Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce proudly presents the 50^th Nantucket Daffodil Festival, Thursday, April 23rd through Sunday, April 26th, 2026! “Daffy Weekend” is our most anticipated event of the year, representing the best of Nantucket charm, creativity, and community tradition. From the parade and picnic to the flower show and children’s activities, Daffodil Festival offers an abundance of fun for all ages and all interests. It’s grand, it’s colorful, and at times it’s downright silly. It’s a Nantucket weekend not to be missed!

 

The festival started in 1974, with the car parade introduced as a component just a few years after.  The Nantucket Garden Club has continually set ambitious planting goals every year, resulting in well over 1 million daffodils planted across the island.  Attending the annual Daffodil Flower Show, this year at the Nantucket Inn, attendees will no doubt be awed by the hundreds of individual flowers under consideration for awards.  However, spending time to chat with the volunteers, growers, and enthusiasts is a truly unique experience.  Learn how daffodils grow, when you need to plant (fall, in case you’re wondering, but it’s more complex than just a date on the calendar), and ogle blooms from bulbs with more than 100 years of traceable history.  This show is recognized by the American Daffodil Society, with international appreciation.  The show runs April 24th-26th. 

 

Daffodil Festival is also a wake-up call for many seasonal Nantucket businesses.  Heading into the weekend, our amazing restaurants, retailers, and hotels will be in fine form, and those that stayed open through the winter will have a private nod, having “made it through” to the other side.  On Friday, April 25th, join us at the Dreamland Theater upstairs for our Daffodil Bazaar.  Featuring makers and artisans from around the island, it’s a great event to kick off the good vibes for the weekend.

 

Friday, that collective anticipation of warm, sunny days ahead continues to build.   This past winter featured weeks with an iced-over harbor and a proper thrashing from a blizzard; the 2026 Daffodil festival will be welcomed with open arms.  Main Street on Daffodil Saturday, with friends and family and visitors alike, is joy manifested.  

 

Speaking of Daffodil Saturday, April 26th, there is a lot of action across the island.  The Chamber is proud to produce the Antique Car Parade, where cars assemble on Main St around 9 a.m., staged until about 12 p.m., when the parade sets off.   Registration is full, no additional cars are allowed at this time.  

 

Let’s pause here to chat about common sense.  If you come to town to enjoy this spectacle, please, please, please pay attention to volunteers and public safety officials.  Cars, and especially old cars, operate strangely on cobblestones.  With many of our entries featuring manual transmissions, delicately parking near other cars is a challenge, made infinitely more challenging if drivers are trying to avoid hitting humans.  Please stay on the sidewalks, keep track of children,  cross at crosswalks, and wait until all the cars are parked to walk around and check them out.  Also, be mindful of key clips and jacket zippers and stroller pieces; potential paint scratching hazards!  These common sense rules apply during the parade and in 'Sconset at the picnic.  All the time, really, but we’re chatting Daffodil. 

 

Children’s Beach in Town is also chock-full of great events.  We welcome participants to join in the annual Hat Pageant, with adult and children categories, as well as the Dog Parade and Children’s Bike Parade.  Just a short walk from Main St, don’t miss out on these core Daffodil events! No advance registration required at Children’s Beach, just show up!

 

Around 12 p.m., leaving flexibility for public safety and boat traffic and anything else that may come up, the cars will set off for Sconset, via a loop around the downtown streets.  Centre, Broad, S. Water, Main St, and finally outward on Orange St is the official parade route.  Clap and cheer, and stay on the sidewalks!  For any parade participants, we remind you not to throw anything from the cars, like candy or other treats. 

 

The picnic in ‘Sconset is another amazing event.  Jean MacAusland of the Garden Club and her husband were also the founders of Gourmet magazine.  A picnic seemed like a fitting celebration, and so the antique cars will set up tailgates on the south side of Main St in ‘Sconset.  Non-antique car participants are welcome to set up picnics -no cars- on the North Side (left Side, as you’re facing east heading into Sconset).  A few reminders: this celebration is a privilege.  It requires the collective good behavior of us all!  Please do not set up picnics across any driveways, on private lawns, or in the antique car parking area, which will be clearly marked with yellow tape and signs.  If you are coming out to Sconset, please consider taking the WAVE, which will be running direct service and using the turnaround by the New St fork, just as you arrive into ‘Sconset on the right.  The WAVE is free! If you are driving out, carpool up to save space!

 

Picnic fare is welcome, but please no cooking on-site.  If you are 21+, you are welcome to enjoy an adult beverage only in the designated picnic zone in 'Sconset.  Back to common sense, this is not a free pass to act like a fool.  Please no kegs or other creative large beverage distribution, do not serve underage individuals, and designate a driver for your group.  Picnic food is welcome to be shared within your party, however open serving to the public is prohibited by our Nantucket Health Department, as allergens and other concerns can create public health hazards.  Consider picking up picnic food from any of our amazing restaurants or sandwich shops, just plan ahead!   Mind your trash, don’t let sandwich wrappers or tin foil blow all over the place.  

 

Many Daffodil Festival locations are no-drone zones as well, please keep private drones at home.  Commercial operators need to register with the Nantucket Police Department ahead of time, please contact their non-emergency line, 508-228-1212.

 

Finally, have fun and enjoy yourself!  50 years is a true milestone, and there’s a reason this festival has endured.  It has been guided and planned with thought and care, and it has been enjoyed by countless attendees, creating a backdrop for lasting memories and traditions.  We’re encouraging you to enjoy this festival on Nantucket, treat each other and our island with respect and care, and help us make Daffodil 50th the best one yet!    

 

Lastly, you mathematicians may be sharpening your pencils and drafting sternly worded emails to us about this being the 50th year, but we don’t count the two years when celebrations were put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

 

Cheers, we hope you will join us and have some fun!

The Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce Team