Historic Bluffton Arts & Seafood Festival

From Old Town Bluffton Inn

By Car	2 Minutes
By Walk	12 Minutes

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Details

Address	Historic Old Town Bluffton, Calhoun Street, Bluffton, SC 29910.
Phone	+1 843-815-6278
Website	blufftonartsandseafoodfestival.org/
Dates	October 9 to 18, 2026 (Held Annually)

Every October, Old Town hands its streets over to a hundred-plus artists, two stages of live music, and more Lowcountry seafood than anyone should reasonably eat. It is the weekend. Bluffton looks most like itself. And from the Old Town Bluffton Inn, there is nothing to park, shuttle, or figure out. You walk out the front door, and you are in it.

Now in its twenty-second year, the Historic Bluffton Arts & Seafood Festival is the weekend Old Town belongs entirely to the people walking it. Calhoun Street fills with white tents beneath the oaks, and by mid-morning the whole neighborhood smells like Lowcountry boil and kettle corn. Music carries from two directions at once. Artists stand beside their own work and talk to anyone who stops. This is not a hushed, velvet-rope affair, and it is not really a shopping event either. It is a small town in an exceptionally good mood, doing the thing it does best in front of everybody.

Street Fest is the heart of it: Saturday, October 17 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, October 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with over a hundred local and regional artists from ten different states showing oils, pastels, acrylics, watercolor, photography, pottery, and ceramics. They come from across the region, including North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee, and most are working artists rather than vendors with a warehouse behind them, which means much of what you see is one-of-a-kind. When a piece sells on Saturday morning, that is the end of it. Admission is free. Bands play all day from the Main Stage in Martin Family Park and Stage Two at the beer garden on Bridge and Calhoun; there is a Tailgate area with craft beer, premium wine, and the game on, and Saturday ends at Oyster Factory Park with Rockin' on the Dock: roasted local oysters, the J. Edwards Band, and fireworks at dusk. At the Inn, we run our own version of the weekend alongside it, with coffee going early, a mimosa tent out front, La Bodega on the porch with our friends at Charter One, and a rocking chair waiting whenever you have had enough of the crowd.

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Old Town Bluffton Inn

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Why Visit

If you only get one October weekend in Bluffton, we would tell you to make it this one. It is free, it is a five-minute walk from our front door, and it will show you more of this town in two days than a week of ordinary sightseeing.

A genuine juried fine art show in its twenty-second year, with over a hundred artists from ten different states working in oils, pastels, acrylics, watercolor, photography, pottery, and ceramics
Much of the work is one of a kind, made by regional artists rather than resellers, so arriving early is the difference between seeing a piece and taking it home
Free to attend, and completely walkable. Downtown Bluffton closes to parking on Street Fest Saturday, so staying here means no off-site lot, no shuttle, and no hunting for a space
Lowcountry seafood served about as close to the source as it gets, from bucket-sized boils to local oysters roasted on the dock
Two stages of music through the day, and a Saturday night finale at Oyster Factory Park with live music and fireworks at dusk
A full week of free and ticketed programming leads up to Street Fest, including Art in the Park, the Blessing of the Fleet boat parade at Wright Family Park, oyster farm tours on the May River, and Symphony Under the Stars with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, so guests can build a longer stay and come back to the Inn's afternoon wine bar at the end of each day

Message from the Harrisons

People think they already love Bluffton. We have guests who have stayed with us again and again, who know the town, who have had a wonderful time here, and then they finally catch the Arts & Seafood Festival, and every one of them says some version of the same thing: I loved this place already, but now I love it more. That is what this weekend does. It shows you what the fabric of Bluffton is actually made of: the food, the art, the community, the culture, and a whole lot of people who simply want to have a good time together.

Vince and Danielle Harrison

Inn-sider Tips for the Festival

There is not much to debate on this one. The festival happens once a year, and in 2026 that is the weekend of October 17 and 18, with the full festival week running October 9 through 18. October is also about the finest month the Lowcountry gives us. Mornings in the sixties, afternoons in the mid to upper seventies, the worst of the summer humidity behind us, and the light turning gold by late afternoon. Within the weekend itself, Saturday is the bigger and louder of the two days and Sunday is the gentler one. But the best hour of the whole festival is the one before it officially opens.

Don't Miss

Walk down to Calhoun Street early, before the ten o'clock opening. The artists are unwrapping canvases and setting up tents, they have time to talk, and you get first look at work that is often one of a kind. Guests who do this almost always come back having bought something.

What to Bring

Comfortable shoes, a hat, sunscreen, and a tote. Bring a card and a little cash, since some artists take both and some prefer one. If you buy something larger than you want to carry, bring it back to us. We will hold it at the front desk while you keep going.

Crowds

Saturday peaks through the middle of the day, and it is genuinely busy. Go early for the art, use the afternoon for food and music, and save Sunday for a slower second pass through anything you want to see again.

Good to Know

Street Fest itself is free, but the ticketed events during festival week, including the Supper Soirée, the May River oyster farm tours, and the Dinner & Learn at the Waddell Mariculture Center, sell out well in advance. So do our rooms. If this weekend is on your list, book the events when you book the room.

Getting There

There is no parking in downtown Bluffton on Street Fest Saturday, and visitors driving in park at Red Cedar Elementary School and ride the festival shuttle. Our guests skip that entirely. Calhoun Street is about five minutes on foot from the porch, and Oyster Factory Park, where the Saturday fireworks go off, is roughly fifteen.

A Saturday at the Festival

Coffee and Quiet

08:00 AM

Start with a cup from the Inn and walk down into Old Town before the day gets going. The tents are half-built, and the artists are unwrapping work. Make a mental list of what you want to come back for. The Old Town Oyster Run 5K sets off from Oyster Factory Park around now, so there is a bit of cheerful commotion in the mix.

Art first

10:00 AM

Street Fest opens at ten, and this is the hour to shop rather than browse. The juried show is the reason the festival exists, and the first two hours are when you can still talk to artists without waiting your turn.

Mimosa on the Porch

11:30 AM

Come back to the Inn for a mimosa before lunch. La Bodega will be set up out front with our friends at Charter One, and the porch is a good place to catch your breath and plan the rest of the day with something cold in your hand.

Lunch by the Music

12:30 PM

Find a Lowcountry boil, a bucket of oysters, or whatever line looks worth standing in, then take it toward Martin Family Park, where the Main Stage runs all day. Afterward, walk your purchases back to the Inn. It takes about five minutes, and it means you are not carrying a framed piece around all afternoon.

Beer Garden and Stage Two

2:30 PM

Head to Bridge and Calhoun, where the second stage anchors the beer garden. Grab a seat, listen for a while, and let the busiest part of the afternoon happen around you. Later, come back for our complimentary afternoon wine bar and put your feet up in the parlor.

Rockin' on the Dock

6:00 PM

Walk down to Oyster Factory Park for the finale, with roasted local oysters by the bucket, the J. Edwards Band, and fireworks at dusk over the May River. It is about a fifteen-minute walk each way, and the right way to end the day. Sunday runs from ten to four and is the quieter of the two days, with music from eleven. Go back for the booth you have been thinking about since Saturday

FAQ

The Historic Bluffton Arts and Seafood Festival runs for a full week, October 9 through 18, 2026, culminating in the Street Fest weekend in Old Town. Street Fest itself is Saturday, October 17, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, October 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday is the bigger, louder day, and Sunday is the quieter second pass.

Street Fest is free to attend, both Saturday and Sunday. Some of the events during festival week are ticketed, including the Supper Soirée, the May River oyster farm tours, and the Dinner and Learn at the Waddell Mariculture Center. These tend to sell out well in advance, so it is worth booking them when you book your room.

There is no parking in downtown Bluffton on Street Fest Saturday. Visitors driving in can park at Red Cedar Elementary School and ride a festival shuttle to Old Town. Guests staying at Old Town Bluffton Inn can skip all of that, since Calhoun Street is about a five-minute walk from the front porch, and Oyster Factory Park, where the Saturday fireworks go off, is roughly fifteen minutes away.

The heart of it is a juried fine art show with more than a hundred artists from ten different states, showing oils, pastels, acrylics, watercolor, photography, pottery, and ceramics. Alongside the art there are two stages of live music all day, Lowcountry seafood from bucket-sized boils to oysters roasted on the dock, and a Saturday night finale at Oyster Factory Park called Rockin' on the Dock, with live music and fireworks at dusk over the May River.

It is a full week. The festival runs October 9 through 18, 2026, with free and ticketed programming leading up to the Street Fest weekend. That includes Art in the Park, the Blessing of the Fleet boat parade at Wright Family Park, oyster farm tours on the May River, and Symphony Under the Stars with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, which makes it easy to build a longer stay and come back to the Inn's afternoon wine bar at the end of each day.

Go early. The best hour is the one before the ten o'clock opening, when the artists are still setting up, have time to talk, and much of the work is one-of-a-kind. Wear comfortable shoes, bring a hat, sunscreen, a tote, and both a card and a little cash, since some artists take one and some the other. And book early, because festival weekend rooms fill quickly.