community for a two-day festival that includes a block party with live music, a garden walk tour, a 5k & 1k kids fun run. All proceeds raised from the event benefit local non-profit organizations.
Date: TBA
Location: Wyman Park Dell, 29th and Charles Streets, Baltimore, Maryland
Website: charlesvillagefestival.net
Pigtown Festival
The Pigtown Festival features live music, food, drinks, and it’s famous parade of pig parade. Pigtown a.k.a Washington Village received its nickname because of the many pigs that used to be brought to the meat packing plants to be slaughtered.
Date: TBA
Location: Pigtown, Baltimore, MD
Website: pigtownmainstreet.org
November
Maryland Irish Festival
The Maryland Irish Festival is presented by Irish Charities of Maryland and held annually at the Timonium Fair Grounds on the second weekend in November. The festival celebrates the Irish culture and features local, regional and international Irish music and dance; traditional Irish cuisine; exhibits and workshops; and vendors who sell Irish goods.
Date: TBA
Location: Maryland State Fair Grounds, Timonium, MD
Website: irishfestival.com/
Baltimore Craft Beer Festival
This festival celebrates Maryland’s craft brewing industry. More than five dozen local breweries and their portfolios of ales, lagers, ciders, and meads will be showcased. The Baltimore Craft Beer Festival features live judging of the Maryland Craft Beer Competition’s “Final Table,” live music, local food trucks, shopping from unique vendors and more.
Date: TBA
Location: Baltimore, MD
Website: baltimorecraftbeerfestival.com
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