September brings relief from heat, if not wildfire smoke, and a little more routine than the summer months. With this seasonal change in mind, event organizers seem to agree: September is the month to hold a festival in the City of Trees!
City Cast Boise’s full guide to September includes free events and food picks. For the newsletter edition, we’re focusing on all the wonderful events to mark on your calendar.
A Festival or Two Per Weekend
Friday, Sept. 6 - Sunday, Sept. 8
We appreciate an event that delivers on its name! This is the Boise Art Museum’s main fundraising event, and it fills Julia Davis Park with art vendors from all over — for example, I’m excited to be reunited with a Tennessee book maker I buy a new handbound journal from every year. You can find contemporary art booths right next to kids crafts, along with food trucks and live music. It’s a great time to get a head start on holiday gift shopping!
Friday, Sept. 13 - Sunday, Sept. 15
This street fair has been a quintessential North End tradition at Camel’s Back Park since 1979, and it’s never lost its 70s roots. You’ll see a little of everything from political nonprofits to hard rock to tarot readers to sound baths. If you’re out of walking or biking range, I strongly recommend Ubering or bribing a friend to drop you off at the park, because parking can be a hassle in the residential neighborhood.
Friday, Sept. 13 - Sunday, Sept. 15
Everyone keeps freaking out about Pride and the Hyde Park Street Fair overlapping, to which I say, relax! Both run for three days, and they’re so close geographically you can hit both in the same afternoon. Boise Pride is totally free and open to the public at Cecil D. Andrus Park in front of the Capitol building. There are dozens of performers throughout the weekend, but we’re also excited for the Gem State’s first ever trans march on Friday evening, which isn’t technically part of the festival but will end at the park.
Oktoberfests Around the Valley
The Treasure Valley may not be Munich, but we do love our beer and pretzels. There are a handful of Oktoberfest celebrations to check out:
- Das Alpenhaus Deli on Sept. 20 - 21
- Payette Brewing on Sept. 20 - 22
- Nampa Civic Center on Sept. 27
- Downtown Boise bar crawl on Sept. 28
- Downtown Meridian on Oct. 5
A spread from Sawtooth Winery. (Evelyn Avitia / City Cast Boise)
Escape the Crowds
Ease into autumn with a charcuterie board and wine tasting at a Canyon County winery or Ada County tasting room. As the month progresses and we get further into harvest season, apple picking and pumpkin patches will pick up, too. We’ll have plenty of time to be indoors in the winter, so make the most of whatever warmth we get and practice layering up. As someone has surely said, there’s no bad patio weather, only bad patio clothes!
