The 48th Annual Nantucket Daffodil Festival is April 25-28, 2024!
This full-scale celebration of winter’s thaw is joyous for both islanders and visitors alike. Daffodils adorn the island’s roadsides, gardens, and shop windows with blossoms of yellow, orange, white, and even pale pink. Highlights of the weekend include the Flower Crown Party, Antique Car Parade & Tailgate Picnic, Hat Pageant, Dog Parade, Daffy Events at Children’s Beach, and Daffodil Festival Bazaar!
A Nantucket Tradition
An island tradition since the spring of 1975, the Daffodil Festival was the flower child of the Nantucket Garden Club and notably Jean MacAusland. The first Nantucket Daffodil Show consisted of 250 entries with 9 classifications of blooms, and three Best in Show prizes were awarded. Three years later, the Antique Car Parade and community tailgate picnic were added. Later that year, the Nantucket Garden Club started a project (lead by Jean MacAusland) to plant one million daffodil bulbs around the island. It took some time to complete that project and now, it is believed that there are approximately 2 million daffodils blooming every spring on the island.
It is likely that you’re reading this now because the Nantucket Daffodil Festival has grown in popularity over the decades. The island is very welcoming to guests and enjoys sharing this event with new friends and old. On behalf of the island, we ask you to invest in and for the continued success of the festival. You can do this by simply having fun, connecting with neighbors and the community, don clothing and hats that are all “blossomed” up… for you and even your pet! We also ask that you participate in preserving the natural beauty and enjoyment for everyone by leaving town and the parade route as you find it, clean and litter-free; driving safely; and enjoying the festivities safely and responsibly.
What to Know about Joining the Daffodil Festival
Whether you come for one day or stay overnight, you will have the springtime experience of a lifetime. We strongly recommend that if you are planning on staying overnight that you make arrangements in advance. Accommodation options are limited due to the small, quaint size of the island. As far as getting there, we’ve got you covered with more high-speed ferry departures during Daffodil Weekend, for your convenience! Both of our high-speed Nantucket ferries, Grey Lady and Grey Lady IV will be in full operation.
Admittedly, I have not been to the Nantucket Daffodil Festival in years, but the last time I did, I wrote about my experience: The weather for Daffodil Weekend was magnificent. I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with festival-goers who were going to Nantucket to visit for the entire festival weekend when I figured that I’d meet mostly day trippers. The majority of people I talked to weren’t staying at an inn or bed and breakfast – they were staying with friends or family, which kind of surprised me. One couple with young children had just moved off-island last year and were excited to spend time with old friends. One woman from Chatham was going over to stay with her family. She was so happy about the weather that she showed me pictures on her phone of a winter storm and the tide surging right up to her front door. It was a frightening sight; however, she was genuinely grateful to be going to Nantucket to celebrate springtime and the awakening of Nantucket after winter.
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