South Shore festivals 2026 bring live music, food and family events

With the warmer weather comes outdoor music, parades, festivals, fairs and fun on the South Shore.

Winter came with a vengeance this year as we were battered by two snowstorms with significant snowfall and long stretches that saw the mercury barely clear the freezing point.

So, let’s talk summer.

Here are nine things you might want check out. Have a great summer!

When: Saturday, June 13, 7 p.m.

This year’s parade steps off from Hancock and Coddington streets in Quincy Center, heads north along Hancock Street, turns onto Merrymount Parkway and wraps up at Vietnam Veterans Drive and Adams Field. A flag-raising ceremony and musical performance at Pageant Field will follow the parade, and the night culminates with fireworks over Black’s Creek starting around 9 p.m. This year’s parade, the 75th edition, will feature floats honoring America’s 250 anniversary, specialty units, public safety and veterans’ color guards, a fleet of classic cars, and more than 1,000 flag-waving youngsters. Bands scheduled to perform include the Quincy/North Quincy Marching Band, Crusaders Senior Corp., North Star Alumni Drum and Bugle, 7th Regiment Drum and Bugle, Conn Hurricanes Drum and Bugle, Branches Steel Band, New Magnolia Jazz Band and the Conn Alumni Drum and Bugle.

When: Saturday, June 13, noon to 5 p.m.
Where: Independent Fermentations Brewing, 127 Camelot Drive, Plymouth

Are you a fan of pickles and fermentation in general? This festival is for you. The Plymouth Pickle and Fermentation Festival will feature a variety of pickled and fermented foods as well as drinks, music, classes and the chance to make your own sauerkraut.

When: Friday, June 19, noon to 6 p.m.; Saturday, June 20, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, June 21, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Cohasset Common, Highland Avenue

Held on Father’s Day weekend, this year’s Arts Festival, the South Shore Art Center’s 71st annual exhibition, features nearly 100 craft exhibitors from across New England selling their creations for the 14,000 attendees the festival typically attracts. In addition to the art, the festival will feature live music, a beer garden and food from several vendors. Confirmed food vendors include Del’s Lemonade, Mom on the GO, Plazita Mexico Tacos and Sufr Dogz.

When: Friday, June 26, through Friday, July 3

Benn & Company kicks off the Duxbury Music Festival on June 26 with a free night of live music and dancing under the tent on Duxbury Town Green, Washington Street and Harden Hill Avenue, starting at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

The festival shifts to timeless American favorites on Saturday, June 27, at 3 p.m. on Town Green with the A Swingin’ Affair Big Band playing the best of Frank Sinatra. Tickets for this concert are $40. Sunday, June 28, is Family Day on Town Green from noon to 3 p.m., with music-themed crafts, drums circles and food.

Later on Sunday, at 6 p.m., the festival shifts to the Ellison Center for the Arts, 64 St. George St, for the Opening Faculty Concert, featuring performances of Mahler, Debussy and other late-Romantic composers, alongside selections from the jazz canon. Tickets for that performance are $40.

After a day off, the festival moves to The Art Complex Museum, 189 Alden St., at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30, for “From Paris to New York,” a performance that explores the musical link between France and the United States. Tickets for that performance are $40.

The festival moves to Duxbury Bay Maritime School, 457 Washington St., on Wednesday, July 1, for an evening of 1920s-style Dixieland band music starting at 6 p.m. featuring Dukes of Winsor’s. Tickets for that performance are $40.

On Thursday, July 2, at 6 p.m., the festival returns to Ellison Center for the Arts for a jazz cabaret evening featuring Duxbury Music Festival students and faculty in a collaborative performance. Tickets for that performance are $40.

The festival wraps up Friday, July 3, at 6 p.m. at the Ellison Center for the Arts for the finale show, bringing the festival to a close with a culminating concert featuring all students and faculty, uniting the entire festival community on one stage. Those tickets are also $40.

When: Saturday, June 27, 3-8 p.m.
Where: Merrymount, Wollaston Hill and Squantum neighborhoods of Quincy

Originally launched in Quincy’s Wollaston Hill neighborhood in 2016, increased interest from homes in Squantum and Merrymount led to those neighborhoods being added to the festival. The event focuses on local musicians, but artists from all over are welcome. Registration for both bands and volunteer porches is open through May 31 at porchfestquincy.org. Attendees are welcome to bring food and beverages, but public alcohol laws are in effect during Porchfest. Event organizers often recruit food trucks for the event also. The event is rain or shine.

When: July 5, celebration starts at 5 p.m., fireworks at 9 p.m.
Where: George Lane Beach, 25 River St., Weymouth

July 4th is always a big deal. Add in the significance of the country’s 250th anniversary, and you’ve got a tall order. Weymouth ordinarily marks the 4th on the night before but were unable to find a sufficient contractor to put on the display that night, so the festivities will instead be held on Sunday, July 5.

When: Saturday, July 18, and Sunday, July 19
Where: Marshfield Fairgrounds, 140 Main St, Marshfield

This two-day music festival is a staple of the South Shore outdoor summer music scene that draws known national acts to the fairgrounds. Music fills the air for two full days as concertgoers take in art, shop local vendors and enjoy food and drink from the corral of food trucks between music acts. The concert lineup offers something for everyone, and this year’s roster features well-known names like Alanis Morissette, Ziggy Marley, Caamp, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue as well as local favorites like The Elovaters.

When: Saturday, July 25, starting around sunset
Where: Hull waterfront, from A Street Pier to Spinnaker Island.

Sponsored every summer on the last Saturday in July by the Hull Lifesaving Museum, this event lights a thousand flares along Hull Bay. Individual flares cost $10 or an eternal flare can be purchased for $300, and it will be lit each year. Flares can be purchased at hulllifesavingmuseum.org.

When: Saturday, Aug. 29
Where: Water Street, Plymouth

Every August for the last 38 years, the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce has held its waterfront festival on along the shore of America’s Hometown.

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Events include the rubber duck race, live entertainment and the annual Rebels & Rods Car Show. A vendor’s area features artisans, crafters and small businesses offering handmade goods, one-of-a-kind art, coastal décor, jewelry, specialty products and more. More than 30 vendors will be selling a variety of food and drinks. The rubber duck race takes place in Brewster Gardens, where 1,400 rubber ducks are released into Town Brook, with the winner pocketing $100. Single ducks are $2, and six ducks cost $10.

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