Rochester Lilac Festival

Celebrating 126 years in 2024! Featuring stunning gardens in an Olmstead-designed park, with hundreds of varieties of lilacs and other flora. This 10-day event features live music all day, everyday from 10:30am-8:30pm with local and national musicians.

All 10 days are filled with FREE live music on our Main Stage and celebrate the coming of spring in Rochester, New York with the many varieties of lilacs in Highland Park.

Kids' Zone:

The Rochester Lilac Festival is for everyone, and we have a special place specifically for our little lilac buds. Open every day of the festival, the Lilac Festival Kids' Zone is a vibrant and exciting space dedicated to providing fun for our young festival-goers. Enjoy rides, bounce houses, midway games, face painting and more!

Festival Schedule:

10:30am: Lilac Parade

Over 2000 participants welcome spring: Marching bands, dance troupes, popular characters and specialty vehicles hit the streets! Watch from among the lilacs.

10:00am - 6:00pm: Art In The Park

The festival runs 10 consecutive days, featuring Art in the Park on each weekend. Art in the Park takes place up the hill from the main festival site, on Reservoir Ave. Several pathways from the festival site weave their way through Highland Park up to Reservoir Ave, bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors through the lilacs and onto the avenue. The avenue is a paved street surrounded by magnolias, tulips, pansies and more.

Music Lineup:

7:00pm Butcher Brown
A genre-bending feast that blends jazz, hip-hop, and funk into an eclectic fusion.

(For fans of The Roots, Sly and the Family Stone, A Tribe Called Quest)  

5:30pm Zahyia

4:00pm Aaron Rizzo Band

2:30pm Sage Bava

12:00pm Girls Rock! Rochester