Events & Festivals in Burlington

Burlington's beloved New Year's celebration rings in the calendar year with family-friendly performances, ice sculptures, live music at multiple indoor and outdoor venues across downtown, and a midnight countdown at City Hall Park. One of Vermont's oldest First Night traditions, this alcohol-free event draws thousands who brave the cold for a memorable community celebration.

Every other Saturday, Burlington's Winter Farmers Market runs straight through the coldest months. Vermont's finest local producers cram under one roof, root vegetables, artisan cheeses, maple syrup, fresh-baked bread, local meats, handcrafted goods. The place buzzes. A warm, convivial antidote to winter's bite, it shows why Burlington food culture refuses to hibernate.

Thousands of Burlingtonians storm the South End in full costume, feathers, beads, masks, because Magic Hat Brewing Company's Mardi Gras bash is the only cure for February blues. The costumed parade winds through the neighborhood first. Then: live music, craft beer, New Orleans-style revelry. Burlington's most anticipated winter event. Spectacular, festive, non-negotiable.

When sap starts running in late winter, Vermont sugar makers throw open their doors. Burlington is your launch pad to dozens of maple operations within minutes. They'll give you tours, tastings, and sugar-on-snow made right before your eyes. This tradition runs bone-deep in Vermont. It celebrates the state's signature product while it is being born, delivering a farm-to-table moment you cannot replicate anywhere else.

The parade hits downtown at noon, pipe bands, fire trucks, shamillion green beads. Church Street Marketplace turns into a river of kelly-clad locals shouting for candy. Restaurants stay open late, slapping corned-beef rules on the grill. Winter's done when the last float crawls past City Hall.

1,453 seats, and not a dud among them. The historic Flynn Center for the Performing Arts anchors Burlington's cultural calendar with its spring season of Broadway touring productions, dance, comedy, and classical. Vermont's premier venue hauls nationally and internationally recognized artists into an intimate theater where you'll never squint at the stage.

Waterfront Park, free. Burlington throws America's greenest party on Earth Day, no tickets, just show up. Community crews sweep the shoreline, kids build bee hotels, local food vendors sling $4 maple dogs, and a bluegrass trio plugs in at 2 p.m. The festival is family-oriented, loud, and stubbornly zero-waste; every bin is compost. You'll leave knowing Burlington's progressive, outdoors-loving spirit isn't branding, it's policy.

8,000 runners pound through Burlington in late May, New England's biggest marathon. The course rolls past Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks, views so sharp you'll forget the pain. Pick your poison: full marathon, relay, or half. Race weekend hijacks the waterfront and downtown, turning the whole city into one loud, happy block party.

For ten days each June, Burlington becomes a jazz magnet. Over 100 shows erupt city-wide, free sets on Church Street and Waterfront Park, whisper-close club gigs in local Burlington restaurants and bars. International headliners roll in. Vermont's own jazz talent holds the stage too. The mix keeps the festival easy, joyful, open to every experience level.

Vermont did it first. The state legalized civil unions in 2000, two decades ahead of much of the country. Burlington Pride builds on that legacy: a week of joyful, community-centered events celebrating LGBTQ+ identity and Vermont's equality record. The festival peaks with a colorful parade through downtown Burlington, then spills onto the waterfront for live music, local vendors, and community organizations. The city's progressive ethos isn't performative. Pride here feels welcoming, and inclusive.

Waterfront Park is the heart of Burlington's Fourth of July, one long day of family chaos, live music, and food trucks that ends with Vermont's best fireworks exploding over Lake Champlain. The Adirondack Mountains cut a black silhouette while colored fire blooms above the water, then doubles in the lake's mirror. Distinctly, beautifully Burlington.

Vermont's craft brewing scene, the most celebrated per capita in the United States, owns this two-day festival on Burlington's waterfront. Fifty-plus Vermont breweries pour hundreds of selections for ticket-holding attendees. Live music. Local food vendors. Lake views that'll make you forget your pint. A bucket-list event for anyone serious about craft beer.

Free music. Every Wednesday. Battery Park. July and August, WDEV's Music in the Park is Burlington's summer heartbeat. Locals know the drill: arrive early, claim your patch of grass. They haul blankets, chairs, picnic dinners, no pretense, just dinner and tunes. The lineup? Vermont artists only. Folk one week, bluegrass the next. World music sneaks in. Rock closes it out. This isn't some polished festival. It is Battery Park at its most honest, kids chasing fireflies, dogs underfoot, someone passing homemade cookies down the row. The community shows up. They stay. They sing along. By 8 p.m. the sun drops behind the Adirondacks. The music keeps playing. Total magic.

Nine days. Late August. Essex Junction. That's all you need to know about Vermont's largest fair, minutes from Burlington, and worth every second. Generations of Vermonters pack this agricultural fair for livestock competitions, carnival rides, nationally touring concert headliners. Vermont food vendors line the midway. Demolition derbies roar. The full pageantry of a classic New England county fair develops like clockwork. Family tradition? Absolutely. Genuine highlight of the Burlington events calendar? Without question.

Tall ships glide into Burlington's waterfront like ghosts from 1812, then the cannon fire turns out to be celebratory. Lake Champlain's living history develops through canoe and kayak races, maritime exhibits, live nautical music, and boat-building demos that'll keep kids riveted for hours. The ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain anchors the madness with extended programming on the lake's ecology and history, think touch tanks plus shipwreck stories. Families exploring Burlington beaches and waterfront activities won't find a better crash course in why this stretch of water shaped everything from Revolutionary War battles to today's craft beer scene.

Over 200 artists throw open their doors for the South End Art Hop, Burlington's largest arts event. Three days. Open studios. Galleries. Maker spaces. All of it. The city's busy South End arts district becomes a walk-through exhibition. Live music spills from doorways. Food trucks line the streets. Performers juggle fire, paint faces, dance on corners. Total chaos. Worth it. This is the definitive celebration of Burlington's remarkably dense creative community. One of the best things to do in Burlington in September.

October is when Burlington's Saturday Farmers Market detonates into color, stalls sag under heritage apples, cider jugs glint, and the last winter squash of the year sell out by 10 a.m. Every Saturday, May through October, the market trades. Yet the autumn peak is the payoff: root vegetables stacked like cordwood, Vermont artisan food products crammed into every corner, and a scent cloud of cinnamon that won't quit. The season finale closes the outdoor calendar with one last blast, special vendors roll in, seasonal treats disappear fast, and the whole town shows up to say goodbye.

Eighty-plus films, ten days, one small city, VTIFF turns Burlington into New England's sharpest indie screen. Documentaries and narratives tackle social justice, the planet, human rights. The crowd leans in because Burlington already cares. Stay for the Q&As, directors stay too, and the talk goes deeper than the credits.

Burlington takes Halloween seriously. Church Street Marketplace proves it. The pedestrian mall becomes a costumed carnival, families, adults, everyone. Local businesses hand out candy for trick-or-treating. After dark, costume competitions and live music take over. The energy is infectious. One of the most fun and visually spectacular Burlington events of the year.

The tree goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving, no earlier, no later. Church Street closes to cars, opens to carolers, horse-drawn carriages, and windows glowing with fresh paint. Grab cocoa from a street-side stand. Watch the mayor throw the switch on the 40-foot spruce in City Hall Park. Local Burlington restaurants roll out holiday menus, think maple-glazed ham, cider-brined turkey, so you'll eat well while you're here. Book a room. Make it a Burlington weekend.

Flynn Center's holiday show sells out weeks ahead, no exceptions. The annual production swings from Vermont Ballet Theater's Nutcracker to brand-new holiday musicals, and Burlington wouldn't have it any other way. Generations of Vermont families book the same seats every December; they've done it for years. The historic theater wraps you in warm wood and velvet while the lights dim, then the gold standard of Burlington's winter culture takes over.

Skip the mall. Burlington's holiday market packs artisan vendors, local gift makers, Vermont food producers, and seasonal decor sellers under one roof, no Muzak, no fluorescent glare. The Winter Market runs straight through the December holiday season, turning an indoor marketplace into a warm, festive antidote to commercial shopping. You'll find the depth of Vermont's maker community on full display: hand-carved toys beside raw-milk cheese, wool mittens stacked under wreaths of pine. Locals call it the highlight of the Burlington events calendar, and they're right. Come for authentic local gifts, stay for the mulled cider.

Christmas-to-New-Year's week is Burlington's peak visitor increase. ECHO Leahy Center rolls out special programming, Shelburne Museum keeps its holiday displays blazing, and the last winter activities line up before First Night. Church Street stays draped in lights and open. Burlington restaurants swap in special menus. Ski resorts within easy driving distance turn Burlington into the logical base for a Vermont winter vacation.