Fairport Canal Days: dates, parking and what to expect
Fairport Canal Days in Fairport, NY: what the June arts festival is, where the next dates will be posted, getting there, parking, the free shuttle and walking times.
Fairport Canal Days is a juried arts festival that fills the village along the Erie Canal for one weekend a year, with music on five stages and food vendors along the streets around the lift bridge. The next festival's dates haven't been announced, so hold off on booking anything that depends on them.
When is the next Canal Days?
The Fairport Perinton Merchants Association puts on the festival; watch its site, fairportcanaldays.com, for the dates.
For a sense of the shape: the 2026 festival, its 49th, ran from Friday, June 5 to Sunday, June 7. It opened with a Friday night chicken barbecue from 4:30 to 10 pm, the artisans were open Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm, and Canal Nights ran Saturday from 7 to 11 pm.
What it is
Juried artisans set up booths through the village. Music runs all weekend on five stages, more than 60 groups in 2026, with a lot of jazz; the organizers call it "the jazz festival before the Jazz Festival." Food vendors cluster at Fairport Junction on Liftbridge Lane East, at the Village Landing and along Main Street, and Perinton Recreation runs a KidZone for children.
Friday night is the chicken barbecue with a free concert at Fairport Junction. Saturday night's Canal Nights moves the headliners under the big tent there, with wine and beer; tickets were $10 in 2026, online or at the door. Each year has a commemorative poster, sold at the information booth on North Main Street in front of Village Hall, and duck race tickets raise money for the merchants' beautification and public art fund.
Leave the dog at home: the festival has a no-pet policy.
Getting there
Fairport is about five miles east of Rochester. From Rochester, take 490 east to exit 25 (Fairport Road/Route 31F) and continue east on Fairport Road into the village. From the Thruway, take Exit 45 (Victor), turn right (north) on Route 96, then right on 250 North, and follow 250 North all the way to Church Street.
Parking and the shuttle
In 2026 the festival ran three free shuttle buses, one of them accessible: Saturday from 10 am to 6:30 pm and Sunday from 10 am to 5:30 pm. You parked at Minerva DeLand or Johanna Perrin, boarded at Minerva DeLand, and got off on Perrin Street at the entrance to the Village Landing, two minutes on foot from the lift bridge.
Other options from the 2026 plan:
Free public parking, plus street parking on one side only where signs say so. The village's six municipal lots are free.
Accessible parking at Packett's Landing, three minutes from the bridge.
Park and walk at Minerva DeLand Middle School or Brooks Hill Middle School.
Church lots: $10, cash only, at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 26 East Church Street; $10 suggested donation at the Church of the Assumption, 20 East Avenue.
Check the organizer's parking page before you go.
Walking the festival
Once you are in the village, the festival is on foot. The information booth in front of Village Hall is about two minutes' walk from the lift bridge.
Questions go to the organizer through the contact page on the official site.