Looking for events and things to do in Culver City? A creative Westside hub, Culver City packs its walkable downtown with art walks, outdoor concerts, and community festivals. This local guide covers Culver City’s biggest annual festivals, recurring markets and events, seasonal highlights, and how to find out what’s happening this weekend — straight from the people who live here.

Culver City’s biggest annual events & festivals

Culver City’s signature events include the summer Culver City Music Festival and free downtown concerts, the Fiesta La Ballona community festival, the Culver City ArtWalk & Roll Festival, and regular openings across its thriving Arts District galleries.

Farmers markets & recurring things to do in Culver City

The Culver City Farmers Market fills Main Street on Tuesdays, and the downtown hosts year-round events at the Culver Steps and Town Plaza, plus performances at the historic Kirk Douglas Theatre and constant gallery openings in the Arts District.

Culver City through the seasons

Spring and summer bring the music festival, Fiesta La Ballona, and outdoor concerts; fall offers art walks and gallery seasons; and winter features holiday events and tree lightings downtown.

What to know about Culver City events

Downtown and the Arts District are walkable, and the Expo Line connects to Santa Monica and DTLA. Most community festivals are free; the farmers market and Culver Steps events anchor the weekly calendar.

What’s happening in Culver City this weekend

Printed event calendars go stale fast, and the best local happenings — pop-ups, block parties, last-minute shows — often never make the official listings. The most current, honest answer to “what’s going on this weekend?” comes from neighbors. On Neighborhood Nurturers’ Culver City community, real Culver City residents post and discuss what’s happening right now. For more ideas any time, see our guide to the best things to do in Culver City. Join your Culver City neighbors free and never miss what’s happening →

Where this fits in Culver City

The best events here are seasonal and neighborhood-driven, so timing is everything. The picks in this guide make the most sense once you know how Culver City is laid out. the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook and the Culver City Stairs sit at the center of where locals actually spend their time, so planning the local calendar around one of them rarely goes wrong. When you want something calmer, the Ballona Creek Trail pulls you away from the busiest blocks, and the historic downtown is the kind of spot regulars mention but visitors miss. Anchor your plan to one of those and the rest of the day in Culver City tends to fall into place.

More Culver City guides

Culver City rewards people who dig a little deeper. These related guides map the same neighborhoods from different starting points: Things to do in Culver City, Free things to do in Culver City, Things to do with kids in Culver City — enough to plan a whole day or two.

Ask a Culver City neighbor

The best tips never make the guidebooks — they come from neighbors who know which spot is worth it this week. That is what the Culver City community on Neighborhood Nurturers is for. Ask Culver City locals what they would do, or join free and get honest answers from people who actually know Culver City.

Frequently asked questions

What are the biggest events in Culver City?

The Culver City Music Festival and free downtown concerts, Fiesta La Ballona, the ArtWalk & Roll Festival, and Arts District gallery openings.

Does Culver City have a farmers market?

Yes — the Culver City Farmers Market fills Main Street on Tuesdays, with year-round events at the Culver Steps.

What’s happening in Culver City this weekend?

Culver City neighbors share the most current local events — from gallery openings to downtown pop-ups — in our community.

Fiesta La Ballona — the 75th, 28–30 August 2026

Culver City’s biggest annual event, and 2026 is its 75th year. Fiesta La Ballona runs from Friday 28 to Sunday 30 August 2026 at Veterans Memorial Park, 4117 Overland Avenue. Hours are Friday 4:30pm to 10pm, Saturday noon to 10pm and Sunday noon to 8pm. Entry is free, and this year there are two entertainment stages running live performances across the weekend.

The rides are the part that costs money, and wristbands go on sale in advance — buying ahead is both cheaper and faster than queuing on the day. Beyond that it is the classic small-city summer festival: food stalls, community organisations, live music, and most of the town turning up at some point across the three days. If you only attend one Culver City event a year, this is it.

Summer Sunset Concert Series — free, Thursdays

The city puts on the Summer Sunset Concert Series on Thursday evenings at 7pm in Town Plaza at The Culver Steps, running weekly from 16 July to 20 August 2026. It is free and family-friendly, and the setting is what makes it — the amphitheatre-style steps mean the plaza works as natural seating, so people simply sit on the stairs with food from the surrounding restaurants and watch.

Arrive a little early for a decent spot on the steps in the middle of the season. It pairs well with dinner downtown; our downtown Culver City guide covers what is open around the plaza.

The Tuesday farmers market — the weekly event

The most reliable recurring thing in the city is the Culver City Farmers Market, which takes over Main Street downtown every Tuesday from 2pm to 7pm. The weekday-afternoon timing is unusual and it is the reason the market feels local rather than touristy — the crowd is residents finishing work and families before dinner. Organic, sustainable and specialty growers, and comfortably the best hour of the week to see downtown behaving like a neighbourhood. Full detail in our farmers market guide.

Arts events through the year

The Culver City Art Walk is the annual set-piece for the Culver City Arts District, which runs along Washington Boulevard and has been named among the best arts districts in the country. Galleries including Hauser & Wirth anchor it, and the district hosts openings and events throughout the year rather than only on Art Walk weekend.

The Kirk Douglas Theatre at 9820 Washington Boulevard runs a season of live theatre in a 317-seat room, programming new work rather than touring shows — check what is on before planning an evening around it. And the Wende Museum, free and open Friday to Sunday 10am to 5pm, runs its own exhibitions and events programme.

What is on this weekend

The honest answer is that a static page cannot tell you. Between the Tuesday market, the summer Thursday concerts, gallery openings on Washington Boulevard, theatre at the Kirk Douglas and whatever is happening at Helms and Platform, there is almost always something on, but the specifics change weekly. The city’s own community calendar and the visitor centre listings are the official sources, and the neighbours posting on our Culver City community feed are the fastest unofficial one — that is exactly the kind of thing people post about the day before.

Planning around the big ones

Two practical notes. During Fiesta La Ballona in late August, the area around Veterans Memorial Park and Overland Avenue gets genuinely busy and parking near the park is difficult — arrive early, walk in from further out, or use the Metro E Line to Culver City Station and go from there. On Tuesdays, Main Street is given over to the market from mid-afternoon, so plan downtown parking around the structures near Culver Boulevard and Cardiff Avenue rather than the street.

Summer is the dense season here — the concert series and the Fiesta both land between mid-July and the end of August, which is when the city is at its most social. The rest of the year the rhythm is the weekly market plus the arts calendar. For what to do around an event, see things to do in Culver City, free things to do and things to do with kids.

The city’s event calendar, season by season

Spring is the arts season: gallery openings along Washington Boulevard, the Art Walk, and the theatre programme at its most active. Summer is the busiest stretch by a distance — the free Thursday concerts run from mid-July to late August, and Fiesta La Ballona closes the season at the end of August. Autumn settles back into the weekly rhythm of the Tuesday market plus whatever the museums and galleries are showing, and it is arguably the most pleasant time to be outdoors here. Winter brings holiday programming around the plaza and the shopping districts, and the market keeps running regardless — Southern California’s growing season does not really stop.

One thing worth knowing if you are new: because Culver City is an independent city with its own council and parks department rather than a Los Angeles neighbourhood, its events are genuinely municipal — organised by and for the city, often free, and attended overwhelmingly by people who live here. That is why the Fiesta has run for 75 years and why the Thursday concerts fill the plaza with residents rather than visitors.