Our Favorite Festivals With Something New
Spring Cycle
June 1, 2024, at Promenade Park
Calling all cyclists! Join Spring Cycle, an annual Downtown Fort Wayne bike ride, perfect for casual family rides and serious cyclists alike! The Spring Cycle event will feature a variety of tour distances so people of all ages and skill levels can participate. Tour distances include an 8 Mile Family Ride, short, medium and long distances, and a Metric Century 100K (63 miles). The Start/Finish Line location is at Promenade Park and tour routes will go southwest (the Metric Century 100K course will go into Huntington and back). All participants will receive a Spring Cycle t-shirt and finisher medal!
This year, rather than food trucks, they will be partnering with some of the restaurants that occupy The Landing to offer discounts to the riders after the event. People who participate in all four of the seasonal events (starting with the Spring Cycle), will get a magnetic medal section. After the final event of the year, participants can put together all four of the medal sections to a create a "super" medal!
Arab Fest
June 1-2, 2024, at Headwaters Park
Arab Fest will be partnering with a local restaurant this year for the catering, Gibli Middle Eastern Fare at the Union Street Market. This year they are bringing back the camels, but it is petting and feeding not rides. They are also happy to have Salaam Band back from Bloomington, IN and Thowra Dabke again from Detroit, MI, as the music and dancing is what people are most excited about.
GermanFest
June 5-9, 2024, at Headwaters Park
The atmosphere at GermanFest is unforgettable! The authentic music, food, outfits, hands-on activities, and crowd engagement are unlike any other festival experience. This year, this element is expanded with double the activities and more opportunities to learn about Fort Wayne's German roots through fun and engaging games like a scavenger hunt, learning about travel abroad experiences, and a chance to find out if your genealogy ties back to your local roots. The beloved Bier Flights is coming back with flexible redemption options and new give aways to those who vote on their favorite bier(s).
FamilienFest, a full day of family-oriented activities and entertainment on June 8, will be back at nearly double the size of past years with more entertainment, hands-on activities, educational experiences, games, and vendors! What could make this event even better? Entry and all games and activities are free! This is a unique element of GermanFest as they are the only festival that offers an affordable or no cost experience to families of all sizes. To continue that trend, they offer $1 hot dogs and chips to make even the food budget friendly. And make sure you don't miss the Weinerdog Nationals happening that day!
Allen County Fair
June 18-23, 2024, at the Allen County Fairgrounds
If you want to get up close and personal with farm animals, participate in a pedal tractor race, and see hot air balloons all in the same day, the Allen County Fair is for you!
This year, the rodeo will be coming back for a second year in a row, and the fair is planning extra free family events all week. There will be a full lineup of live music at the Free Activities Tent, Fort Wayne Knockerball, and a family magic show. The animal contact areas will also have kangaroos! When you attend your county fair, it feels like stepping back in time. The Allen County Fair strives to bring this nostalgic sentiment to life by providing timeless fun at every touchpoint.
Fort Wayne Pride
July 26-27, 2024, at Headwaters Park
Fort Wayne's biggest party and celebration of the LGBTQ+ community it back! The two-day event includes entertainment, a vendor market, a nonprofit resource fair, beer tent, food, Pride March, KidSpace, tournaments, and a great day with the community. Admission is $5/day with 12 & under free.
This year, Fort Wayne Pride have decided to extend their Friday hours to 5 p.m. to midnight in order to get the party started sooner! They will be returning to both sides of Headwaters Park for Saturday 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. This festival is unique because it is the largest LGBTQ+ celebration in the surrounding area, bringing together the LGBTQ+ and straight ally community in a celebration of love and diversity. Pride is a welcoming space that has something for everyone!
West Central Home and Garden Tour
September 7-8, 2024
At the Home & Garden Tour, a tour stop is never featured more than once in a 7-year span, so you can be sure you're seeing something new every time you visit! For the ArtsFest, there will be crowd-pleasing Indianapolis-based band Dave & Rae headlining Saturday night's entertainment (other bands TBA). This is the third year incorporating ArtSpaces which are resident artists who have opened up their space to display and sell art. This is free to the public as part of ArtsFest.
The West Central Home & Garden Tour and ArtsFest provides activities and entertainment all day long! For the price of a ticket, you can visit 10+ homes that show off a wide array of style and design, shop 35+ artist booths, listen to hours of high-quality live music, grab lunch or dinner from one of the many top-notch food trucks, visit neighborhood artists, ride the free trolley, and visit the "also open" bonus stops. You could easily spend an entire day enjoying the West Central neighborhood and what this event has to offer.
New Festivals
Indy 500 Fan Fest
April 25, 2024, at Electric Works
Celebrate the Magic of May with Fort Wayne’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indy 500 Fan Fest! The rich history of automobile racing and innovation of Fort Wayne makes it the perfect place to celebrate the upcoming Month of May. Fans can expect attractions like an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race car on display and the possibility of a special guest appearance (subject to availability). Fans will also have the opportunity to participate in other activations and giveaways!
To bring this event to fans, IMS is partnering with Molson Coors, Red Bull and Electric Works. This event is part of a statewide initiative to celebrate the Indianapolis 500. Join us in experiencing the festivities and celebrating the Month of May with your fellow racing fans!
This event is free and completely open to the public.
Indiana's Mac & Cheese Festival
July 13, 2024, at Parkview Field
Mac & Cheese Festival has chosen Parkview Field, home of the Fort Wayne TinCaps, to host the 1st annual Indiana Mac & Cheese Festival this summer! In 2019, Outlier Events partnered with the Michigan Dairy Farmers, the state's 1st Mac and Cheese Festival in Kalamazoo, MI. With massive interest growing each year, the event is traveling to new cities and locations for the first time.
Attendees can expect 50+ one of a kind mac and cheese samples, 150+ craft beers (ciders, seltzers, and spirits), a variety of entertainment options, including a tribute to Fleetwood Mac with Fleetwood 2 the Max, live DJ performance, firework show, glitter tattoos, balloon twisters, and more from TAG Art. Each attendee will receive "all-inclusive" style tickets with food samples, drink samples, a souvenir cup, Mac lanyard, and VIP only gift.
This event is for all ages. This event has sold out every year. Be sure to join our priority list here to have first access when tickets go on sale April 25.
