Aug 9, 2026
Boston Chinatown August Moon Festival 2026
The 55th Chinatown August Moon Festival is Sunday, August 9, 2026, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., across Boston Chinatown streets with lion dance, martial arts, folk dance, crafts, and food vendors.
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Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England hosted the 55th Chinatown August Moon Festival Sunday, August 9, 2026, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., across Boston Chinatown. CCBA is the umbrella cultural organization for New England's Chinese community; August Moon is its flagship street festival, meant to draw visitors to neighborhood restaurants and shops while celebrating harvest, good health, and family reunion under the full moon.
Programming spread along Harrison Avenue, Beach, Tyler, Hudson, and Oxford Streets with lion dance, traditional music, martial arts, folk dancing, arts and crafts, and food and gift vendors. Opening ceremonies featured lion dancers who threw oranges into the crowd, a gesture for good luck and prosperity. Local press noted folk dance troupes, Chinese opera sets, and karaoke booths mixed with restaurant rows under the Chinatown gate.
Orange Line Chinatown and Tufts Medical Center stations feed the festival footprint. Street parking near Beach Street is scarce on festival Sunday; garages at 40 Beach Street and 66 Hudson Street are the usual fallback. Arrive before noon for lion dance sightlines; afternoon crowds thicken around Tyler Street food vendors.
Who this was for: Chinatown regulars, suburban families on the T, and tourists who want lion dance with dim sum afterward. This is downtown's August moon day; Quincy August Moon the following Sunday is the South Shore edition with 15,000 on Coddington Street.
The same week also held Films at the Gate August 14–16 on the Greenway if you wanted outdoor cinema after the street fair.
Our take: do August Moon for the street energy, Quincy for the closed-street scale. One August, two moon festivals, both on the Red Line if you plan transit.
When: August 9, 2026 (10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.)
Where: Boston Chinatown (Harrison / Beach / Tyler / Hudson / Oxford corridor)
Details on ccbaboston.org.
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