Events and Festivals
Here’s a list of festivals and events that happen during every season! Most festivals and concerts take place during the summer!
Check out the Experience Hartford guide to better understand what Hartford Summer Events are taking place.
Trinity Athletics also created a great concert guide for Bantams, which brings you up to date with upcoming concerts and artists. Trinity College Bantam fans can enjoy an exclusive discount on concert tickets through TicketSmarter. Use the code HARTFORD5 at checkout to receive an extra 5% off your purchase. This special offer makes attending your favorite concerts even more affordable.
Check out this calendar for up-to-date events!
Summer Festivals and Events
Hartford Taste: This two-day festival takes over the streets of Downtown Hartford. You can enjoy restaurants, cafes, experimental art, and musical vibes. Happens beginning of June.
Pratt Street Salsa Socials: Bring out your dancing shoes this summer because Pratt Street Salsa Socials have everyone dance at this huge salsa block party on Pratt Street. Happens once a month all summer long.
Hartford Dance Festival: Hosted by The Hartford Dance Collective, this event celebrates movement in all forms. There are performances by distinguished dancers, choreographers, students, and community members. Grab your lawn chair to sit back and enjoy dazzling performances, visual arts vendors, and much more at this free event
Riverfront Food Truck Festival: Enjoy three days of live music and delicious food from over 30 food trucks. This three-day festival is a favorite of ours. It usually takes place in July at the Riverfront Plaza.
Greater Hartford Jazz Festival: Takes place every year at Bushnell Park in July! This free event brings together amazing jazz performances from all over the nation. Bring your lawn chair and enjoy great music, check out amazing vendors and food trucks as well!
Taste of the Caribbean and Jerk Festival: This festival brings authentic Caribbean food and music to Riverfront Plaza for everyone to enjoy. It takes place in August
Annual West Indian Celebration: Established in 1962 by West Indian immigrants in the Greater Hartford area, this celebration is the most colorful, vibrant, and largest celebration of the Caribbean culture in the U.S. Northeast. The one-day festival begins with a carnival parade that takes place at Bushnell Park in August.
Riverfront Dragon Boat and Asian Festival: Dragon boat races happen every year at Riverfront Plaza in August. Come cheer on your favorite team and celebrate Asian and Pacific Island cultures through traditional music and dance, hands-on arts activities, food, and martial arts at this free, family-friendly event.
Hartbeat Music Festival: Another Riverfront Recapture event, a free, family-friendly celebration of music and community featuring local and regional bands on three stages, music-making activities, food, and more.
Fall Events
Spooky Popcorn: Hartford’s Annual Outdoor Movie Festival occurs at the end of October. Bring your blanket or lawn chair to Constitution Plaza and prepare to be spooked.
Bizarre Bazaar: Hosted on Pratt Street, this market will offer unusual items from antiques, oddities, artwork, handmade crafts, and more.
Halloween Bar Crawl: This annual event features over five bars, Halloween-themed drinks, costume contests, and spooky fun. There will be live music, DJs, and bands at the bars.
Chez Est – Halloween/Fall Drag Show: Chez Est is Hartford’s only LGBTQ+ bar and cabaret. At the end of October, they have a Halloween Fall Drag Show
Oktoberfest at Parkville Market:
Graveyard Shift Ghost Tours at the Mark Twain House:
Hallowed History Lantern Tour at Cedar Hill Cemetry
Winter Events
Winterfest: Join your friends for some free ice skating at Bushnell Park from the end of November to January
GLOW Hartford: At the Connecticut Convention Center in downtown Hartford, check out the annual indoor holiday light festival. Includes a bunch of attractions, holiday markets, and entertainment.
Light Fantasia at Goodwin Park: The Annual Holiday Light Fantasia at Goodwin Park is a much-loved Hartford area drive-through light experience. From November 2023 through early January 2024 from 5 to 10 pm daily, come out to watch the historic Goodwin Festival of Lights.
Pratt Street Winter Village: Pratt Street gets transformed every year into an open-air, outdoor holiday market! The Pratt Street Winter Village will be open December 8th – 9th and 15th – 16th.
