Cedarburg Wine & Harvest Festival 2026: Dates, Parking & Guide

The Cedarburg Wine & Harvest Festival runs September 19–20, 2026 — a detail worth stating up front, because some listings have the date and even the month wrong. It's a free, 50-year-old fall festival that fills downtown Washington Avenue with local wine, harvest food, hundreds of artisans, grape stomping, and giant pumpkins. This guide has the correct 2026 dates and hours, what actually happens, where to park (with a 2026 construction caveat), and where to eat and stay.

When and where

The festival takes place Saturday, September 19 (10am–6pm) and Sunday, September 20 (11am–5pm), 2026, on Washington Avenue between Bridge Road and Western Avenue, with the family area in Cedar Creek Park. Admission is free. It's held the third full weekend of September each year — for planning ahead, 2027 falls on September 11–12.

One note, since accuracy is the point: you may see the festival listed for October or for September 20–21 on some travel sites. The organizer, Festivals of Cedarburg, confirms September 19–20 for 2026. When sources disagree, the festival's own calendar is the one to trust.

What happens

Wine & Harvest is the most food-and-drink-focused of Cedarburg's festivals, and the most photogenic. The anchors:

The Great Grape Stomp at Cedar Creek Winery is the signature event — a barefoot, purple-footed stomping contest with kids' and adults' rounds at 1:00 and 3:00 both Saturday and Sunday. It's exactly as fun to watch as it is to enter. Arts of the Avenue lines Washington Avenue with 300-plus artisans selling handmade work. The Giant Pumpkin events are the other crowd-pleaser: a weigh-off of enormous prize pumpkins, plus a Giant Pumpkin Regatta where hollowed-out pumpkins are actually paddled as boats. Add hayrides, pumpkin painting, scarecrows around town, live music on multiple stages, and wine and beer gardens, and it fills a full day easily.

Getting there and parking

Cedarburg is about 20 minutes north of Milwaukee off I-43. The festival footprint is walkable end to end, but parking fills fast — the free lots behind Washington Avenue are usually full by mid-morning, and the paid Interurban Trail lot at the north end holds spaces later into the day, a five-minute walk from the action.

Important for 2026: portions of Washington Avenue are under construction, which the festival organizers note will trigger traffic rerouting and may limit local street parking. Give yourself extra time, arrive earlier than you'd think, and be ready to walk a few blocks more than usual. Check the official festival page close to the date for the current parking map.

What to eat and drink

The festival food leans hard into harvest and local: wine by the glass, bottle, or case from Cedar Creek Winery, plus grilled food at the Settlement's Courtyard Grill, kettle corn, decorated cookies, and the permanent downtown restaurants running festival hours. Anvil Pub & Grille and Union House are both natural festival stops, and the breweries stay busy but absorb crowds better than the smaller dining rooms.

For the full rundown of downtown dining, our where to eat in Cedarburg guide covers what stays open and what books up.

Where to stay

Cedarburg's handful of in-town stays sell out early for festival weekends, and Wine & Harvest is one of the biggest. If you want to walk out your door into the festival, book well ahead — the Washington House Inn, right on Washington Avenue in the middle of the footprint, is the closest and books furthest in advance.

For all the in-town options and the nearby fallbacks when they're full, see our where to stay in Cedarburg guide.

Other Cedarburg festivals

Wine & Harvest is one of several festivals Cedarburg runs through the year — the Strawberry Festival in June is the other big one, with Oktoberfest, Winter Festival, and the holiday season filling out the calendar. Our Cedarburg festivals guide has the full year at a glance.