St. Joan of Arc French Market
🗓️ Noon-10 p.m. Sept. 12
📍 St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 4217 Central Ave.
🎟️ Free admission
Grab your beret and get ready for all things French — wine, music, art, traditional cuisine and a Catholic mass in French. The church is right off IndyGo’s Red Line and offers free bicycle parking.
German-American Klub Oktoberfest
🗓️ Sept. 10-12
📍 German American Klub, 8602 S. Meridian St.
🎟️ $5, but free for kids under 12
This 52nd annual festival is jam-packed with Polka bands, a pretzel toss, German beers and traditional foods. It’s also family friendly with inflatables and a playground.
Penrod Arts Fair
🗓️ 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 12
📍 Newfields, 4000 N. Michigan Road
🎟️ $20
Penrod Arts Fair is a massive gathering of more than 1,000 artists this year – and it’s been happening since 1967. Want to know what kind of art will be on display before you head to the fair? Search the artist directory to see the artists and the locations of their booths.
Oktoberfest at Guggman Haus
🗓️ Sept.16-20
📍 Guggman Haus Brewing Co., 1701 Gent Ave.
🎟️ Free
Guggman Haus will kick off its Oktoberfest celebrations with the release of special beers and a trivia night. Over the next few days, you can return for a stein-holding competition, face painting and a pottery pop-up.
Foodees Fest
🗓️ Sept. 18-20
📍 Castleton Square, 6020 E. 82nd St.
🎟️ Free
Foodees Fest is a national festival, and its Indy event in September will gather lots of food trucks and vendors together. You can try Thai food, southern sweet tea and tanghulu, a traditional Chinese street food made with candied fruit on a skewer.
Circle City Irish Fest
🗓️ 4-10 p.m. Sept. 18-19
📍 Edna Balz Lacy Park, 520 Stevens St.
🎟️ $15 single-day tickets, $22 weekend passes
Holy Rosary Church hosts the city’s biggest Irish fest, where you can watch Irish dancing and try food and whiskey while you shop from vendors.
Art Squared
🗓️ 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 19
📍 Murphy Arts Center, 1043 Virginia Ave.
🎟️ Free
Wander through Fountain Square and check out art from more than 100 Indiana artists while musicians play on the street. Plus, you can watch artists work to earn a cash prize in the “Masterpiece in a Day” competition. The top 10 pieces will go on display at the Murphy Arts Center.
Rice and Beans Festival
🗓️ Noon-4 p.m. Sept. 19
📍 Fonseca Theatre, 2508 W. Michigan St.
🎟️ Free entry
Countries across the world use rice and beans as the foundations for different dishes. On the west side, you can step behind the Fonseca Theatre and fill up a plate with African, Caribbean, Latin American and Asian rice and beans from local restaurants.
Lockerbie Square Street Market
🗓️ 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Sept. 19
📍 Lockerbie Square Historic District, 542 Lockerbie St.
🎟️ Free
Walk through a historic cobblestone street while you shop at neighbors’ yard sales and check out art and antiques vendors. This family- and pet-friendly festival is free.
Eagle Creek Folk Festival
🗓️ Noon-7 p.m. Sept. 19
📍 Eagle Creek Park, 7840 W. 56th St.
🎟️ Free, with park admission
Members of the Indiana Folk Music Society will perform songs at the beach inside Eagle Creek Park. Bring a lawn chair and your own instrument to join the jam. It’s family friendly and an ice cream vendor will be there.
Very Good Music Festival Vol. 2
🗓️ 3 p.m. Sept. 19
📍 Atomic Bowl Duckpin, 1105 Prospect St.
🎟️ $15
Watch 14 bands across two stages at this all-ages music festival in Fountain Square. All proceeds will go to the National Immigrant Justice Center. The lineup includes hip-hop from Sirius Blvck, jazz from Clint Breeze and Latin punk from La Vida Arcana.
Indy Jazz Fest
🗓️ Sept. 22-26
📍 The Jazz Kitchen, the Cabaret, the Vogue, Indy Art Center and Turntable
🎟️ $29-$96, plus more expensive VIP packages
Indy Jazz Fest kicks off with tributes to Miles Davis and John Coltrane, switches gears to Latin jazz and celebrates a grand finale at the Indy Art Center. The final show has a stacked lineup, including local jazz artists, the funky bassist MonoNeon and headliner Sheila E.
Circle City Classic
🗓️ Sept. 25-26
📍 Lucas Oil Stadium, 500 S. Capitol Ave.
🎟️ $16.25 for students, $27.75 for standard general admission
The 42nd annual Circle City Classic is reimagined for this year. The football game will showcase local high school teams and girls’ flag football teams before the annual HBCU Battle of the Bands. The festivities continue with a parade, education day, a prayer and worship night and more. One ticket for Sept. 26 gets you into five events.
Our Lady of Lourdes Fall Festival
🗓️ 5 p.m.-midnight Sept. 25 and 3 p.m.-midnight Sept. 26
📍 Our Lady of Lourdes, 5333 E. Washington St.
🎟️ Tickets start at $1, with more costs for events within the festival
Enjoy games, food, music and entertainment. Stay up-to-date with festival details on the church’s Facebook page.
Brew & Browse Vintage Artisan Fest
🗓️ 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 25-26
📍 Sun King Brewery, 135 N. College Ave.
🎟️ Free if you RSVP
Sip local beers while you shop from more than 80 artisans. The vendors are different each day.
Oktoberfest at the Liederkranz
🗓️ 5:30 p.m. Sept. 26
📍 Indianapolis Liederkranz, 1417 E. Washington St.
🎟️ Free, but you can donate
Put your lederhosen on and dance to German music. If you don’t know the words, they’ll teach you. Indianapolis Liederkranz has been preserving the culture of German immigrants in the Holy Cross neighborhood for 150 years.
Garfield Park Arts & Music Fest
🗓️ 4-9 p.m. Sept. 26
📍 MacAllister Amphitheater, 2450 Conservatory Drive
🎟️ Free
Bring your kids, your dog and a lawn chair to watch local musicians at the city’s oldest park. Plus, shop from more than 50 artisans and vendors. Follow along with the festival’s social media to see when they drop the lineup of bands.
Proof: A Midwest Lit Fest
🗓️ Oct. 2-3
📍 Harrison Center, 1505 N. Delaware St.
🎟️ Tickets are based on flexible pricing, which means you pick what you pay.
Imagine the Scholastic book fair of your childhood, but bigger. Proof has a book fair, author talks, writing workshops, games and food trucks.
GermanFest
🗓️ Oct. 3
📍 Athenaeum, 401 E. Michigan St.
🎟️ $20 advance tickets for adults, $10 for kids
Eat a pretzel, sip beer from a stein and get ready to watch dachshunds in the wiener dog race. Or, save some room to enter a bratwurst-eating contest.
Cottage Home Block Party
🗓️ 5-11 p.m. Oct. 10
📍 Cottage Home Community Space, 714 N. Highland Ave.
🎟️ Free, but you can donate to the neighborhood association
Every October, neighbors string up paper lanterns and put out pumpkins and mums for this eastside block party that’s open to anyone. Expect food trucks, Halloween costumes and local bands taking the stage in the small neighborhood park.
Broad Ripple Oktoberfest
🗓️ 4 p.m. Oct. 10
📍 The Vogue, 6259 N. College Ave.
🎟️ $33.56
There’s a biergarten, a kids’ zone and Polka music on tap for Broad Ripple’s second Oktoberfest. It’s in the parking lot at The Vogue. Kids under 12 are free.
Lumpia Festival
🗓️ 2-6 p.m. Oct. 11
📍 The Philippine Cultural Community Center, 4141 S. East St.
🎟️ Free
Celebrate Filipino culture with live music, dancing, craft vendors and lots of yummy lumpia — Filipino spring rolls.
Autumn Tidings Fall Fest
🗓️ Noon-5 p.m. Oct. 17
📍 Indianapolis Art Center, 820 E. 67th St.
🎟️ $29.04 for a general early bird ticket, $7.64 for a designated driver ticket
A general ticket gets you entry and a passport to try five samples of Ash & Elm Cider Co.’s fall offerings. This fest is happening at the same time as the Indy Art Center’s fall art festival, so you can shop from vendors while you sip on cider.
Indianapolis Pizza Festival
🗓️ Noon-6 p.m. Oct. 17
📍 Indiana State Fairgrounds, 1202 E. 38th St.
🎟️ $36
Taste-test samples from local pizzerias to decide who will win the prize for “Best Pizza in Indiana.” The festival is split into two sessions: Noon to 3 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Irvington Halloween Festival’s Street Fair
🗓️ 10 a.m.-4 p.m Oct. 31
📍 The intersection of Washington Street and Audubon Road
🎟️ Free
Watch witches perform, enter your dog into a costume contest and people-watch at a parade during Irvington’s biggest day of the year. It’s a spectacle full of people who go all out for their Halloween decorations and outfits. Entry is free, the fair is kid-friendly and you can shop lots of vendors as you walk through Irvington’s historic streets.
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Mirror Indy reporter Sophie Young covers services and resources. Contact her at sophie.young@mirrorindy.org.
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