Virginia Wine & Craft Festival

Virginia Wine & Craft Festival is an annual grand tasting festival held each year on the third Saturday in May in Downtown Front Royal, Virginia — now in its 38th year, the event draws more than 9,000 attendees to historic Main Street. The 2026 edition is scheduled for Saturday, May 16, running from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, rain or shine. The festival is organized by the Front Royal Warren County Chamber of Commerce and features more than 20 Virginia wineries alongside cideries and meaderies pouring throughout the day.

Virginia Wine & Craft Festival spans the full footprint of historic Downtown Front Royal, combining wine, cider, and mead tastings with a marketplace of nearly 200 artisan, craft, and food vendors. Handmade goods — including jewelry, pottery, art, and home décor — share space with food stalls offering BBQ, crab cakes, waffles, wings, and other fare. Live music from regional performers runs throughout the day, and Cloud Street is designated as a Kids Zone with activities for younger attendees. The breadth of the event — tastings, shopping, food, and entertainment all on one downtown corridor — distinguishes it from single-focus wine events.

Ticket pricing had not been published at the time of this writing; the festival website is the best source for current admission details. All vendors receive one complimentary wine admission, with additional advance wine admissions listed at $15 in prior years. The event runs seven hours and takes place outdoors in a walkable downtown setting, so comfortable footwear and awareness of the weather forecast are practical considerations. Attendees are advised to follow the festival on Facebook for updates as the May 2026 date approaches.

Front Royal sits at the northern entrance to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, a region with a growing wine identity anchored by cool-climate varieties like Viognier, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc. The 20-plus wineries represented at the festival draw from across the Commonwealth, giving attendees exposure to Virginia's diverse appellations in a single afternoon. For anyone exploring Virginia wine country, the festival offers direct access to producers from multiple regions in one concentrated tasting environment.