Get in the sweet, summer spirit with the vivacious Sweet Pea Festival in downtown Bozeman!
A vibrant display of community, arts, and music, this three-day festival is held on the first Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of August, and it’s a local favorite to beat the late summer heat.
Entering its 45th year, this long-standing Bozeman tradition has multiple forms of entertainment through the week and into the weekend celebration.
Let’s get right down to it: we mentioned at the top that certain events are free, while others require admission. Saddle up the family bikes and strollers, because the Chalk on the Walk, Bite of Bozeman, Sweet Pea Art Show, and Sweet Pea Parade are all free for you and the fam.
If you can only make one of these events, we highly recommend the Sweet Pea Parade, a joyous celebration along Main Street with memorable and colorful floats.
But at its heart, this is a community arts festival, spanning multiple creative expressions and mediums. Kicking off on Friday with a riveting performance by Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, it ramps up on Saturday with a children’s run and that glorious parade of gargantuan volunteer effort.
The festivities end on Sunday in the park with craft beers, live music, and unique crafts from around the United States. All week long, you’ll have opportunities to share your own creative gifts, like at the all-day Chalk on the Walk event.
Since this is a festival for sweet peas after all, one of our favorite activities is the unique Flower Show on Friday, an opportunity to share your sweet pea flowers and bouquets with the great Bozeman community.
And while the cash prizes are great, the best part of the Flower Show is bridging gardening with socializing – and just a hint of competition.
Or, check out any of the number of music, dance, and theater performances beyond the Shakespeare performances – this is truly an arts festival of wide and epic proportions.
How Did The Sweet Pea Festival Even Flower Into What it is Now?
April of 1977 saw an amorphous group of Bozemanites desiring a “celebration of creativity,” something they accomplished with the community-sourced Sweet Pea Festival in 1978.
As a nod to turn of the century carnivals, they included a parade, ball, and – of course – a celebration of the beloved sweet pea. As beautifully scented climbing flowers with dashes of radiant pinks, blues, and lavender, the sweet pea was an obvious choice for a summertime celebration.
These organizers knew they were undertaking a massive event, but the self-proclaimed hopeless optimists received a fortuitous grant from the Montana Arts Festival to get their newly blossoming three-day event up and running.
$2 buttons were eventually required for attendance – similar to a wristband – and the original festival had the bones of events that still take place today, including the Flower Show.
As the festival grew over the years to 12,000 attendees and then to 15,000 attendees, Lindley Park has become synonymous with the celebrations, as well as the bright and gregarious parade floats.
Eventually, the Taste of Bozeman roots morphed into the current day’s Bite of Bozeman, a Wednesday smattering of food and drink choices.
This is a special volunteer-led festival that continues to evolve and give back to its community, and we’re sure it will continue to bring joy for many years to come.
Sweet Pea Festival Event Details
We’re all about that craft beer and wine garden in Lindley Park, but you may have more pressing details to sort out (oh hi, juried art show!).
See below for the latest information on admission, wristbands, facilities, accommodations, and more.
- Dates: First Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of August
- 424 E Main St Ste 203B, Bozeman, MT
- (406) 586-4003
- Admission: Events leading up to festival weekend: Free; Admission to Lindley Park activities requires $25 wristband purchase. Children 12 and under admitted free.
- Website
- Contact: Sweet Pea Festival
Facilities
We know you’ve got questions about food, drinks, available toilets, and more, so let’s take a fragrant dive into the facilities at Sweet Pea Festival. The organizers do have some rules to ensure a safe experience for all, and we want you to be as prepared as possible!
Food, Drinks, & More
Looking for a fun and free food experience? Check out the Bite of Bozeman, a mid-week culinary exploration for your taste buds.
Over 40 restaurants and food and drink vendors provide delectable treats, from huckleberry smoothies to pulled pork sandwiches to plant-based ice cream. Getting hungry? Good – there will be plenty of options to choose from.
Once on weekend festival grounds, you’ll find numerous food concessions and that amazing beer and wine garden (yes, please!). The beer and wine garden is located on the southwest corner of the park, giving you easy access to the live music Bowl.
If all that craft beer isn’t enough to get you excited, take the time to stroll through over 100 arts and crafts vendors from Bozemanites and beyond.
The organizers kindly ask that you drink responsibly and use the honor system to drink only in designated areas, going back to that safe environment for all.
You’ll be able to find portable toilets on-site, and while there is no on-site parking, the organizers recommend that you park along Main Street – or better yet, bike or take public transportation to keep Bozeman beautiful.
We recommend visiting the Sweet Pea website for up-to-date festie maps.
If you’re participating in Saturday’s Sweet Pea Run, you’ll want to leave your furry friends at home. Otherwise, if you have any questions about bringing pets, especially service animals, please email admin@sweetpeafestival.org.
Merchandise & More
Looking for Sweet Pea Festival swag? You’ll be able to find limited t-shirts, posters, and more from various locations around town prior to the festival, and all merchandise is available via the festival’s online store.
Not interested in going out just yet? You can also order online and pick it up at the Sweet Pea Festival office (score!), or wait for the festival to begin to grab some swag.
If we can make a couple of recommendations, buy some Sweet Pea postcards and send them out to friends to spread the fest far and wide, or pick up a couple of fanny packs and v-neck t-shirts to share with your festie bestie!
The website is also a fantastic resource for memorabilia – many of its posters and postcards options go back all the way to the festival’s founding year (That’s 1978, for you math whizzes!).
Feel free to use the website to purchase your wristbands – that’s $25 for three days’ worth of memories! Buying in advance is always the best option, with ticket prices increasing at the gate to $50 for 3 days. So, be smart and think ahead, just like your mama taught you!
Miscellaneous
If you were hoping to camp or tow your RV onto festival grounds, we have some good news and some bad news. Bad news first – there are no camping or RV sites available at Lindley Park, as it will be busy catering to your earbuds and taste buds.
But as you’ll find in our Accommodation section below, Bozeman and its surrounding areas offer numerous spots to pitch a tent, lounge in your RV, and recharge before the next day’s festivities (We’re partial to Bozeman Hot Springs, ourselves, but you’ll find even more options below!).
Accommodation
One thing is certain: there are plenty of opportunities to rest your eyes in Bozeman and the surrounding areas, with varying levels of class and crunch.
If you’re going to be in Montana for a summertime festival, you may as well lean into the granola with our two top picks, The LARK and the nearby Bodhi Farms.
As a town that thrives on its sky-wide connection to nature and community, it’s also nice to have a few tried-and-true options (Residence Inn, RSVP Hotel).
Drive just a bit west and you’ll hit local favorite, Bozeman Hot Springs, and their accompanying campground. Travel even further to Belgrade for The Outpost or any number of lodges for fishing, swimming, and hiking.
- Bozeman Inn
- The LARK (Artsy, hipster Montana vibe: our favorite complement to Sweet Pea!)
- RSVP Hotel
- C’mon Inn
- Residence Inn by Marriott Bozeman Downtown
- Sapphire Motel
- Bodhi Farms (Our glamping pick!)
- Gallatin River Lodge
- Bear Canyon Campground
- Bozeman Hot Springs Campground