March 27, 2026

Your guide to spring and summer 2026 Carolinas food festivals

Plan now for two seasons of food and fun

by TM Petaccia

Spring and Summer mean two things in the Carolinas: Food and festivals. We’ve compiled the fun and tasty days you can put on your in–town, day trip, and weekend excursion calendars in the coming months. This list will be updated as additional events are announced.

April

Saturday, April 11
Charlotte StrEATs Tasting Tour
First Ward Park, Charlotte
Restaurants representing iconic Charlotte neighborhoods will serve a dish representative of their communities. Guests can visit each tasting tent and enjoy cocktails while taking in intimate demonstrations from our stage. General Admission: $111 – grants access to the tasting tour as well as craft cocktails created by leading Charlotte mixologists. VIP: $163 – adds early 11 a.m. access, the Official StrEATs Recipe Book featuring recipes from participating restaurants, and StrEATs goodie bag. Part of the Charlotte SHOUT! celebration. Click for details and tickets.

Sunday, April 12
Charlotte StrEATs Festival
First Ward Park, Charlotte
Celebrate the city’s culinary scene with feature vendors, cooking and cocktail demonstrations, including one from Top Chef alumni, Charlotte’s Jamie Lynch. Wristbands available to participate in our craft cocktail tasting of six cocktails by local mixologists. The StrEATs Neighborhood Cook–off will pit chefs head–to–head in a cook–off to win the title of StrEATs Neighborhood Champion. Free to attend, but registration is strongly recommended. Items at food trucks and vendors available for purchase as well as picnic baskets curated by Charlotte’s top caterers. Part of the Charlotte SHOUT celebration. Click for details and registration.

Tuesday, Apr 15 – Sunday, April 19
Charlotte Wine & Food Week
Charlotte, NC (various timed and locations)
Back for its 38th year, Charlotte Wine + Food Week (CW+FW) combines fundraising with a wine and food pairing for every taste. Event includes wine tastings, wine dinners, seminars, and auctions. Proceeds benefit four local children’s charities: Digi-Bridge and Wayfinders, with Beds for Kids and Families Forward/Charlotte. Various locations. Details and tickets.

Friday, Apr 17 – Saturday, April 18
Carolina BBQ Festival
Victoria Yards, Charlotte
In its fifth year of celebrating the tradition of smoked whole hog, brisket, chicken, hash & rice, seafood, and more, the event features tastings from over thirty pitmasters from around the country with proceeds benefitting Operation BBQ Relief which provides support to people impacted by disasters by quickly mobilizing volunteers to serve hot barbecue meals to affected communities and first responders. Part of Charlotte SHOUT. Details and tickets.

Friday, Apr 17 – Sunday, April 19
Panda Fest Asian Food Festival
Route 29 Pavillion, Concord
Part of a ten-city national festival tour, the event promises nearly 300 Asian street food vendors and retailers along with a series of Asian culture performances — as well as panda inflatables, panda dough figurines, and panda face painting. Details and tickets.

Saturday, April 18
Empanada Fest
Camp North End, Charlotte
An exploration of empanadas with vendors and food trucks representing multiple countries. Free to attend. Food purchases via vendors.

Friday, April 24 — Saturday, April 25
North Carolina Pickle Festival
Downtown Mt. Olive, N.C.
A joint effort by Mt. Olive, the town, and Mt. Olive, the company, the NC Pickle Festival is part street fair, part community festival, part family reunion. With pickles. Includes free pickle tastings, pickle eating contest, pickle recipe contest, pickle train, beauty pageant, mascot race, butterfly garden, beer garden, concessions, carnival rides, live music and more. Free to attend. Items available for purchase. Click for details.

Friday, April 24 — Sunday, April 26
Spring Herb Festival
Asheville, N.C.
The largest herb festival in the United States and Canada, the event has been highlighting WNC herbs and herbal products since 1990 with over 80 herb vendors offering plants and accessories for your home and garden. Twenty free workshops cover a wide variety of herb and mushroom growing. Click for details.

May

Friday, May 1 — Saturday, May 2
South Carolina Strawberry Festival
Ft. Mill, S.C.
A celebration of all things strawberry featuring various food vendors and activities, including strawberry hot wing, strawberry donut, and strawberry ice cream eating contests. Other highlights include car and tractor shows, live music, and the “Strawberry Baby Contest.” Click for details.

Saturday, May 9
Charlotte Grilled Cheese Festival
CATS Light Rail – South End Station (S. Tryon Street), Charlotte
Celebrate National Grilled Cheese Month with bites of melty, cheesy goodness paired with drinks from Bloody Mary and Mimosa bars. Click for details and tickets.

Saturday, May 9
Beer, Bourbon, & BBQ Festival
Ballantyne’s Backyard, Charlotte
Celebrating Southern foodways and high-volume tastings, the event brings together dozens of breweries and distilleries alongside barbecue vendors, live music, and interactive attractions. Now in its 18th year, the festival offers attendees a souvenir glass and unlimited sampling of more than 60 beers and 40 bourbons while they circulate through tasting stations, attend seminars, and explore vendor exhibits, games, and themed areas like whole-hog cooking showcases. Click for details and tickets.

Friday, May 14 – Sunday, May 16
Saint Philip Neri Italian Festival
Ft. Mill, S.C.
A celebration of the Italian “Apostle of Joy,” the event blends Italian food and culture including over twenty Italian specialties from pastas to sausages to cannolis, along with live entertainment, wine and beer tastings, a parade, Cannoli 5K race, and other family-friendly activities. Click for details.

Saturday, May 16
The Cheerwine Festival
Main St., Salisbury, N.C.
A street carnival in cooperation with the city of Salisbury, NC showcases the signature N.C. beverage. The day includes “Taste of Carolina Originals” food tastings, Cheerwine tastings, local breweries, kids activities, live entertainment, and more. Click for details.

June

Friday, June 7 – Sunday, June 9
Taste of Charlotte
Uptown, Charlotte
Charlotte’s three-day block party with food tents lining Tryon Street showcasing the city’s top restaurants and food vendors, along with beer, wine, and cocktails, plus perfoemances by local and national entertainers. Details and advance coins.

Friday, June 19 — Saturday, June 20
North Carolina Blueberry Festival
Burgaw, N.C.
Celebrating the blueberry harvest in Bladen, Duplin, New Hanover, Pender and Sampson counties, the event includes a blueberry pie-eating contest, blueberry recipe contests, car show, bike tours, and the five-mile Blueberry Run — along with vendors offering fresh berries, blueberry treats, and handmade crafts. Click for details.

July

Thursday, July 9 — Sunday, July 19
South Carolina Peach Festival
Gaffney, S.C.
The home of the famous Peachoid celebrates South Carolina’s star crop with a series of events including fishing contests, wrestling matches, the Miss Peach Beauty Pageant, peach eating contests, live music, and everything peach. Click for details.

Friday, July 10 — Saturday, July 11
North Carolina Blackberry Festival
Downtown Lenoir, N.C.
Two days of celebrating North Carolina blackberries. Festivities include the world’s largest patchwork blackberry cobbler, eating contests, parades, live music, and more. Click for details.

Wednesday, July 29 — Saturday, August 1
North Carolina Watermelon Festival
Murfreesboro, N.C.
A day of celebrating North Carolina watermelon. Festivities include the annual watermelon parade, watermelon eating contests, seed spitting contests, live music, fireworks, festival food and games, and pageants – including the Little Miss Princess Contest. Click for details.

August

Friday, August 7 — Saturday, August 8
Ocracoke Fig Festival
Ocracoke, N.C.
If you are up for a drive, this free event features live music day and night, traditional Ocracoke square dancing, children’s crafts, talks by local fig experts, and vendor booths offering fig preserves, fig cakes, fig art, fig trees, fig beer, local cookbooks, and other fig-related items.. Click for details.