Reno Festivals

Reno Nevada is well known for gambling and divorces, but what many aren't aware of is that Reno is really party town.

It seems like there's always a celebration of some sort going on, especially during the summer and fall when during nearly every weekend there is a festival or two in downtown Reno.

Whether you like classic cars, cold beer, creative art, or the great outdoors, there's a festival for you. Check out this page to find out about some of the biggest festivals in Reno.

Reno Riverfest is a celebration of spring and the Truckee River.

It features river kayak competitions, concerts, food booths, river fun suppliers, a race called the Run Amok, and loads of fun by the beautiful Truckee River. Kayak enthusiasts from around the country come to play and compete in Reno's whitewater park.

Runners in the Run Amok dress in costumes and form teams, then run alongside the river through squirting water, bubbles, and mud. They do hopscotch challenges and leap hay bales. Along the way they may lose pieces of their costumes, but everyone has fun. Sadly, they haven't done the Run Amok for the last couple of years and I don't know if they will start doing it again. They say they don't have funding.

The BBQ, Blues, and Brews Festival is about...you guessed it! Eating BBQ, listening to the blues, and drinking some great beer.

Breweries from around the country come out and dispense tastes of their beer.

Blues musicians rock on stages around the area.

Delicious barbeque dripping with sauce is sold.

It's a delicious and fun in downtown Reno.

Reno is Artown, during the month of July.

Artown is a month full of art that starts on July 1st and runs until the end of the month.

Art is everywhere, featured most especially along the Riverwalk. There are shows and concerts at Wingfield Park. The art museums all have special shows. There are performances all over. Every day for the entire month art is happening in Reno.

There is art for art fans, art for average people, art for and by kids, and even art for the dogs.

Being near Burning Man means there is a good influx of artists and creative types in Reno, so art events are really interesting here.

Nada Dada is a weekend event where artists rent motel rooms and set up their own galleries showcasing their art. It's sort of the anti-art scene art scene.

Whether an artist is world-famous or just brand new, everyone can participate and spread their visions to interested viewers.

Nada Dada isn't just an art event for painters either, there are people doing all sorts of art, including sculptures, performance art, and even art I couldn't even label.

I've done two rooms, one for NADAgras, the Spring NadaDada show, and another for the regular NadaDada. Both were rooms featuring the beauty of the human body and the hijinks we can get up to.

NadaDada is fun and lets you meet artists and see art you normally wouldn't see in a uptight, fancy gallery.

Hot August Nights is an annual classic automobile event usually held around the first week in August.

Classic cars from all across the country converge on the city of Reno and nearby Sparks to show off at the numerous car shows and cruise. The entire city is taken over by cars from the '30's, the '40's, the '50's, the '60's, and the '70's.

Watching all the beautiful machines drive past, it's almost like you're taken back in time. And when you listen to one of the great concerts playing at a Sock Hop while surrounded by classic cars, you feel like a kid again.

The best BBQ chefs from around the country head to Sparks (the city adjacent to Reno) during Labor Day weekend to compete for the Best in the West title.

These great cooks barbeque the entire weekend, making delicious food and selling it to the grateful public.

There's so much good food, it's hard to choose.

There's BBQ ribs (of course!), pulled-pork sandwiches, corn bread, beans, roasted corn on the cob, turkey legs, fried zucchini, ice cream, fried cream puffs, funnel cakes, lemonade, beer, and cold Coca-Cola.

Award-winning food is around every corner at this tasty festival

Burning Man, or "that thing in the desert" is a major event in Nevada.

It's hugely popular and brings in over 70,000 people each year even though it's difficult to get tickets for it and they cost hundreds of dollars.

Burning Man is not actually in Reno, but Reno is the closet city and most participants pass through and purchase their supplies there on their way out to the desert. And a great many Reno residents attend Burning Man or consider themselves Burners.

The Burners go out into the middle of a dry lake bed in the middle of nowhere and make a city around them for one week. The city formed is called Black Rock City and it has roads, newspapers, radio stations, but no phones or cell service.

Burning Man is a festival devoted to art and creation and fun and remaking civilization. Participants make art, do performances, and burn a figure of giant man. Then they pack up every trace, make it look like they've never been there, and go home.

The Great Reno Balloon Race is just as it sounds, a great hot-air balloon race held in and above the city of Reno.

It is usually held around the second weekend in September and it is an incredible chance to get up close and personal with hot air balloons as they're inflated all around you then take off and soar over your head.

Held in Stead, a northern region adjacent to Reno, the Reno Air Races are a fast moving event featuring planes soaring across the skies and dipping low to show off for the audience.

There are antique biplanes, fighter planes, and screaming jets, all flying through the air.

The amazing pilots race, do tricks, and perform for the audience.

Street Vibrations is a motorcycle show and rally held in mid-September each year.

The entire city of Reno is so overtaken by big and loud motorcycles that the streets seem to vibrate.

It is definitely exhilarating.