Celebrate Mansfield Festival

Looking for a fair alternative? Head to Downtown Storrs for the 22nd Annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival! This fun, free event is open to everyone and features hands-on activities for all ages plus music, food, puppetry, and more!

The Mansfield Downtown Partnership hosts the largest community event in Mansfield each fall to celebrate the people, businesses, and organizations that make Mansfield special. Stroll through the streets of Downtown Storrs and try your hand at guiding a robot through a maze a booth hosted by the E. O. Smith VEX Robotics Team or decorate your own tarot card at the William Benton Museum of Art's booth. Learn about locomotion in birds at the booth hosted by the CT State Museum of Natural History and then find out about the protected open spaces in Mansfield where you might see some birds in the wild at booths by The Last Green Valley and Joshua's Trust.

Treat yourself or get a head start on your holiday shopping at booths hosted by local crafters, makers, and artisans, who will have original works for sale in our juried show on Dog Lane. Also on Dog Lane will be cooking demos by talented chefs from UConn Dining Services and acoustic performances at the Waldron's Studio 88 Stage.

Fuel up for fun at our Festival food booths and over twenty Downtown Storrs restaurants. Food booths will be located around Betsy Paterson Square, along with a beer garden hosted by Hops 44. All downtown resturants are within a six minute walk of Betsy Paterson Square.

A "Kids' Zone" on Wilbur Cross Way will feature fun for young and young-at-heart visitors, including a chance to check out a fire truck up close and performances of children's entertainment. 

On the main stage on Betsy Paterson Square, there will be live entertainment throughout the day, including a special community puppet pageant with the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry!

Capping off the festivities will be All Night Boogie Band, an award-winning a blues, rock & roll, and soul-inspired band hailing from the Green Mountains of Burlington, Vermont! All Night Boogie Band performs 6:30 - 8:00 PM.

The Celebrate Mansfield Festival will take place on Saturday, September 27 from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM in Downtown Storrs (next to UConn in Mansfield, Connecticut).

For more information, please visit downtownstorrsfestival.org or follow @DowntownStorrs on Facebook and Instagram.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO:

• Road closures: To accommodate the event, several streets within Downtown Storrs will be closed to vehicle traffic. Learn more here.
• Getting here: By bike, by bus, by car, or on foot - Downtown Storrs is easy to get to. Find bike info, free parking options, and more here.
• Weather: In the event of inclement weather, the Festival will be held indoors at E. O. Smith High School (1235 Storrs Road). Weather-related changes will be announced no later than 5:00 PM on Friday, Sept. 26.
• Activity and craft booths are open 2:00 PM-6:00 PM
• Food booths are open 2:00 PM - 8:00 PM
• Closing concert is 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM

FOR MORE INFO, visit downtownstorrsfestival.org or call 860.429.2740.

THANK YOU TO OUR 2025 PLATINUM SPONSORS:

• Gulemo Inc., Printers
• National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM)
• The Oaks on the Square
• Price Chopper
• UConn Bookstore
• Urban Lodge Brewing Co.
• Wilcox & Reynolds Insurance