Everything You Need to Know About Festivals in Stardew Valley
Each season in Stardew Valley has two (2) festivals. The spring festivals are the Egg Festival and the Flower Dance; summer festivals are Luau and Dance of the Moonlight Jellies; fall festivals are Stardew Valley Fair and Spirit's Eve; winter festivals are Festival of Ice and Feast of the Winterstar.
All of the festivals end at 10 PM, with the exception of the Luau which ends at midnight. It's best to show up as late as possible to these events since they waste the rest of the day.
Most of the festivals have surprisingly good rewards like large boosts to friendship levels, rarecrows, and other rare-ish items.
Egg Festival
13 Spring, 9 AM - 2 PM, Pelican Town
Major Benefits: Straw Hat for winning the egg hunt (or 1,000g if you already have the hat); Plush Bunny (2,000g) and Strawberry seeds (100g) for purchase.
The main reason to attend the the Egg Festival is to get strawberry seeds. Buy as many seeds as you can afford and plant them the following spring; if you plan on unlocking the greenhouse, you can plant some strawberries during the first spring and use the Seed Maker to produce more seeds for the spring.
To win the Straw Hat (or 1,000g), you must gather 9 eggs in 30 seconds during the Egg Hunt (or Abigal will win).
Here's a successful route that will get you 10 eggs before time expires:
Flower Dance
24 Spring, 9 AM - 2 PM, Cindersap Forest
Major Benefits: Tub o' Flowers (1,000g) and Rarecrow (2,500g) available for purchase; getting your heart broken if you haven't obtained a 4 heart relationship with a bachelor/bachelorette (dancing with a marriage candidate increases friendship level by 1).
You can dance with any marriage candidate that has a friendship raiting of at least 4 stars with you and it will improve the relationship by one heart. Since this is extremely difficult to do in your first year, you'll probably be standing in the corner trying not to try (only kind of kidding).
Just buy the tub o' flowers recipe and the rarecrow and come back to dance next year.
Luau
11 Summer, 9 AM - 2 PM, The Beach
Major Benefits: Possible increase in friendship levels with townspeople.
The govenor is coming to town and Mayor Lewis would like everyone to add an ingredient to the soup. The better the ingredient, the better chance the govenor will like it and you'll be rewarded with an increase to your friendship level with the entire town.
You'll get the best outcome from the governor if you saved some gold quality cauliflower, kale, or strawberry from your spring's harvest.
| Result | Reward | Gold Quality | Silver Quality | Normal Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Oh my... that's the best soup I've ever tasted!" | Moderate friendship gain. | Worth at least 160g | Worth at least 300g and +10 HP | - |
| "Ah... that's a very pleasant soup. The produce from this valley never disappoints!" | Minor friendship gain. | Worth at least 70g; or has +20 HP | Woth at least 70g or has +20 HP | Worth at least 100g or has +10 HP |
| "Hmm... I don't have much to say about this. It's an average soup." | No change. | Worth at least 20g and at least +10 HP | Worth at least 40g and at least +5 HP | Worth at least 20g and at least +10 HP; or worth at least 40g and at least +5 HP |
| "Um... It's actually kind of disgusting. I think I'll pass on the soup this year." | Minor friendship loss. | Worth less than 20g and less than +10 HP; or worth less than 40g and less than +5 HP | Worth less than 20g and less than +10 HP; or worth less than 40g and less than +5 HP | Worth less than 20g and less than +10 HP; or worth less than 40g and less than +5 HP |
| "Blech! This is vile! I think I'm going to be sick..." | Major friendship loss. | Has health or energy bonuses less than 0. | Has health or energy bonuses less than 0. | Has health or energy bonuses less than 0. |
| "Hmmm... Well it's not bad, but it's missing something... Did everyone in town contribute an ingredient to the soup? I feel like it's missing someone's unique voice." | No change. | - | - | - |
Dance of the Moonlight Jellies
28 Summer, 10 PM - 12 AM, The Beach
Major Benefits: None, kind of pretty though.
You won't miss anything by skipping this event; there's nothing special about the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies. The beach will be blocked off all day, which is kind of annoying. Just show up before midnight and watch a fairly neat cutscene.
Stardew Valley Fair
16 Fall, 9 AM - 3 PM, Pelican Town
Major Benefits: Dried Sunflower (100 star tokens), Fedora (500 star tokens), Rarecrow (500 star tokens), and Stardrop (2,000 star tokens) for purchase.
The Stardew Valley Fair has a special currency called star tokens that can be obtained by playing a fishing minigame, a slingshot minigame, competing in the showcase, gambling at the spinning wheel (choose green!), buying tokens for 50g/ea.
In order to win the showcase, you'll need to get at least 90 points (1,000 star tokens). Second place is 75 points (500 star tokens), third is 60 points (200 star tokens), and anything worse than 60 gets you fourth place (50 tokens).
Always fill your showcase with 9 items (don't worry, you'll get them back but you must pick them up from the display) and try to cover at least six (6) of the following categories with the highest value, highest quality items that you have: animal products, artisan goods, cooking, fishing, foraging (includes flowers and sap), fruits, minerals, and vegetables.
| Item Value | No Star | Silver Star | Gold Star |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0+ | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 20+ | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 90+ | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 200+ | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 300+ | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| 400+ | 6 | 6 | 6 |
Using the rewards from the community center can make winning the showcase a lot easier. Use the following items to win (repeat as necessary):
- Diamond, any quality emerald/aquamarine (minerals)
- Starfruit or a silver/gold quality melon (fruit)
- Cloth, duck mayonnaise, goat cheese, pale ale, or high quality wine (Artisan Goods)
- Pink Cake, Life Elixir (cooking)
- Gold pumpkin or cauliflower (vegetables)
Fill in with the following:
- Large goat milk (animal products)
- Any gold quality fish (fishing)
- Any gold quality flower; if no flower, gold quality foraged item (foraging)
Spirit's Eve
27 Fall, 10 PM - 12 AM, Pelican Town
Major Benefits: Golden Pumpkin that can be sold for 2,500g; Rarecrow (5,000g) and Jack-o-Lantern recipe (2,000g) for purchase.
A golden pumpkin that can be sold for 2,500g is found at the end of the haunted maze (SPOILER: the hedge to the left of the question mark sign has a hidden path).
Other than completing the maze, Pierre sells a rarecrow and the jack-o-lantern recipe. That's about it for the Sprit's Eve event.
Festival of Ice
8 Winter, 9 AM - 2 PM, Cindersap Forest
Major Benefits: Sailor's Cap (or 2,000g after winning the Sailor's Cap) for winning the fishing contest.
The Festival of Ice has a fishing content that's pretty easy to win assuming you've spend a decent amount of time fishing by this point in the game. Stand right next to the hole and just tap the cast button to fish in the small hole in the ice. Catch 5 fish in the time alloted, and win the Sailor's Cap (or 2,000g if you already have the Sailor's Cap) and 3 tackles (1 barbed hook, 1 dressed spinner, and 1 magnet).
There's no vendor during this event and it's in the Cindersap Forest, so that area is blocked off for the day (again, kind of annoying especially since it's winter and there isn't too much to do as is).
Feast of the Winterstar
25 Winter, 9 AM - 2 PM, Pelican Town
Major Benefits: A random gift from a villager; it's Christmas!
Mayor Lewis will assign you a random villager for the gift exchange about a week before the Feast of the Winterstar. Don't be a jerk, just bring a gift for the villager (I don't know what happens if you don't bring a gift). The game treats this event as if it was their birthday, so the boost to their friendship level is a bit better than normal.
The gift that you receive has quite a range and some of them can be quite good: a few iridium bars or geodes, a bunch of warp totems, pink cake. Rewards from children are pretty bad but whatever, it's a kid and it's Christmas!