Massachusetts Statewide Fairs & Festivals Calendar

The sound of music, in all its spell-binding forms, is everywhere at Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and site of one of the world’s most beloved music festivals. Whether your tastes run to Beethoven, or to James Taylor – or to the movies! – you will find something to engage the music-lover in you at this magnificent property in the Berkshires. The festival runs from late June through August, this year featuring everything from Kool and The Gang and “Jurassic Park in Concert” to chamber-music ensembles, guest artists Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell, and an all-Strauss program with leading soprano Renee Fleming. Tanglewood also offers summer guided tours. Dining options include elegant picnics, a bistro buffet and three-course dinners at Highwood Manor House.

Chase those seasonal blues away and get out there and enjoy winter at Lowell Winterfest! The festival features an eclectic music and entertainment lineup, food vendors and competitions, an art market, ice skating and children’s activities. Watch the website for more information about this exhilarating event.

And spring is just around the corner! Coming up in late April is the Town & City Festival, also in Lowell. This music and art festival features an enormous talent lineup that you won't want to miss!

(To find more great things to do while visiting Plymouth County, MA, see our Destination Plymouth page.)

The herring make a much-anticipated annual return to Plymouth each April via Town Brook, Plimoth Grist Mill and Jenney Pond Park. Celebrate the arrival of spring with friends, family, fun, and FISH with this annual celebration! Every spring tens of thousands of alewife herring set off from locations throughout the North Atlantic, from far afield. They find Plymouth Harbor, swim past Mayflower II and into Town Brook, where they launch themselves two miles upstream against the current, passing the Grist Mill on their way to Billington Sea to spawn. Come and observe this amazing migration known as the herring run! The Plymouth Herring Festival is usually held the 3rd Saturday in April. Also not to be missed, nearby Middleborough, MA holds a multi-day annual Herring Run Festival of its own at Oliver Mill Park, usually held the 2nd weekend in April.