Photo by Joseph Haubert. Used with permission.Updated: 11/13/18

Looking for D-FW festivals happening in 2019? You can 80+ here.

This list is for festival junkies that like to #festhard all year long. We’ve meticulously poured through 130+ websites to get you these official 2018 dates of 100+ Fantastic Dallas-Fort Worth (D-FW) Festivals as early in the year as we could. We looked for hard dates 3 – 4 times over a  4 – 5 week period to make sure we included as many as possible. It’s not everything, but those events that have their fest dates listed on what should be the first place to disseminate information, their websites.

Panicking because you don’t have a weekend in-Dallas date idea? Need to know what to do with the spouse and kids a few weeks in advance? This is your chronological go-to list.

These aren’t just any Dallas-Fort Worth festivals & events, this is a curated and compiled list of which 33% we’ve attended, and 50% have promoted in some form or fashion over the last 10 years. Thus, we can vouch for most of these festivals’ legitimacy.

Secondly, to further authenticate this list, most of these festivals listed have stood the test of time. Except for four of which 2018 is their inaugural year (noted with **First Year**), many have occurred annually for many years (a handful for as long as 30 years). It took us living in Dallas, keeping our eyes and ears open, attending the festival winners and the duds to identify some of the best that D-FW has to offer.

We keep a database, and this isn’t nearly all of it in its entirety below. This just includes Dallas festivals, and a handful of others in D-FW, or less than 1/2 a day’s driving distance that have confirmed dates. These particular ones are held annually and most could be placed in the categories of: culture, food/drink, art, music, film, theatrical-ish (not sure what to call the comic cons, or other geek culture things with cosplay), or a combination of two or more.

At the end of the day, you probably don’t care how we categorize them, they’re just weekend things to do in Dallas in 2018.  If you want a full-fledged description of these events, along with costs, websites, location, and other fine details, put your email in the box on this page. It’s a mixed bag, but hey, that’s what we do here. Enjoy!

D-FW Festivals & Events – January 2018

Film: Kid Film Family Festival – 1/20/18 – 1/21/18
Film: Denton Black Film Festival – 1/25/18 – 1/28/18
Food/Drink: ZestFest – 1/26/18 -1/28/18

D-FW Festivals & Events – February 2018

Culture: Nocona Mardi Gras Parade & Weekend – 2/8/18 – 2/10/18
Film: DFW South Asian Film Festival – 2/8/18 – 2/11/18
Culture: O’ Carnivale Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball – 2/10/18 – 2/10/18
Food/Drink: Chicken Thang – A Meat Fight Event – 2/11/18 – 2/11/18
Culture: Mardi Gras Oak Cliff (Parade) – 2/11/18 – 2/11/18
Culture: Chinese New Year Festival – 2/17/18 -2/17/18
Food/Drink: The Morning After  – 2/17/18 – 2/17/18 **First Year**
Music/Food/Drink: Mardi Gras Texas Style – 2/18/18 – 2/18/18
Music: Latin Sol Fest– 2/25/18 – 2/25/18

D-FW Festivals & Events – March 2018

Culture: North Texas Irish Festival – 3/2/18 – 3/4/18
Culture: DFW Clogging Festival  – 3/4/18 – 3/4/18
Theater: All-Con Dallas – 3/15/18 – 3/18/18
Theater: Texas Pinball Festival – 3/16/18 – 3/18/18
Culture: Greenville Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Parade – 3/17/18 – 3/17/18
Food/Drink: The Dallas Arboretum Food and Wine Festival – 3/22/18 – 3/22/18
Food/Drink: Between the Buns Slider Festival – 3/24/18 – 3/24/18**First Year**
Food/Drink: Vino Palooza Wine & Music Festival – 3/24/18 (FW) & 3/25/18 (D)
Theater: Dallas Comedy Festival – 3/27/18 – 3/31/18
Food/Drink: Big Texas Beer Festival – 3/30/18 – 3/31/18

Now that we have your attention, I have a simple request. If you borrow any or part of this page’s content to put on your on publication or blog, all we ask is that you give us a link back with some some credit. We’re not rolling in cash here, and curating this list took a lot of work. : )

D-FW Festivals & Events – April 2018

Theater: Fan Expo Dallas – 4/6/18 – 4/8/18
Art: Deep Ellum Arts Festival – 4/6/18 – 4/8/18
Food/Drink: Taste of Oak Cliff  – 4/7/18 – 4/7/18 **First Year**
Food/Drink: Texas Wine & Art Festival – 4/7/18 – 4/8/18
Culture: Scarborough Renaissance Festival – 4/7/18 – 5/28/18
Art: Dallas Art Fair – 4/12/18 – 4/15/18
Art: Turtle Creek Arts and Crafts Fest – 4/14/18 – 4/15/18
Food/Drink: Pizza Fest Dallas – 4/15/18 – 4/15/18
Art: Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival – 4/19/18 – 4/22/18
Film: Crossroads of Texas Film Festival – 4/19/18 – 4/22/18
Advocacy: EARTHx – 4/20/18 – 4/22/18
Food/Drink: Iron Fork – 4/25/18 – 4/25/18
Food/Drink: Taco Libre– 4/28/18 – 4/28/18
Film: Hill Country Film Festival – 4/26/18 – 4/29/18
Film: USA Film Festival – 4/26/18 – 4/30/18
Food/Drink: Austin Food + Wine Festival – 4/27/18 – 4/29/18
Music/Art: Denton Arts and Jazz Festival – 4/27/18 – 4/29/18
Culture: Muenster’s Germanfest – 4/27/18 – 4/29/18
Music: Fortress Festival – 4/28/18 – 4/29/18

D-FW Festivals & Events – May 2018

Art: Mayfest – 5/3/18 – 5/6/18
Theater: Texas Frightmare Weekend – 5/4/18 – 5/6/18
Film: Dallas International Film Festival – 5/3/18 – 5/10/18
Music: Dallas International Guitar Festival – 5/4/18 – 5/6/18
Food/Drink: Red Dirt BBQ Fest – 5/5/18 – 5/5/18
Art: Cottonwood Art Festival – 5/5/18 – 5/6/18
Culture: Texas Scottish Festival & Highland Games – 5/11/18 – 5/13/18
Music: Homegrown Music and Art Festival -  5/12/18 – 5/12/18
Food/Drink: Savor Dallas – 5/14/18 – 5/20/18
Food/Drink: Grapevine Main Street Fest – 5/18/18 – 5/19/18
Music: Wildflower Arts and Music Festival – 5/18/18 – 5/20/18
Food/Drink: Taste Addison– 5/18/18 – 5/20/18
Food/Drink: Taste of Irving – 5/19/18 – 5/19/18
Culture: Founders Day Festival – 5/19/18 – 5/19/18
Food/Drink: Bloody Mary Festival – 5/20/18 – 5/20/18
Culture: National Polka Festival– 5/25/18 – 5/27/18
Food/Drink: Dallas Margarita Meltdown – 5/27/18 – 5/27/18

D-FW Festivals & Events – June 2018

Food/Drink: DeSoto Crawfish Festival – 6/2/18 – 6/2/18
Theater: A-Kon – 6/7/18 – 6/10/18
Food/Drink: Big D BBQ Battle – 6/8/18 – 6/9/18
Culture: Canal Fest– 6/9/18 – 6/9/18
Music/Art: Smorgasbord Festival – 6/9/18 – 6/9/18 **First Year**
Film: Oak Cliff Film Festival – 6/14/18 – 6/17/18
Food/Drink: Taste of Dallas – 6/22/18 – 6/24/18

D-FW Festivals & Events – July 2018

Food/Drink: Parker County Peach Festival – 7/14/18 – 7/14/18
Food/Drink: Bastille on Bishop – 7/14/18 – 7/14/18
Film: Asian Film Festival – 7/19/18 – 7/26/18
Culture: Great Texas Balloon Race -  7/27/18 – 7/29/18

D-FW Festivals & Events – August 2018

Film: San Antonio Film Festival – 8/1/18 – 8/5/18
Food/Drink: Low & Slow BBQ & Music Festival – 8/11/18 – 8/11/18 **First Year**
Food/Drink: Dallas Margarita Festival– 8/11/18 – 8/11/18
Theater: AnimeFest – 8/17/18 – 8/20/18
Food/Drink: Margarita and Salsa Festival– 8/25/18 – 8/25/18
Film: Video Marketing World Conference – 8/29/18 – 8/31/18
Food/Drink: Bedford Blues & BBQ – 8/31/18 – 9/2/18

D-FW Festivals & Events – September 2018

Food/Drink: Dallas Chocolate Festival – 9/7/18 – 9/10/18
Food/Drink: Dallas Observer Brewfest – 9/8/18 – 9/8/18
Food/Drink: Okrapalooza – 9/9/18 – 9/9/18
Food/Drink: Grapevine Grapefest – 9/13/18 – 9/16/18
Music: Denton Blues Festival – 9/14/18 – 9/16/18
Food/Drink: Addison Oktoberfest – 9/20/18 – 9/23/18
Culture: Irving Main Street Event – 9/21/18 – 9/21/18
Food/Drink: SMOKED – 9/22/18 – 9/22/18
Food: Plano Balloon Festival – 9/21/18 – 9/23/18
Food/Drink: Ultimate Cocktail Experience – 9/22/18 – 9/22/18
Food/Drink: Dallas VegFest – 9/23/18 – 9/23/18
Food/Drink: Taste of Grand Prairie – 9/27/18 – 9/27/18
Food/Drink: Fort Worth’s Oktoberfest – 9/27/18 – 9/29/18
Food/Drink: McKinney Oktoberfest – 9/28/18 – 9/30/18
Food/Drink: State Fair of Texas – 9/28/18 – 10/21/18
Food/Drink: Lewisville Western Days Festival – 9/28/18 – 9/29/18
Food/Drink: Lake Highlands Oktoberfest – 9/29/18 – 9/29/18
Drink: Dallas Cocktail Festival – 9/29/18 – 9/29/18
Art: Chalk Art Festival – 9/29/18 – 9/29/18
Food/Drink: Gelato Festival – 9/29/18 – 9/30/18

D-FW Festivals & Events – October 2018

Film: Grapevine Film Festival – 10/5/18 – 10/6/18
Food/Drink: Lebanese Food Festival– 10/5/18 – 10/5/18
Food/Drink: Taste of Rockwall– 10/6/18 – 10/6/18
Art: Cottonwood Art Festival– 10/6/18 – 10/7/18
Food/Drink: Oktoberfest Muenster – 10/6/18 – 10/7/18
Culture: Oak Cliff Flamenco Festival– 10/7/18 – 10/15/18
Culture: ArmeniaFest – 10/12/18 – 10/14/18
Art: South Street Art Festival– 10/12/18 – 10/14/18
Food/Drink: Tacolandia – 10/13/18 – 10/13/18
Festival: GROW Fall Festival– 10/13/18 – 10/13/18
Food/Drink: Steinfest – 10/19/18 – 10/20/18
Theater: Dallas Fan Days – 10/19/18 – 10/21/18
Film: Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival – 10/19/18 – 10/27/18
Food/Drink: Best Little Brewfest in Texas – 10/20/18 – 10/20/18
Culture: Water Lantern Festival – 10/20/18 – 10/20/18
Art: ArtsGoggle – 10/20/18 – 10/20/18
Food/Drink: Park & Palate Grand Taste – 10/26/18 – 10/27/18
Film: Austin Film Festival – 10/25/18 – 11/1/18
Food/Drink: Texas State Veggie Fair – 10/27/18 – 10/27/18
Culture: Haramebee Festival – 10/27/18 – 10/27/18
Culture: Texas Country Reporter Festival – 10/27/18 – 10/27/18

D-FW Festivals & Events – November 2018

Food: Romanian Food Festival – 11/2/18 – 11/4/18
Food/Drink: Taste of Mckinney – 11/3/18 – 11/3/18
Food: Texas Monthly BBQ Fest – 11/3/18 – 11/4/18
Food/Drink: Chefs for Farmers – 11/4/18 – 11/4/18
Film: Lone Star Film Festival – 11/7/18 – 11/11/18
Culture: Le D̨ner en BlancР11/9/18 Р11/9/18
Culture: 42nd Annual Lakewood Home Festival– 11/9/18 – 11/11/18
Art/Drink: The Midlothian Wine and Arts Festival – 11/10/18 – 11/10/18
Culture: Korean Festival – 11/10/18 – 11/10/18
Art: Turtle Creek Fine Arts Festival – 11/10/18 – 11/11/18
Culture: Hansel & Gretel – 11/17/18 – 11/17/18
Theater: Dallas Comic Show – 11/17/18 – 11/18/18
Food/Drink: Texas Taco Festival – 11/17/18 – 11/18/18

D-FW Festivals & Events – December 2018

Culture: Japanese Maple Festival – 12/1/18 – 12/1/18

Bookmark this page to keep it handy because we’ll be updating it throughout the year with those festivals that announce their dates, and some that may have slipped from our radar that have already announced. The early bird catches the worm in this case, so if you see a glaring omission, just realize your favorite fest hasn’t released their 2018 dates yet.  You can send us a message here about it. We will add them once they do, and change the ## in the headline.

Last friendly reminder, if you borrow any or part of this page to put on your on publication or blog, all we ask is that you give us a link back with some some credit.