21st Billings HarvestFest

Presented by Downtown Billings & Montana Brewing Company,  HarvestFest celebrates the changing seasons with a rich diversity of arts and crafts, mums, pumpkins, jams, face painting, balloon twisting, pies, and the final offerings of locally grown produce.  HarvestFest is a grand community fall festival that takes place in the center of downtown Billings, on streets below Skypoint. Occurring annually the second weekend of October, after the Yellowstone Valley Farmers’ Market concludes for the season. This fall street festival draws people from all over the Northwest region into the streets and businesses of downtown.
The event has something for all ages; experience the aromas of food-truck fare like roasted nuts, steak sandwiches, and kettle corn, live entertainment performing under Skypoint, Montana Brewing Company’s annual Oktoberfest Beer Garden and Stein hoisting contest, an interactive children’s area coordinated by Wise Wonders Science & Discovery Museum includes free crafts and activities. Additional & new activities still to be announced!

the day’s happenings

Festival map and vendor list! coming October 2025

lineup coming October 2025

Interested in performing at Skypoint for the 2025 HarvestFest? Click here to apply!

Hosted by Montana Brewing Company and Watkins Distributing. The annual Stein Hoisting Contest is at noon. Contestants must be over 21 years old and meet the contest hosts on N. Broadway in the Beer Garden before the 12pm contest begins. This contest is mostly about endurance. The winner is the one who can hold their water filled stein glass up at shoulder level the longest. Not participating? It’s ok, this is an entertaining contest to watch too.

Downtown Businesses: Is your downtown business going to be open and hosting any special HarvestFest happening? If so, Please email LRichardson@downtownbillings.com so you can be added to the list of promotions for the day.

Event resources

2025 Vendor applications coming August 2025

Check back for open applications

Food Truck/Trailer Vendor

Food Tent/Canopy Vendor

Arts & Craft Vendor

Commercial/Retail Vendor

Nonprofit Vendor (non food)

Activity/Family Friendly Vendor

Do you want to perform under Skypoint during the 2025 Strawberry Festival ? Click here to apply!

Our events wouldn’t be possible without the help of awesome volunteers like you. We appreciate all the extra help we can get, whether it’s assistance during the 5:30am vendor arrival/check-in or helping at the Skypoint info booth. All volunteers are provided with food and beverage voucher, bottled water, and any items needed to perform position.

Email lexiem@downtownbillings.com if you are interested in helping.  

If you are interested in sponsoring a downtown Billings event, please email our Communications Director, Lindsay at LRichardson@downtownbillings.com and she can share current sponsorship opportunities.  

Our sponsors are amazing and we like to talk about them often. Their sponsorships allow us to cover the costs of our large free community events and allow us to make these events a success and memorable for the whole community.

  • check back

Event Sponsors

The 2024 HarvestFest was coordinated by Downtown Billings’ Business Improvement District (BID) and presented by Montana Brewing Company.  Supported Event sponsors Visit Billings, TDS Fiber, Valley Credit Union, MariMint, My Classic Hits 105.9, Planet 106.7, 98.1 KBEAR, 94.1 KSKY, ESPN 910, The Zone 96.3, and Wise Wonders Science & Discovery Museum. 

 

  • Posted on: December 3, 2024

34th Billings Strawberry Festival

Presented by Downtown Billings: The annual Strawberry Festival is Billings largest vendor street festival. This long-time cherished community event kicks off the summer event season in the heart of our City’s urban center. You’ll experience a rich diversity in arts and crafts, the scents of food-truck fare (from French Crepes, noodle bowls, to BBQ), and live street entertainment as over 100 merchants fill the streets of downtown Billings. The Strawberry festival draws a crowd from all over the northwest region to Downtown Billings (under Skypoint at 2nd Ave N. and N. Broadway) offering fun activities for all ages.

Digital Map – Coming June 2025

List of Festival Vendors – Coming June 2025

Event resources

Live entertainment will happen under Skypoint at N. Broadway and 2nd Ave N 

Do you want to perform under Skypoint for the 2025 Strawberry Festival or 2025 HarvestFest ? Click here to apply!

Our events wouldn’t be possible without the help of awesome volunteers like you. We appreciate all the extra help we can get, whether it’s assistance during the 5:30am vendor arrival/check-in or helping at the Skypoint info booth. All volunteers are provided with food and beverage voucher, bottled water, and any items needed to perform position.

Email lexiem@downtownbillings.com if you are interested in helping.  

At the 2024 Strawberry Festival there were over 80 vendors who offered strawberry products, menu items, and more. Those vendors were noted on the vendor list linked here with a 🍓next to their vendor number.

A little history on the festival.

When the Strawberry festival began in the 1990s, it began as an early June event that kicked off the downtown Summer event season and consisted of less than 40 vendors. Despite its name, the Strawberry Festival is and has always been a vendor street fair bursting with commercial merchants, arts and craft vendors, and food vendors and not a farmers market. Over the decades the DBA team tried various ways to incorporate the festival’s namesake into the event: For nearly twenty years the late Ziggy Ziegler, a founder of the Downtown Billings Association (DBA), wandered the festival in a large rubber strawberry costume and a group of chefs and cooks worked with Albertsons to craft a sixty-foot strawberry shortcake on-site to later sell by the slice as a fundraiser. The Strawberry man costume was retired from the festival when Ziegler himself retired in 2019 and the giant shortcake became an item of the past when the festival returned in July post COVID in 2021.

After 28 years of coordinating the early June festival, our hard working team and regular vendors grew tired of the inconsistent June weather literally raining or even snowing on our efforts and the day’s fun. When the festival returned in July 2021, after a one year COVID hiatus, we sought board approval to permanently relocate the festival to July. The new early July date has offered more consistent weather, larger crowds, more vendors, and allowed the Strawberry Festival and HarvestFest to bookend the Yellowstone Valley Farmers Market Season. With the one real downside of the new date being that by early July, we’ve sort of missed the prime ‘Strawberry Season’ and haven’t had much luck in our efforts to bring in fresh pallets of strawberries to the Strawberry festival since. However, unlike huckleberry or sugar beets, strawberries are not a common Montana crop and having strawberries at the Strawberry Festival has proven itself a challenge for years prior to the new date.

And before you ask, “why not change the name if it’s not a festival loaded with strawberries?”: A proposal to change the name of the festival was presented to our boards, membership, and the festival vendors in and the majority preferred we keep the name of this legacy event the same. And so…The Strawberry Festival is an Arts & Craft, Merchant, and Food Truck Festival where nearly 1/2 of the vendors (that’s 80 vendors in 2024) in the festival have some sort of strawberry themed product or strawberry offering… You can find are strawberry scented hand crafted candles, strawberry themed hand sewn items, clothing, and even doll clothes. There’s pottery, jewelry, and more all with strawberries in mind. A full list of vendors including those with strawberry offerings will be made available at the purple info booth at Skypoint during the event itself.

If you are interested in sponsoring the Strawberry Festival or any other downtown Billings event, please email our Communications Director, Lindsay at LRichardson@downtownbillings.com and she can share current sponsorship opportunities.  

Our sponsors are amazing and we like to talk about them often. Their sponsorships allow us to cover the costs of our large free community events and allow us to make these events a success and memorable for the whole community.

applications for the 2025 festival coming Spring 2025

 

to register, click on the appropriate application:

Food Truck/Trailer Vendor

Food Tent/Canopy Vendor

Arts & Craft Vendor

Commercial/Retail Vendor

Nonprofit Vendor (non food)

Activity/Family Friendly Vendor

Event Sponsors

The 2024 Strawberry Festival was coordinated by Downtown Billings’ Business Improvement District (BID) and co-hosted by Visit Billings. Supported by signature sponsor Valley Credit Union and event sponsors TDS Fiber, MariMint, My Classic Hits 105.9, Planet 106.7, 98.1 KBEAR, 94.1 KSKY, ESPN 910, The Zone 96.3, and Wise Wonders Science & Discovery Museum. 

 

  • Posted on: December 3, 2024

20th Billings HarvestFest

Presented by Downtown Billings & Montana Brewing Company,  HarvestFest celebrates the changing seasons with a rich diversity of arts and crafts, mums, pumpkins, jams, face painting, balloon twisting, pies, and the final offerings of locally grown produce.  HarvestFest is a grand community fall festival that takes place in the center of downtown Billings, on streets below Skypoint. Occurring annually the second weekend of October, after the Yellowstone Valley Farmers’ Market concludes for the season. This fall street festival draws people from all over the Northwest region into the streets and businesses of downtown.
The event has something for all ages; experience the aromas of food-truck fare like roasted nuts, steak sandwiches, and kettle corn, live entertainment performing under Skypoint, Montana Brewing Company’s annual Oktoberfest Beer Garden and Stein hoisting contest, an interactive children’s area coordinated by Wise Wonders Science & Discovery Museum includes free crafts and activities. Additional & new activities still to be announced!

the day’s happenings

Click for Festival map and vendor list!

Put your artistic and creative abilities to the test with the Harvest Fest Painted Pumpkin contest sponsored by TDS Fiber! Use the pumpkins, paint, stickers & other craft materials provided at the TDS Fiber booth during Harvest Fest to design your pumpkin to be as silly or scary as you like and TDS Fiber will decide who’s created the most genius gourd! Pumpkins must be completed at the TDS Fiber booth during Harvest Fest by 2pm. View more contest details and rules.

Contest age categories:

  •  PreK-3rd Grade
  • 4th Grade-8th Grade
  • HS-Adult

The winner in each category will win a $30 Downtown Billings Gift Card.

10am – Big Sky Chorus
11am – Greater Heights School of Dance
12pm – Magic City Witch Dancers
3pm – TDS Fiber Painted Pumpkin Contest Winners!

Interested in performing at Skypoint for the 2025 Strawberry festival? Click here to apply!

Hosted by Montana Brewing Company and Watkins Distributing. The annual Stein Hoisting Contest is at noon. Contestants must be over 21 years old and meet the contest hosts on N. Broadway in the Beer Garden before the 12pm contest begins. This contest is mostly about endurance. The winner is the one who can hold their water filled stein glass up at shoulder level the longest. Not participating? It’s ok, this is an entertaining contest to watch too.

Various teams at Yellowstone Boys & Girls Ranch have created upcycled scarecrows for the 4th annual Upcycled Scarecrow Competition. We need your help select the winner. This annual competition has proven enjoyable for the community and the teams who participate. Head over to vendor booth #125 and vote for your favorite. The winning team get a $200 Downtown billings Gift Card.

 

Downtown Businesses: Is your downtown business going to be open and hosting any special HarvestFest happening? If so, Please email LRichardson@downtownbillings.com and let her know.

Event resources

Do you want to perform under Skypoint during the 2025 Strawberry Festival ? Click here to apply!

Our events wouldn’t be possible without the help of awesome volunteers like you. We appreciate all the extra help we can get, whether it’s assistance during the 5:30am vendor arrival/check-in or helping at the Skypoint info booth. All volunteers are provided with food and beverage voucher, bottled water, and any items needed to perform position.

Click to sign up to volunteer or email lexiem@downtownbillings.com if you are interested in helping.  

If you are interested in sponsoring a downtown Billings event, please email our Communications Director, Lindsay at LRichardson@downtownbillings.com and she can share current sponsorship opportunities.  

Our sponsors are amazing and we like to talk about them often. Their sponsorships allow us to cover the costs of our large free community events and allow us to make these events a success and memorable for the whole community.

  • check back

Event Sponsors

This event is coordinated by Downtown Billings’ Business Improvement District (BID) and presented by Montana Brewing Company.  Supported Event sponsors Visit Billings, TDS Fiber, Valley Credit Union, MariMint, My Classic Hits 105.9, Planet 106.7, 98.1 KBEAR, 94.1 KSKY, ESPN 910, The Zone 96.3, and Wise Wonders Science & Discovery Museum. 

 

  • Posted on: August 6, 2024

33rd Billings Strawberry Festival

Presented by Downtown Billings and Visit Billings: The annual Strawberry Festival is Billings largest vendor street festival. This long-time cherished community event kicks off the summer event season in the heart of our City’s urban center. You’ll experience a rich diversity in arts and crafts, the scents of food-truck fare (from French Crepes, noodle bowls, to BBQ), and live street entertainment as over 100 merchants fill the streets of downtown Billings. The Strawberry festival draws a crowd from all over the northwest region to Downtown Billings (under Skypoint at 2nd Ave N. and N. Broadway) offering fun activities for all ages.

Click for Digital Festival Map

List of Festival Vendors

Event resources

Live entertainment will happen under Skypoint at N. Broadway and 2nd Ave N 

  • 10:00 am – Montana Fiddle Club 
  • 11:00 am – Dancers from Greater Heights School of Dance 
  • 1:00 pm – Dancers from Studio 38

Do you want to perform under Skypoint at the October 12th HarvestFest or the 2025 Strawberry Festival? Click here to apply!

Our events wouldn’t be possible without the help of awesome volunteers like you. We appreciate all the extra help we can get, whether it’s assistance during the 5:30am vendor arrival/check-in or helping at the Skypoint info booth. All volunteers are provided with food and beverage voucher, bottled water, and any items needed to perform position.

Click to sign up to volunteer or email lexiem@downtownbillings.com if you are interested in helping.  

In the 2024 Strawberry Festival there are over 80 vendors who will have strawberry products, menu items, offerings. Those vendors are noted on the vendor list linked here with a 🍓next to their vendor number.

A little history on the festival.

When the Strawberry festival began in the 1990s, it began as an early June event that kicked off the downtown Summer event season and consisted of less than 40 vendors. Despite its name, the Strawberry Festival is and has always been a vendor street fair bursting with commercial merchants, arts and craft vendors, and food vendors and not a farmers market. Over the decades the DBA team tried various ways to incorporate the festival’s namesake into the event: For nearly twenty years the late Ziggy Ziegler, a founder of the Downtown Billings Association (DBA), wandered the festival in a large rubber strawberry costume and a group of chefs and cooks worked with Albertsons to craft a sixty-foot strawberry shortcake on-site to later sell by the slice as a fundraiser. The Strawberry man costume was retired from the festival when Ziegler himself retired in 2019 and the giant shortcake became an item of the past when the festival returned in July post COVID in 2021.

After 28 years of coordinating the early June festival, our hard working team and regular vendors grew tired of the inconsistent June weather literally raining or even snowing on our efforts and the day’s fun. When the festival returned in July 2021, after a one year COVID hiatus, we sought board approval to permanently relocate the festival to July. The new early July date has offered more consistent weather, larger crowds, more vendors, and allowed the Strawberry Festival and HarvestFest to bookend the Yellowstone Valley Farmers Market Season. With the one real downside of the new date being that by early July, we’ve sort of missed the prime ‘Strawberry Season’ and haven’t had much luck in our efforts to bring in fresh pallets of strawberries to the Strawberry festival since. However, unlike huckleberry or sugar beets, strawberries are not a common Montana crop and having strawberries at the Strawberry Festival has proven itself a challenge for years prior to the new date.

And before you ask, “why not change the name if it’s not a festival loaded with strawberries?”: A proposal to change the name of the festival was presented to our boards, membership, and the festival vendors in and the majority preferred we keep the name of this legacy event the same. And so…The Strawberry Festival is an Arts & Craft, Merchant, and Food Truck Festival where nearly 1/2 of the vendors (that’s 80 vendors in 2024) in the festival have some sort of strawberry themed product or strawberry offering… You can find are strawberry scented hand crafted candles, strawberry themed hand sewn items, clothing, and even doll clothes. There’s pottery, jewelry, and more all with strawberries in mind. A full list of vendors including those with strawberry offerings will be made available at the purple info booth at Skypoint during the event itself.

If you are interested in sponsoring the Strawberry Festival or any other downtown Billings event, please email our Communications Director, Lindsay at LRichardson@downtownbillings.com and she can share current sponsorship opportunities.  

Our sponsors are amazing and we like to talk about them often. Their sponsorships allow us to cover the costs of our large free community events and allow us to make these events a success and memorable for the whole community.

All applications are closed for 2024 festival.

 

to register, click on the appropriate application:

Food Truck/Trailer Vendor

Food Tent/Canopy Vendor

Arts & Craft Vendor

Commercial/Retail Vendor

Nonprofit Vendor (non food)

Activity/Family Friendly Vendor

Event Sponsors

This event is coordinated by Downtown Billings’ Business Improvement District (BID) and co-hosted by Visit Billings. Supported by signature sponsor Valley Credit Union and event sponsors TDS Fiber, MariMint, My Classic Hits 105.9, Planet 106.7, 98.1 KBEAR, 94.1 KSKY, ESPN 910, The Zone 96.3, and Wise Wonders Science & Discovery Museum. 

 

  • Posted on: January 30, 2024