Charleston Events & Festivals

This page is the year at a glance. The two events in season now have full guides — dates, prices, and tactics — and the rest get theirs as their dates firm up. Below the big ten, every month of the year has its own dated events table, sitting alongside that month's weather, crowds, and prices.

Fall 2026: the two in play now

MOJA Arts Festival — September 24 to October 1, 2026. Eight days of Black arts and culture across downtown, from a Gullah Geechee cook-off in Hampton Park to Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life performed at the Dock Street Theatre. The finale is free. Our guide has the full published program, what's ticketed, and why the "Golden Anniversary" name doesn't mean what it seems to.

Holiday Festival of Lights — November 13 to December 31, 2026. Three miles of light displays at James Island County Park, priced per car and tiered by crowd. Open every night including Thanksgiving and Christmas, with two walk-the-course nights on November 11–12 that sell out early. The guide covers the price tiers, Santa's Village, and the entrance your GPS won't pick.

Winter: oysters, ducks, and prix-fixe menus

Restaurant Week South Carolina — January 7 to 17, 2027. Eleven days, not seven, and the only one Charleston gets: the old September edition was discontinued. No ticket, just prix-fixe menus at restaurants that are otherwise a month-out reservation. It lands in the stretch January does best, with oysters at their peak and the town at its quietest.

Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (SEWE) — February 12 to 14, 2027. Wildlife art, working retrievers in the ponds, birds of prey overhead, and the year's first hotel crunch, spread across five venues. Marion Square needs no ticket; everything else does, with 2027 prices out October 1, 2026. It fills February's big weekend, and downtown rooms for it go months out.

Lowcountry Oyster Festival — Sunday, February 28, 2027. More than 45,000 pounds of oysters roasted in one afternoon at Boone Hall, with shucking and eating contests. A great many listings file it under January; it is a February event and has been for years. General admission is $25 and covers entry only — the oysters are bought inside.

Spring: the crowded brilliant stretch

Charleston Wine + Food — March 3 to 7, 2027. A five-day culinary festival built around the Culinary Village at Johnson Hagood Stadium, ticketed by the day, with dinners and lunches lodged in restaurants all over the peninsula. Plenty of guides still place the tasting tents in Marion Square; the festival's own FAQ moved them years ago. March is when Charleston's food ambition is most on display.

Credit One Charleston Open — March 27 to April 4, 2027. The largest women's-only professional tennis tournament in North America, on green clay on Daniel Island. It straddles the month line, overlaps the spring peak, and its evening sessions pair well with downtown dinners.

The Charleston Festival — April 1 to 24, 2027. Historic Charleston Foundation's spring run of private house and garden tours, in its 80th year. It was called the Festival of Houses & Gardens until recently, which is still the name on most of the internet. Ticketed per event, on sale December 1, 2026.

Cooper River Bridge Run — Saturday, April 3, 2027. A 10K over the Ravenel Bridge, run every year since 1978 and capped at 38,500 entrants. The 2027 race is the 50th. There is no race-day packet pickup, and race weekend commandeers the bridge, half of Mount Pleasant, and most hotel inventory — brilliant if you're running, worth scheduling around if you're not. Context in April.

Spoleto Festival USA & Piccolo Spoleto — late May into early June. Seventeen days of opera, theater, dance, and chamber music in the city's churches and theaters, with the city-run Piccolo Spoleto scattering more than 500 cheaper and free performances alongside. The single best reason to visit in May. The 2027 edition is the 50th, but Spoleto had still not published its dates as of August 2026 — any site quoting you exact 2027 dates is guessing.

The booking rule

Every event above moves hotel prices, and the big three — Bridge Run, SEWE, Spoleto's opening weekend — sell the peninsula out. Check dates against your trip before you commit, then book the room first: downtown hotels on Expedia, or the where-to-stay guide if you're weighing neighborhoods. Tours rarely sell out the way rooms do — the exceptions are small-capacity theaters during MOJA and the Festival of Lights walk nights.