The 2026 calendar has seventeen food festivals. Ten have start dates between September 12 and October 17, two in April or May, and five in June through August. Six are free to enter.
April to June: three free festivals
The 2026 Queens Night Market: Saturday evenings in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, April 18 through August 22 and September 19 through October 31. Corning GlassFest was a street festival along Market Street in the Gaffer District, listed for May 22 to 24 (that date was not confirmed). Taste of Syracuse was listed for June 5 to 6 on Clinton Square, also unconfirmed, with participating restaurants selling $2 samples.
Three more free festivals followed on the calendar: Galbani Buffalo Italian Heritage Festival, The Feast of San Gennaro, and Ithaca Apple Harvest Festival.
Buffalo: three festivals in seven weeks
Taste of Buffalo, established in 1984, ran July 11 to 12 in downtown Buffalo. Food and drink were bought with tickets sold at the festival and in advance through Tops Markets.
Galbani Buffalo Italian Heritage Festival followed July 24 to 26 on Hertel Avenue in North Buffalo. It was free, with a bocce tournament, grape stomp, pizza eating contest, and Sicilian puppet shows. National Buffalo Wing Festival was listed for August 29 to 30, a date that was not confirmed, as a gathering of wing vendors from around the country in the city where the dish originated.
Four apple festivals, three weekends
Ithaca Apple Harvest Festival, the 44th annual, was the first of the four, September 25 to 27 on the Ithaca Commons, with apple growers, cider producers, craft vendors, and live music. Admission was free.
Hilton Apple Fest, the 44th, ran October 3 and 4 northwest of Rochester, with artisan vendors, an auto show, and free entertainment. Warwick Valley Applefest was a single Sunday, October 4, in Orange County, established in 1989. The organizers listed more than 150 craft vendors, more than 75 food vendors, and four live music stages.
LaFayette Apple Festival, the 53rd and latest-starting of the four: October 10 to 11 on Tully Farms Road south of Syracuse, with an apple pancake breakfast at 7am both days. Ithaca and LaFayette are both in central New York, two weekends apart.
Garlic: Riverhead and Saugerties
Long Island Garlic Festival was on a 40-acre farm in Riverhead, Suffolk County, with a vendor market, pumpkin patch, corn maze, and hay rides. The adult ticket was listed at $20. Sources disagreed on its date, either the weekend of September 12 and 13 or September 19.
Hudson Valley Garlic Festival ran September 26 to 27 at the Cantine Memorial Complex in Saugerties, Ulster County, organized by the Kiwanis Club of Saugerties. The organizers described the event as running for over 30 years. It did not overlap either Long Island date.
Four food festivals on Sunday, September 27
Four food festivals were open on Sunday, September 27, in four parts of the state. In central New York, Ithaca Apple Harvest Festival ran September 25 to 27. In the Finger Lakes, Naples Grape Festival ran September 26 to 27. In the Hudson Valley, Saugerties hosted the garlic festival. In New York City, The Feast of San Gennaro ran eleven days from September 17 and ended in Manhattan that Sunday. Atlantic Antic, roughly ten blocks of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, was postponed to Sunday, October 4, so it was not one of the four.
Grapes, oysters, and the State Fair
Naples Grape Festival, in the village of Naples at the south end of Canandaigua Lake, was known for its grape pie competition and was open 10am to 5pm both days, rain or shine.
The Oyster Festival, the latest-starting of the seventeen: October 17 to 18 in Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park in Oyster Bay, Nassau County. The Town of Oyster Bay describes it as the East Coast's largest waterfront festival. Parking and most activities are free.
The Great New York State Fair in Syracuse ran thirteen days, August 26 to September 7, combining livestock and agricultural competition with a concert and midway program.
