If you’ve never been to Fairport Canal Days, here’s your year. And if you have? Well, you already know.
Celebrating its 49th year as one of the premier juried art festivals in the Northeast, Fairport Canal Days takes place alongside the scenic Erie Canal in the charming, front-porch-friendly village of Fairport, with vendors open Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, June 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The weekend actually starts Friday night. Friday, June 5 kicks off with the Canal Nights Chicken BBQ from 4:30 to 10 p.m. — the annual warm-up that’s become a tradition in its own right, with live music along the canal before the main festival opens. Saturday night brings Canal Nights from 7 to 11 p.m. with live entertainment continuing into the evening after a full day of festival.
During the day Saturday and Sunday, you’re looking at a full juried arts market with local painters, potters, jewelers, woodworkers, and makers lining the canal and spilling through the village streets – the kind of festival where you find things you didn’t know you needed and then think about them for weeks. Perinton Recreation’s KidZone runs both festival days, giving younger kids their own dedicated space to play while adults browse.
One of this year’s highlights: the official 2026 commemorative poster, “Tiny Tug Tilly at Fairport,” was created by artist and educator Bill Finewood, whose design captures the movement, color, and waterfront energy of Canal Days. Finewood will be available to sign posters at his booth on Main Street, and posters can be purchased at the information booth on North Main Street in front of Village Hall.
And then there’s the Duck Race. Tickets are on sale through the festival weekend, with all proceeds benefiting the FPMA Beautification Fund for public art and community enhancements in Fairport. Watching a few hundred rubber ducks race down the Erie Canal is exactly as delightful as it sounds.
Fairport is about 90 minutes from Corning and an hour from Ithaca. Parking and shuttle information at fairportcanaldays.com. No pets at this one, so leave the pups at home.