Ten Days of Blue: Your Guide to the 2026 Deerfield Valley Blueberry Festival

For ten days at the height of summer, the Deerfield Valley is putting the humble blueberry on a pedestal, and everyone is invited.

Blueberry parade in Dover. — The 2023 Blueberry Parade. Photo credit: Southern Vermont Deerfield Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The 18th Annual Deerfield Valley Blueberry Festival runs July 31 through August 9, and it turns Wilmington, West Dover, Dover, and Jacksonville into one long celebration of the season: parades and pancake breakfasts, lakeside music and mountain bonfires, pie contests, car shows, and more blueberry cocktails than you can shake a paddle board at.

Whether you are here for one afternoon or all ten days, this is the Valley at its warmest and most welcoming. Here is how to make the most of it.

Start slow, end loud

The festival opens Friday, July 31, with the Music & Market kickoff in Jacksonville from 4 to 7 pm. Enjoy the Jacksonville Blues Band, local blueberries, the Whitingham Library book sale, live animals from the Vermont Museum of Natural History, and an ice cream truck to keep the kids cool.

Bring a chair and relax with a mellow evening of blueberry fun.

Want a little more energy? Mount Snow’s Summer Block Party (5 to 8 pm) brings ‘The Davids’ to the stage, a Zero Gravity beer garden, a canned-drink stand named, with admirable honesty, “Canned,” and famous boozy milkshakes. Dogs are welcome.

Do Jacksonville first, Mount Snow second, and you will have eased beautifully into the first of ten days of blueberries.

August 1: Saturday is the Main Event

If you clear only one day on your calendar, make it Saturday, August 1.

The Blueberry Festival Parade steps off at 11 am from the Dover Town Offices to American Flatbread, with local floats and marching bands. One tip: be seated along the route by 10:45 to claim a good spot.

After the parade, West Dover becomes a choose-your-own-adventure.

There is a Craft Fair (9 am to 3 pm), a Kids Fair with bouncy houses and circus jugglers, Touch-a-Truck for the “GO VROOM” crowd, and a Teddy Bear Picnic with Bill Shontz at the Coffee Barn.

The whole Route 100 corridor turns into a Music Mile: American Flatbread, Black Ember Grill, Snow Republic Brewery, the Hermitage Inn, and more will be serving blueberry specials with a side of live music into the evening.

Dover Bar and Grill (affectionately DBaG) has a dog-friendly beer garden and alt-indie jam fairy Allegra Larson at 1 pm.

More Blueberry Adventures

The parade weekend gets the crowds, but the people who know the Valley best love the quiet middle part of the festival.

Sunday, August 2, starts with the Rotary’s blueberry pancake breakfast (8:30 to 11, suggested donation of $10 adults) and rolls into Blueberry Splash on Lake Whitingham, where live music floats along the coves while you paddle, swim, and lounge on your floaties.

There is a guided boat tour at 3 pm and lakeside yoga at 4 pm with Amy from Weeping Willow Yoga. Tickets for those go in advance, so plan ahead.

Monday brings Intro to Disc Golf at Horace Hill (discs provided, no commitment required) and line dancing at the Dover Free Library.

blueberry bushes with hands picking. — Don’t forget to pick your own!

Wednesday, August 5, is my sleeper pick. Boyd Family Farm hosts a Blueberry Pajama Party and story time in the field at 6, followed by Music on the Mountain at 6:30: a bonfire up on the mowing, bring your own instrument, bring your own s’mores, and watch the sun go down. The pick-your-own fields stay open until dark. It is the most Vermont-in-August thing on the whole schedule.

The Grand Finale

The last weekend is pure joy. Friday, August 7, is the Blueberry Jell-O Party at Twin Valley Elementary: 200 gallons of blueberry Jell-O to slide in, swim in, and play in. Perfect for the kiddos!

Then Saturday, August 8, closes things out with the Blueberry Block Party in downtown Wilmington (5 to 8 pm).

The town takes on a blue glow, Guess Method plays the main stage, and there is an annual pie-eating contest that is messy, hilarious, and not to be missed. Shops stay open late with block-party discounts, Ratu’s pours Surfside Blueberry Lemonade tastings, and Valley Craft Ales hosts the official “After” Party with house-made blueberry gelato.

Sunday, August 9, sends you off gently with the Blueberry Car Show at Howe Farm Field (benefiting Meals on Wheels) and the tail end of the Pettee Library book sale.

Eat blue, drink blue

A refreshing blueberry cocktail with a sprig of mint. — Try a refreshing blueberry cocktail.

You will not go hungry here! Mill & Whistle is going all-in with blueberry hand pies and a blueberry pancake latte. The Creemee Stand has Blueberry Cheesecake soft serve. Dot’s is serving Blueberry Cream Pie. And nearly every restaurant in the valley has dreamed up a blueberry cocktail, from Alpenglow’s Heidelbeere to Anchor Seafood’s Blueberry Cosmopolitan.

The Deerfield Valley Blueberry Festival is not one event; it is ten days of the Valley being the best version of itself. Come for the parade, stay for the bonfire, and leave a little blue around the edges. This is one of our favorite August events in Vermont; be sure to check out the rest!