A Bean Bag Decides the Balloon Race: St. Louis Festivals, Season by Season, Mostly Free
Revised October 19, 2026
What are the best annual events and festivals in St. Louis?
St. Louis runs on mostly free annual festivals: Soulard Mardi Gras in late winter, two St. Patrick’s Day parades in March, Shakespeare in the Park and PrideFest in June, July Fourth fireworks over the Arch, Festival of Nations and the Japanese Festival in late summer, the Saint Louis Art Fair and Balloon Race in September, and the Thanks-For-Giving Parade in November.
Keep reading ↓The first sound is a whoosh. A pilot blasts a propane burner, a burst of flame lights the balloon from the inside, then the next one fires, and the next, until Emerson Central Fields in Forest Park is full of balloons glowing, as the organizers put it, like huge fireflies. That’s the Friday Balloon Glow of the Great Forest Park Balloon Race in mid-September. For part of the night, weather permitting, the rope line comes down and the organizers invite everyone onto the field to walk among the balloons, take photos and talk with the pilots and crew.
On the organizers’ schedule the field opens at 5 p.m. and the glow runs about 6:45 to 8:45, with fireworks after. Admission is $0, parking inside Forest Park that weekend is free, and two MetroLink stops, Forest Park-DeBaliviere and Central West End, sit just under a mile away.
Then comes the part most of the crowd never learns. Saturday’s race isn’t won by the fastest balloon. The field opens at 1 p.m., and around 4:30 one “hare” balloon launches and lands wherever the wind takes it. Its pilot and crew lay an X on the ground, and the “hound” pilot who drops a bean bag closest to the center wins. Balloons have come down in every corner of the metro, so one might land on your street. The country’s oldest and largest free balloon event, by the organizers’ count, comes down to a bean bag. The Library of Congress even keeps it in its permanent collection as a Local Legacy.
Summer nights in Forest Park have their own free-seat secret. The line for The Muny’s free seats forms at the upper entrance, and the theater tells you to bring chairs, blankets and snacks, because a picnic in that line is a St. Louis tradition. At 7 p.m. the gate opens to the last nine rows, nearly 1,500 seats, free and first come, first served, for an 8:15 curtain. Over more than a century, one in four Muny audience members has gotten in without paying.
On July 3 and 4, cross the river and watch the shells burst over the Arch from the Illinois side. Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park in East St. Louis sits directly across from the Arch and the downtown skyline, and it has stayed open until the Celebrate STL fireworks end, so check its hours for the year. And St. Patrick’s Day gets two parades: the big one downtown at noon on the Saturday before, and Dogtown’s at 11 a.m. on the 17th itself.
Add it up and six of the city’s biggest traditions cost $0 at the gate: beads on South Broadway, bagpipes in Dogtown, Shakespeare on the lawn, fireworks over the Arch, balloons over Forest Park and Santa at the Thanks-For-Giving Parade. The one big ticketed festival is the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden over Labor Day weekend.
Late winter: Mardi Gras season
On Grand Parade Saturday, Soulard smells like beer and grilled brats by mid-morning, the brick sidewalks are slick with confetti, and a float rolls by close enough that the beads smack your coat before you can catch them. It fits a city the French founded. The Bud Light Grand Parade of Soulard Mardi Gras steps off at 11 a.m. the Saturday before Fat Tuesday near Busch Stadium and rolls almost three miles down South Broadway to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, free to watch the whole way. The season also brings the Purina Pet Parade and family-friendly events in the weeks before; parade day is the rowdy one. The insider move: the narrow Soulard streets jam early, so get dropped off or ride in and walk, claim a curb on Broadway well before 11, and dress for standing still in February for hours.
Spring: parades and green rivers of people
Bagpipes bounce off the brick two-flats, somebody’s already in a green wig at 9 a.m., and the whole block smells like corned beef. That’s Dogtown on March 17. St. Louis runs two beloved St. Patrick’s Day parades, and locals have strong opinions about them. The Downtown St. Patrick’s Day Parade is the big civic one: the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day at noon, marching bands and giant character balloons heading west on Market Street from 8th to 22nd, after the Parade Run takes over downtown that morning. Out in Dogtown, the historically Irish neighborhood near Forest Park, the Ancient Order of Hibernians parade on March 17 is the neighborhood-party version, a wall-to-wall street celebration that’s as much block party as parade. Downtown’s is the bigger show; Dogtown’s is the one people call in sick for. The insider timing: Dogtown’s parade steps off at 11 a.m. at Tamm and Oakland and runs down Tamm to Manchester, and the streets start closing around 6 a.m., so park well outside the neighborhood and walk in.
Late spring and early summer: culture in the park
The lawn at Shakespeare Glen at dusk: blankets edge to edge, somebody uncorking a bottle, fireflies coming up, and then a hillside of people going quiet at the same moment as the first actor walks on. The St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s “Shakespeare in the Park” has staged a free, professional production there every late May and June since 2001, for nearly 40,000 people a season. The Glen sits off Fine Arts Drive on the east side of Art Hill, between the Zoo and the Art Museum. Bring a blanket, a picnic and a bottle of wine, and come early for a spot on the grass. In late June, PrideFest, the region’s largest Pride celebration, fills downtown with drums, whistles and rainbow flags snapping in the wind as the parade turns onto the festival grounds.
Summer: fireworks over the Arch
The first shell goes up over the Arch, the riverfront crowd says “ohhh” in one breath, and the boom lands a half-second later, rolling off the stainless steel and back across the water. The annual Fourth of July celebration downtown, now run by Celebrate Saint Louis (the group behind the old Fair Saint Louis), sets off fireworks over the Gateway Arch on July 3 and 4, sends America’s Birthday Parade down Market Street on the Fourth, and fills the week with concerts. The local trick: cross the river. Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park in East St. Louis has an overlook that puts the whole Arch and skyline in front of you, with far more lawn and far less elbow-to-elbow than the riverfront. Smaller municipal fireworks light up communities all across the metro the same week if downtown feels like too much.
Late summer: the world comes to St. Louis
Late August and early September are the city’s most gloriously international stretch. The Festival of Nations in Tower Grove Park - a free, decades-old celebration put on by the International Institute - gathers dozens of cultures for food stalls, music, and dance, and it is a food-lover’s dream. Over Labor Day weekend, the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden (running since the 1970s) turns the Garden’s 14-acre Japanese Garden into a showcase of taiko drumming, tea ceremonies, and lantern-lit evenings, while the Big Muddy Blues Festival has brought free live blues to Laclede’s Landing on many a Labor Day weekend (check whether it’s on this year). Between them, you could eat and listen your way around the globe without leaving town.
Early fall: art, balloons, and beer
September and October are arguably peak festival season. The Saint Louis Art Fair transforms downtown Clayton into one of the top-ranked juried art fairs in the country, free to browse. Nearby, the Great Forest Park Balloon Race - and its can’t-miss Friday-night Balloon Glow, when the balloons light up after dark - is a free St. Louis tradition dating to 1973 that packs Forest Park with spectators. Saturday’s race is a chase, not a sprint: the “hare” lifts off first, and the “hounds”, more than 50 balloons by the organizers’ count, follow in waves, each pilot trying to drop a bean bag closest to the X the hare’s crew lays out where it lands. Emerson Central Fields opens at 5 p.m. Friday for the glow, which runs from about 6:45 to 8:45 with fireworks after, and at 1 p.m. Saturday, with the launch around 4:30; bring a blanket and get there early for a spot near the rope. Then the season turns to beer, with Oktoberfest celebrations bringing German food, music, and steins to neighborhoods across the metro; Soulard has long thrown one near its historic market, so check this fall’s lineup before you go. Cooler air, big crowds, and a lot to do outdoors before winter.
Wildly off-topic - Benld’s restaurants, all in one place.
Late fall: the bridge to the holidays
As the leaves drop, downtown kicks off the holiday season with the Ameren Thanks-For-Giving Parade - a giant-balloon, marching-band Thanksgiving parade the Saturday before the holiday, ending at Kiener Plaza and rolling straight into the downtown Winterfest festivities. From there, the metro lights up for the winter holidays: for that whole stretch - the light displays, the Christmas markets, New Year’s Eve - see our dedicated seasonal guides, which pick up right where this calendar leaves off.
The St. Louis festival calendar at a glance
The whole festival year fits on one screen. Scan the Cost column first: almost every row says free. The weekends slide a little each year, so plan the month here, then confirm the date on the event’s own page.
| When | Festival | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late winter (Grand Parade the Saturday before Fat Tuesday) | Soulard Mardi Gras | Soulard | Parade free to watch |
| March (Dogtown marches on March 17) | Downtown and Dogtown St. Patrick’s Day parades | Market Street; Dogtown | Free |
| Late May into June | Shakespeare in the Park | Shakespeare Glen, Forest Park | Free |
| Late June | PrideFest and the Grand Pride Parade | Downtown | Parade free to watch |
| July 3 and 4 | Fireworks over the Arch; America’s Birthday Parade on the Fourth | Downtown and the riverfront | Free |
| Late August | Festival of Nations | Tower Grove Park | Free |
| Labor Day weekend | Japanese Festival | Missouri Botanical Garden | Ticketed |
| Early September | Saint Louis Art Fair | Downtown Clayton | Free to browse |
| Mid-September (Friday glow, Saturday race) | Great Forest Park Balloon Race | Forest Park | Free |
| October | Oktoberfests and Halloween events | Across the metro | Varies |
| Saturday before Thanksgiving | Thanks-For-Giving Parade, then Winterfest opens | Market Street to Kiener Plaza | Free |
Before you go: the date, the parking, cash and layers
A few habits turn a good festival day into a great one. Confirm the exact date the week before - most of these move by a weekend or two each year. Plan the parking or take transit for the big draws (Mardi Gras, the parades, July 4, the Balloon Race all snarl traffic), and consider MetroLink for downtown events. Get there early for anything free and popular, both for a good spot and easier parking. Bring cash for food and craft vendors, sunscreen and water in summer, and layers in the shoulder seasons. And follow the event’s official page or the venue for the current year’s schedule - lineups and hours are set fresh each season even when the tradition itself is a fixture.
Free, and the fastest way to feel like a local
There’s a reason St. Louisans organize their calendars around these events. Most are free, which makes them some of the best entertainment value in the region. They’re how a big metro of distinct neighborhoods actually comes together - Soulard, Dogtown, Tower Grove, Clayton, and downtown each get their moment to host the whole city. And they’re the fastest way for a newcomer to feel like a local: show up to a couple of these, and the year stops feeling like a stranger’s calendar and starts feeling like yours. Pick one from the next season on the horizon, and go.
Festivals by neighborhood: who hosts what
One of the charms of the St. Louis calendar is that the celebrations are spread across the city’s distinct neighborhoods, each with a signature event it’s known for. Soulard owns the bookends of the outdoor year - Mardi Gras in late winter and, traditionally, an Oktoberfest in the fall - both anchored around its historic market. Dogtown is synonymous with its St. Patrick’s Day street party. Tower Grove Park hosts the international food-and-culture sprawl of Festival of Nations. Forest Park is the setting for Shakespeare in the Park and the Great Forest Park Balloon Race. Clayton’s downtown becomes a top-tier art fair each September. And the Gateway Arch grounds and downtown host the civic big-hitters: the July 4 fireworks, PrideFest, and the Thanks-For-Giving Parade. If you want to get to know St. Louis’s neighborhoods, following the festival calendar is one of the best ways to do it - each event is also an introduction to the place that throws it.
A whole summer of weekends without buying a ticket
It’s worth saying plainly: a remarkable number of these events cost nothing to attend. Festival of Nations, the Great Forest Park Balloon Race and Balloon Glow, the Saint Louis Art Fair, Shakespeare in the Park, and the parades are all free at the gate. That makes St. Louis’s festival season one of the best entertainment values anywhere - you can fill a whole summer of weekends without buying a ticket. To do it smart: bring your own water and snacks where allowed (and cash for the food you can’t resist), arrive early to skip the worst parking, and check each event’s page for free-admission details versus paid add-ons like reserved seating, rides, or beer gardens. For families especially, the combination of free entry and genuinely top-tier programming - a professional Shakespeare production, dozens of balloons rising over Forest Park, dozens of cultures under one park’s trees - is hard to beat anywhere in the country.
Looking for more to do around town? Browse the Entertainment & Leisure listings in the St Louis Near Me directory.
If you run a food truck, a brewery or a shop along one of these parade routes, list your business with us and turn the Balloon Glow crowd hunting for dinner afterward into customers.
Pick one festival a season and go every year
The locals who love this city most tend to have their handful of non-negotiable events - the ones they go to every single year, rain or shine, until they become as much a part of the season as the weather. Maybe it’s the Balloon Glow every September, or Festival of Nations for the food, or the Dogtown parade with the same crew. The invitation here is simple: pick one or two from this calendar, go this year, and go again next year. That’s how a new arrival turns into a St. Louisan - not all at once, but one beloved annual tradition at a time, until the whole year has a familiar, welcome shape to it. And the beauty of a calendar this full is that there’s almost always something on the horizon: finish one season’s festival and the next is only a few weeks out, which is a quietly wonderful thing to realize about the place you live.
People are asking
What is there to do in St. Louis between March and September when no festival is on?
Eat dinner at a farmers’ market on a weeknight. From May through September, Tower Grove Farmers’ Market runs a Tuesday evening market in Tower Grove Park from 4 p.m. to dusk, stocked with prepared food and drinks for dinner in the park, and a Thursday evening market in Francis Park, tucked next to the Rockwell Beer Garden with its cold drinks and wood-fired pizza. Saturday mornings, the main market fills Tower Grove Park from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., April through October, with about 120 vendors of local produce, handmade goods and treats. Check the market’s own schedule for this season’s exact opening and closing days before you go.
Why you check the date the week before
Festivals aren’t permanent fixtures, and it’s worth going in with clear eyes. Beloved events do sometimes pause, move, or end - rising costs, staffing, and safety logistics have all reshaped the local calendar in recent years, and a festival that ran for a decade can go on hiatus without much warning. That’s exactly why the single most useful habit for any of these is to check the event’s official page or social media before you make plans, rather than assuming last year’s date and location still hold. The events in this guide are the sturdy, long-running anchors of the St. Louis year - the ones most likely to be there season after season - but even they set fresh details annually. A two-minute check saves a wasted trip, and it’s the price of admission for a city whose calendar is alive and always evolving.
Planning more than one stop? Our guide to things to do around St. Louis, town by town, picks up where this one ends.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the biggest annual festivals in St. Louis?
Soulard Mardi Gras (late winter), the Downtown and Dogtown St. Patrick’s Day parades (March), Shakespeare in the Park and PrideFest (late spring and June), the Fourth of July fireworks over the Arch, Festival of Nations and the Japanese Festival (late summer), the Saint Louis Art Fair and Great Forest Park Balloon Race (September), and the Thanks-For-Giving Parade (November). Most are free.
What events are happening in St. Louis on Labor Day weekend?
The Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden is the anchor, with taiko drumming and sumo across the holiday weekend, and it’s ticketed. Festival of Nations in Tower Grove Park usually lands a weekend or two earlier, the Saint Louis Art Fair fills downtown Clayton in early September, and it’s worth checking whether Big Muddy Blues is on at Laclede’s Landing.
What are some free events happening in St. Louis today?
It depends on the day, but the free anchors are predictable: parades in March, June, July and November, Shakespeare in the Park in June, Festival of Nations in late August, and the Art Fair and Balloon Race in September. For today’s smaller events, check the City of St. Louis events calendar, and remember the Zoo is free every day it’s open.
What is happening in St. Louis next week?
Start with the calendar table above for the season you’re in, then confirm the exact date on the event’s own site, since most of these move by a weekend or two each year. For the smaller stuff, like walking tours, neighborhood festivals and concerts, the City of St. Louis events calendar lists the next seven days at a glance.
What are some fun things to do near St. Louis this weekend?
Match it to the season. If a festival from the calendar above is on, go; most are free and easy to reach by MetroLink. If not, the free Zoo and the Forest Park museums work any weekend, and the day-trips guide linked below has more escapes within two hours of the city when you want to get out of town.
Between festivals, get out of town: see our roundup of the best day trips from St. Louis within two hours.
Skip the festival parking headache: many of these events are easiest to reach by MetroLink - see our guide to getting around St. Louis by public transit.
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.