Sierras and Gold Country Festivals – 2024 & 2025
Outdoor adventures, visiting cool little museums and sampling tasty Sierra Foothills wines are just a few of the many things to see and do in the Sierras and Gold Country area, but including a local event on your itinerary will almost certainly add to the fun. Some people even plan their trips around these dates!
Whether you’re headed to Lake Tahoe for the weekend or putting together a week’s vacation plan and searching for food and wine events in Gold Country’s various towns, the festivals list below can help you easily determine if there’s one happening during your visit. The list is arranged by month, and you’ll notice that the spring and fall seasons are the most popular time for events of this type, and that’s because the summers here can get a bit warm. Spring and fall are fabulous, though!
You’ll find a bunch of festivals in Yosemite and Lake Tahoe, as well as in Mammoth Lakes and all the historic Gold Country towns.
You may also notice that wine is a popular draw, which is quite fitting since the area is known for its award-winning vines. Alternatively, many of the events feature beer, and music is often thrown into the mix for good measure. There’s truly something for everyone in this area.
For each entry on the list, you’ll find the date(s) it’s scheduled to occur, the host city, plus a link to a website that provides additional details. We recommend you make note of the website because it’s wise to check again and verify the event details closer to the actual date.
The list includes mostly 2024 festivals dates at this point, but 2025 dates will be added throughout the year. ***Events for which a 2025 date is available are marked with a triple-asterisk.***
Many of these are annual events that are held around the same time every year. While we plan to check and update this list from time to time, if a 2024 event looks interesting you can always click through to see if the organizer’s website has been updated. Also, if you plan to attend an event, we strongly recommend that you make note of the website and recheck it closer to the actual date.
You may just want to browse the list to see if any of the festivals especially appeal to you. Or, if your travel dates are already set, you can use these handy jump links to advance to a specific month’s events quickly:
January ### February ### March ### April ###
May ### June ### July ### August ###
September ### October ### November ### December
January
Twain Harte Soroptimist Crab Feed at Tuolumne Memorial Hall, Tuolumne City
January 18, 2025***
Burns Night Supper, Placerville
January 25, 2024
Yosemite Chef’s Holidays
CANCELLED until repairs are completed
February
Lake Tulloch Lions Club
Crab Feed, Copperopolis
February 1, 2025*** (first Saturday in February)
Mariposa Lions Club Crab Feed
February 1, 2025***
Snowfest, Tahoe City
February 28 through March 9, 2025***
Nevada City Mardi Gras Celebration
February 10, 2024
March
St. Piran’s Day Festival, Grass Valley
March 2, 2024
The Foothills Celebration, Grass Valley
March 16, 2024
Behind the Cellar Door, Amador County
March 23 & 24, 2024
April
Taste of Mariposa
April 6, 2024
Wildflowers and Wine, Sutter Creek
April 7, 2024
Cabernet Franc Wine Stroll, Copperopolis
April 13, 2024
Taco Throwdown, Roseville
April 20, 2024 – 21+ Only!
THE GREAT OUT THERE Passport Weekend, El Dorado County
April 20 & 21, 2024
Lincoln Wine Fest
April 27, 2024
Calaveras Spring Wine Weekend, Murphys
April 27 & 28, 2024
May
Placer Wine & Ale Trail
Summer Passport (various venues)
May 16 through August 31, 2025***
The Bash, Roseville
May 2, 2024
Amador Four Fires Festival
May 4, 2024
Calaveras County Fair & Frog
Jumping Jubilee, Angels Camp
May 16-19, 2024
Made in Tahoe Festival, Palisades Tahoe
May 25 & 26, 2024
June
Rocklin Brewfest
June 1, 2024
Chicken in a Barrel Fundraiser, Murphys
June 1, 2024
Wine on the Water Wine Dinner
at the North Tahoe Event Center, Kings Beach
June 8, 2024
Tahoe City Food & Wine Classic
June 8, 2024
El Dorado County Fair
June 13-16, 2024
Truckee Thursdays (11-week street festival)
June 20 through August 15, 2024
Placer County Fair, Roseville
June 20-23, 2024
Berry Sweet Summer Festival, Plymouth
June 22, 2024
Lavender Blue Festival, Apple Hill
June 22 & 23 AND June 29 & 30, 2024
Mother Lode Fair, Sonora
June 27-30, 2024
July
Apple Hill Growers Farm-to-Fork Dinner, Camino
July 20, 2024
Amador County Fair
July 25-28, 2024
Mammoth Villagefest
July 26 & 27, 2024
Bass Lake Fest
July 26-28, 2024
Taste of Calaveras at TBD
July 27, 2024
August
Festival of Beers & Bluesapalooza, Mammoth Lakes
August 1-4, 2024
Barbera Festival, Plymouth
August 3, 2024
Apple Hill Summer Harvest Days
August 3 & 4, 2024
Nevada County Fair, Grass Valley
August 7-11, 2024
Mammoth Margarita Festival
August 9 & 10, 2024
Taste of Gold, South Lake Tahoe
August 10, 2024
Mammoth Wine Weekend
August 15-17, 2024
Brews, Jazz & Funk Fest, Palisades Tahoe
August 17, 2024
Mammoth Rocks Taste of the Sierra
August 23 & 24, 2024
All American Rib Cookoff, Auburn
August 24, 2024
Tahoe Brewfest, South Lake Tahoe
August 24, 2024
Tri-County Fair, Bishop
August 29 through September 1, 2024
Mammoth Rock N Rye Whiskey Festival
August 30 through September 1, 2024
Mariposa County Fair
August 30 through September 2, 2024
September
Alpen Wine Fest, Palisades Tahoe
September 1, 2024
Guitar Strings vs. Chicken Wings, Palisades Tahoe
September 6, 2024
El Dorado Hills Brewfest
September 7, 2024
Aloha Festival, Auburn
September 14, 2024
Twain Harte a la Carte
September 14, 2024
Oktoberfest on Main Street, Placerville
September 21, 2024
Downieville Mountain Brew Fest
September 21, 2024
Tahoe City Oktoberfest
September 21, 2024
Fiddletown Fiddlers’ Jam
September 21, 2024
Oktoberfest, Palisades Tahoe
September 28, 2024
Downtown Grass Valley Brewfest
September 28, 2024
Coulterville CoyoteFest
September 28 & 29, 2024
October
June Lake Autumn Beer Festival
October 5, 2024
Truckee Wine Walk
October 5, 2024
Calaveras Grape Stomp, Murphys
October 5, 2024
Loomis Fruit Shed Festival
October 5, 2024
Bacon & Brew Bash, Roseville
October 5, 2024
Amador Big Crush Harvest Festival
October 5 & 6, 2024
Columbia State Park Harvest Festifall
October 12 & 13, 2024
Springville Apple Festival
October 19, 2024
Mariposa Friends of the Fair Sausage & Suds Event
October 26, 2024
November
Foothill Wine Festival, Folsom
November 2, 2024
Mountain Mandarin Festival
Gold Country Fairgrounds, Auburn
November 22-24, 2024
Cornish Christmas Street Fair, Grass Valley
November 29th, 2024 (6-9pm)
December
Yosemite Bracebridge Dinners
various December 2024 dates
Murphys Open House
December 6, 2024 (first Friday in December)
Cornish Christmas Street Fair, Grass Valley
Fridays – December 6, 13 AND 20, 2024 (6-9pm)
Nevada City Victorian Christmas
Sundays – December 8, 15, & 22, 2024 (1:30-6pm)
Wednesdays – December 11 & 18, 2024 (5-9pm)
Auburn Old Town Christmas
December 14 and December 21, 2024
Yosemite Grand Vintner’s Holidays
CANCELLED until repairs are complete
If you know of any other Sierras and Gold County festivals that we should add to this list, would you please use our Contact form to let us know? (Thanks in advance!)
Photo of Fiddletown Fiddler’s Jam Festival by Bruno Rijsman via flickr (Creative Commons).
