Saturday mornings
Downtown Art & Farmers Market
Union Plaza, Downtown
Produce, makers and breakfast in the shadow of the ballpark, most Saturday mornings.
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What El Paso does every year
This is the annual calendar — the traditions the city organizes itself around. We list the window each one usually falls in rather than a date, because dates move and a wrong one wastes your weekend.
Confirmed dates
Coming up next
Checked September 21, 2026
- In 19 daysOct 24, 2026
Día de los Muertos Desfile & Festival
Downtown Arts District and the Mexican American Cultural Center
9th annual, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
El Paso MACC - In 19 daysOct 24–25, 2026
Amigo Airsho
Biggs Army Airfield, Fort Bliss
Blue Angels headlining
Amigo Airsho - In 7 weeksNov 21, 2026 – Jan 3, 2027
WinterFest
Downtown, San Jacinto Plaza and around
Runs into the new year
El Paso WinterFest - In 7 weeksNov 26, 2026
Sun Bowl Parade
Downtown El Paso
Thanksgiving Day
Sun Bowl Association - In 3 monthsDec 31, 2026
The Sun Bowl
Sun Bowl Stadium, UTEP
93rd Sun Bowl, noon Mountain, on CBS
Sun Bowl Association
18 recurring events, all year
Year-round
Saturday mornings, in season
Ardovino's Farmers Market
Ardovino's Desert Crossing, Sunland Park NM
Regional growers, bakers and makers on the patio at the state line. Go early, stay for breakfast.
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El Paso Locomotive FC
Southwest University Park, Downtown
USL Championship soccer downtown, with a supporters’ section that takes it seriously.
Confirm dates at El Paso Locomotive FCFebruary
Winter
Southwestern International PRCA Rodeo & Livestock Show
El Paso County Coliseum
A long-running professional rodeo and stock show, the borderland’s biggest western event.
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Late winter / early spring
Sunland Derby
Sunland Park Racetrack, New Mexico
The marquee race of the Sunland meet, a Kentucky Derby prep with real national attention.
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Late March through SeptemberMarquee
El Paso Chihuahuas season
Southwest University Park, Downtown
The 2026 season closed at home on September 20. Baseball returns downtown in the spring.
Triple-A baseball downtown — 75 home games, the Padres’ top affiliate, and the ballpark that reshaped the district around it.
Cheap seats, a great ballpark, and the mountains over the outfield wall.
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Memorial Day weekend
KLAQ Balloonfest
Northeast El Paso
Hot air balloons at dawn, a night glow, live music, and the unofficial start of summer.
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Friday and Saturday nights, late June through early AugustMarquee
Viva! El Paso
McKelligon Canyon Amphitheatre
The 49th season ran June 26 through August 1, 2026. The 50th season comes next summer.
An outdoor musical drama telling four centuries of the region’s history, staged in a canyon inside the Franklin Mountains.
The venue alone — a stone amphitheater with the canyon walls behind the stage.
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JulyMarquee
Plaza Classic Film Festival
The Plaza Theatre and downtown
The 19th festival ran July 16 to 26, 2026. It returns next July.
One of the largest classic film festivals anywhere — eleven days of restored prints, guests, and free outdoor screenings downtown.
Watching a classic on the big screen under the Plaza’s star ceiling is the single most El Paso cultural experience there is.
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Labor Day weekend
Fiesta de las Flores
El Paso County Coliseum grounds
A long-running Hispanic heritage festival — music, food, carnival and a coronation — put on to fund scholarships.
Confirm dates at Visit El PasoLabor Day weekend
Sun City Music Festival
Outdoor venue, varies by year
The region’s big electronic music weekend, drawing crowds from both sides of the border and across the Southwest.
Confirm dates at Sun City Music FestivalSeptember into November
Celebration of Our Mountains
Franklin Mountains, Hueco Tanks and regional sites
Weeks of guided hikes, bird walks, geology talks and archaeology tours, mostly free, led by people who know the ground. The nonprofit behind it has been running these since 1994.
The cheapest way to get expert-guided access to places you would otherwise walk past.
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Early OctoberMarquee
Chalk the Block
Downtown Arts Festival Plaza and surrounding streets
Confirmed: Oct 3–4, 2026 · 19th annual
The city’s public art festival: a juried chalk art competition, installations, performances and downtown streets closed to cars for the weekend.
The best weekend of the year to see downtown behave like a proper city center. It pulls 45,000-plus people.
Confirm dates at Chalk the BlockLate OctoberMarquee
Día de los Muertos Desfile & Festival
Downtown Arts District and the Mexican American Cultural Center
Confirmed: Oct 24, 2026 · 9th annual, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Community altars, a parade, live performance, art and food across the downtown Arts District, anchored by the Mexican American Cultural Center.
The altars are built by families and neighborhood organizations, not a production company. Concordia Cemetery holds its own observance the same season.
Confirm dates at El Paso MACCLate OctoberMarquee
Amigo Airsho
Biggs Army Airfield, Fort Bliss
Confirmed: Oct 24–25, 2026 · Blue Angels headlining
A full-scale air show with military and civilian performers — a decades-old El Paso fall tradition.
The 2026 edition is headlined by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, with the Air Force F-16 Viper Demo Team and the Army Golden Knights.
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Late November through early JanuaryMarquee
WinterFest
Downtown, San Jacinto Plaza and around
Confirmed: Nov 21, 2026 – Jan 3, 2027 · Runs into the new year
The downtown holiday season: more than a million lights, an outdoor ice rink, a holiday market, and the city’s only illuminated holiday parade.
Ice skating in the desert, with a 70-degree afternoon as likely as a cold one.
Confirm dates at El Paso WinterFestThanksgiving Day
Sun Bowl Parade
Downtown El Paso
Confirmed: Nov 26, 2026 · Thanksgiving Day
The Thanksgiving morning parade downtown, run by the Sun Bowl Association ahead of the bowl game itself.
Confirm dates at Sun Bowl AssociationDecember
December 31Marquee
The Sun Bowl
Sun Bowl Stadium, UTEP
Confirmed: Dec 31, 2026 · 93rd Sun Bowl, noon Mountain, on CBS
The 93rd edition of one of the oldest college bowl games in the country, played into the side of the mountain and broadcast nationally on CBS.
New in 2026: Old El Paso took over as title sponsor in September, replacing Tony the Tiger after years of Kellogg’s branding. The game is now the Old El Paso Sun Bowl.
Confirm dates at Sun Bowl AssociationRunning an event in El Paso? Send the details to hello@elpaso.fyi and we will look at adding it. We list recurring events here; one-off happenings go in The Dispatch.