Credit: Inside the MagicKnott’s Berry Farm will host the Boysenberry Festival from March 13 to April 12, 2026. This event promises to be one of the best food festivals in any Southern California theme park. While Disney’s EPCOT festivals have dominated the scene for years, Knott’s festival offers over 100 boysenberry-inspired menu items in a concentrated 31-day celebration, generating excitement and urgency.
The festival features specialty food booths, tasting cards for discounted sampling, craft vendors, live entertainment, and educational components that highlight the park’s heritage. This format resembles EPCOT’s successful festivals, minus the sampling card, but condenses everything into one month, honoring the boysenberry’s significance to the Knott family and the park’s origins.
The Food Lineup
The highlight of Knott’s Boysenberry Festival is obviously the food, and with over 100 signature boysenberry-inspired menu offerings, the variety genuinely exceeds what most guests can experience in a single visit or even multiple visits throughout the month-long festival. New savory items for 2026 include spicy boysenberry bulgogi over steamed rice topped with green onions and a reuben ball with spicy boysenberry thousand island dressing, demonstrating Knott’s willingness to push boysenberry applications beyond just desserts and sweet preparations.
New sweet treats include boysenberry and pineapple upside-down cake and boysenberry meringue tart, alongside returning favorites that have built loyal followings over the festival’s multi-year run. The beverage lineup features boysenberry paloma, boysenberry and kiwi lemonade, boysenberry tequila sunrise, and numerous other specialty drinks that incorporate the signature berry into cocktails, mocktails, wines, and craft beers available exclusively during the festival.
Tasting cards offering six tastings from several boysenberry-inspired dishes and drinks provide the same value proposition Disney offers with sampler packages at EPCOT festivals, allowing guests to experience variety without committing to full-sized portions of every item. The cards are available for purchase at Knotts.com or at the theme park, giving guests flexibility to buy in advance or decide day-of based on what they’re seeing and smelling as they walk through the festival.
Entertainment and Activities
For 2026, Boysen Bear’s Pie Kitchen Games is coming to Calico Park. This fun experience lets guests join in to stop sneaky coyote pups Moxie and Brawny from stealing all the pies. After saving the day, guests can enjoy the Boysen Bear’s Pie Eating Contest on the Calico Mine Stage, adding excitement to the festival.
The newly renovated Birdcage Theatre will host The Great Bank Robbery. This thrilling show features heroes and villains and invites the audience to participate by cheering and booing. It provides live entertainment that goes beyond eating and drinking, giving families with children engaging activities that make the park worth visiting.
Knott’s Preserved will take guests on a musical journey. It starts in the old ghost town of Calico and takes them to the Seaside Boardwalk of the Roaring Twenties. This musical storytelling honors the park’s history, connecting the festival to Knott’s Berry Farm’s real heritage instead of just being a regular food event.
Old MacDonald’s Barn will also return to celebrate one of the farm’s original attractions. Guests of all ages can enjoy seeing horses, goats, and other farm animals. This family-friendly activity does not require guests to buy food, allowing younger children to partake in fun activities that interest them.
Educational Components of Southern California
The History of the Boysenberry Museum at Town Hall teaches guests about the little berry that had a big impact on the Knott family and Southern California. This educational element mirrors what EPCOT festivals attempt with cultural pavilion programming and artist meet-and-greets, but Knott’s version connects directly to the park’s actual heritage rather than imported concepts.
Understanding that boysenberries were cultivated by Rudolph Boysen in the 1920s and 1930s in Southern California, and that Walter Knott helped save the hybrid berry from extinction by planting it commercially at his farm, provides context that makes the festival feel meaningful rather than arbitrary.
The Knott family’s boysenberry pies and preserves became so popular that lines of customers waiting to eat at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant eventually led Walter Knott to build attractions to entertain waiting guests, ultimately creating the theme park that exists today. That direct connection between the boysenberry and the park’s existence gives the festival an authentic foundation that themed food events at parks without similar heritage cannot replicate.
Craft Fair and Art Show
In the streets of Ghost Town, the yearly Boysenberry Festival Crafts Fair returns with unique boysenberry-inspired artisan products from over two dozen local craft vendors. This component directly parallels what Disney does at EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts, but compressed into one month and integrated throughout Ghost Town rather than concentrated in designated areas.
Also returning to The Factory Store, the “Tied Up in Knott’s” art show features pieces by the Knott’s community of artists celebrating all things boysenberry. The art show creates opportunities for local artists while giving guests something beyond food and entertainment to experience during festival visits.
Hotel Package
The Boysenberry Festival package at Knott’s Hotel bundles overnight accommodations, one day admission per person registered, one boysenberry tasting card valid for six tasting items, one single-use Fast Lane per person registered, and hotel parking. This package creates multi-day vacation opportunities similar to how Disney bundles resort stays with park tickets and dining plans, positioning Knott’s Berry Farm as a destination rather than just a day trip from Los Angeles or Orange County.
The Fast Lane inclusion is particularly valuable given that festival weekends can see increased crowds as guests visit specifically for boysenberry offerings, making skip-the-line access worthwhile for families who want to experience both the festival and the park’s regular attractions without excessive waiting.
The Disney California Comparison
While comparing Knott’s Berry Farm to Disneyland and Walt Disney World may seem unfair due to their size differences, the festival format is a valid comparison. Knott’s has adapted Disney’s EPCOT festival model into a regional event with a strong culinary focus.
The 31-day timeline creates urgency that EPCOT’s longer festivals sometimes lack, and the emphasis on a signature ingredient gives the event a clear identity. Additionally, the integration of heritage education ties the food to the park’s history, enhancing the experience. With over 100 menu items, Knott’s offerings are impressive for a smaller park, making it easier for guests to try multiple dishes.
The Knott’s Boysenberry Festival runs daily from March 13 to April 12, 2026, providing a strong incentive for Southern California residents and tourists to visit. The boysenberry’s significance contributes to one of the year’s best theme park food festivals.