Annual events calendar

Wake Forest runs on its calendar. The town, the chamber, the downtown organization and a stack of community groups fill the year with festivals, concerts and parades, most of them free, several of them decades old, and the residents who get the most out of living here are simply the ones who know what's coming. Here's the whole year, month by month, with the dates the town has published for 2026. Verify specifics before you build a day around one; event dates shift, and our events page tracks the current listings.

Winter: the quiet months that aren't

• January: the MLK Community Celebration anchors the month, and the indoor calendar at the Renaissance Centre carries the rest; the rainy day guide handles the gaps.
• February: Wake Forest Mardi Gras takes over White Street with a children's parade, games and a king-and-queen costume contest, the town's most cheerfully odd tradition and proof that a small downtown will find an excuse for beads in any climate.

Spring: the busiest stretch of the year

• April: HerbFest fills a downtown acre with the largest herb-plant selection around, a genuine destination event for Triangle gardeners. Friday Night on White also wakes up this month, the monthly street party detailed in the food truck guide.
• Late April into May: Six Sundays in Spring, in its 32nd year, runs six consecutive Sundays from April 26 through May 31, free, rain or shine, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Joyner Park Amphitheater. The free concert guide covers how to do these properly.
• May 2: Meet in the Street, the 44th annual chamber-run festival, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. downtown: over 100 artisan booths, dozens of food trucks, live music all day, and a children's village. Free admission, and the biggest daytime crowd of the spring.
• May onward: the free monthly outdoor movie series starts at Joyner Park on May 16 at 8:30 p.m. and runs through August. Memorial Day brings the Wall of Honor remembrance.

Summer: patios, fireworks and the Fourth

• June 20: the Juneteenth Celebration, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the DuBois Center on N. Franklin Street, connected to the histories in our Ailey Young House and Alston-Massenburg Center guides.
• July 4: the two-day Fourth of July celebration, with the Children's Parade stepping off at 10:30 a.m. from the Birthplace Museum on N. Main, running through the seminary grounds to the Community House, plus Art in the Park crafts from 11 to 1 and the Fireworks Spectacular. Helmets required for young cyclists in the parade.
• All summer: Friday Night on White monthly, the movie series, and the patio season the patio guide maps.

Fall: the festival run

• September 6 and 13: Concerts in the Park return to the Joyner amphitheater, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., the fall bookend to Six Sundays. The Friday Night on White season finale also lands in September.
• September 20: the CROP Hunger Walk, 2 to 4 p.m. from the Birthplace Museum, one entry point among many in the volunteering guide.
• October 10: Wake Forest Pride Fest, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on East Owen Avenue and Brooks Street, with street closures through the afternoon.
• October: the Halloween Boo Bash and downtown trick-or-treating, plus the Chamber's Fall Oyster Roast, the ghost walks, and the pumpkin-and-hayride circuit in the fall activities guide. Community events like Cars & Carnivores and Forest Fest fill the remaining weekends.

The holidays: the town's biggest month

• Late November: the Wake Forest Cares Holiday Kickoff and the Lighting of Wake Forest turn the downtown blocks over to the season, with Small Business Saturday close behind.
• December: the Christmas Parade, the town's largest community event of any kind, fills downtown with floats and the entire population of Wake Forest along the curb.
• The full seasonal rundown, from tree lightings to holiday shopping, lives in the holiday season guide and the local gift guide.

The weekly and monthly backbone

Beneath the annual headliners runs a steady rhythm that matters more to daily life: the farmers market on Saturdays in season, Friday Night on White monthly from April to September, the movie series in summer, the trivia and live-music week mapped in the weeknight guide, and the Renaissance Centre's year-round programming. Together they mean a resident who never checks a calendar still stumbles into something most weeks.

How to use the year

• Newcomers: put Meet in the Street, Six Sundays, the Fourth and the Christmas Parade on the calendar in your first week. Those four are the town's handshake.
• Visitors: time a trip to a Friday Night on White or a festival Saturday and the 48-hours itinerary upgrades itself for free.
• Families: the parades, the movie nights and the Boo Bash are the year's spine, with the rest in the kids' guide.
• Everyone: check parking before the big ones, since street closures reroute downtown; the parking guide has the event-night playbook.

The town prints a wall calendar each year and stocks it at Town Hall, the Renaissance Centre, the library, the Joyner and Flaherty community centers, the Center for Active Aging and the Alston-Massenburg Center. Grab one; for a town whose social life runs this heavily on scheduled gathering, it's the most useful free object in Wake Forest.

Frequently asked questions

What are the biggest events in Wake Forest, NC?

Meet in the Street in May, Six Sundays in Spring at Joyner Park, the two-day Fourth of July celebration, the monthly Friday Night on White, and the Christmas Parade, which is the town's largest community event.

When is Meet in the Street 2026?

Saturday, May 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. downtown, in its 44th year, with more than 100 artisan booths, food trucks, live music and a children's village. Admission is free.

When is Six Sundays in Spring?

Six consecutive Sundays from April 26 through May 31, 2026, free and rain or shine, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the E. Carroll Joyner Park Amphitheater.

Does Wake Forest have free outdoor movies?

Yes, a free monthly outdoor movie series at Joyner Park running May through August, starting May 16 at 8:30 p.m.