Oct 17, 2026
CDM 2026 Punjabi Music Festival at Cal Expo
CDM lists a one-day Punjabi music festival Saturday, October 17, 2026, doors 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., at Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Boulevard. Cal Expo lists general admission at $150. Children 5 and under are free.
Tickets from $150
CDM 2026 is a one-day Punjabi music festival Saturday, October 17, 2026, at Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Boulevard in Sacramento. The organizer page locks doors at 11:00 a.m. and a close at 11:00 p.m. Cal Expo's venue card names the pad The Cove and uses the same Exposition Boulevard campus address. Treat The Cove and Cal Expo as the same fairgrounds day, not two different venues.
Cal Expo lists general admission at $150. Children 5 and under are free. CDM's own site says all ages are welcome, with 16 and under accompanied by an adult. Official tickets run through the channels CDM names, including the Flite link on cdm2026.info and updates through @calidamela. The lineup poster and footer say official updates and tickets are exclusively available through that account. Do not buy from after-party promoters the organizer disclaims.
The headliner on cdm2026.info and the official poster is NAV. Main-stage names include Prem Dhillon, Sunny Malton, Garry Sandhu, Jassa Dhillon, Tegi Pannu, Chinna, and BK Dhaliwal. The page also lists Manpreet Toor, Fateh, Big Boi Deep, and a deeper "also performing" block that includes Straight Bank, Jassi Gosal, Jagan Rhandawa, Simmy, Khush Athwal, and more, with additional artists TBA. Set times are not posted. Organizer stats quote 20-plus artists and 6,000-plus expected fans. Those are organizer numbers.
Food vendors and VIP Elite cabanas are part of the pitch: private cabana interior, a 4-foot elevated riser view, prime stage sightlines, and bottle-service setup. A festival map block names VIP, GA, food, parking, and entry. Capacity is listed as limited. Phone Cal Expo at 916-263-3000 for campus questions. Exposition Boulevard parking is fairgrounds parking. Give yourself time.
Sanskrity Diwali is already October 10 in Folsom. Utsav is October 23–25. CDM is the paid music Saturday between those community-hall weekends. It is not a free civic Diwali. Folsom and Rancho Cordova cover that lane for Sacramento families who want lawn and temple calendars instead of stadium money.
Who this is for: Central Valley Punjabi concert crowds who will pay fairgrounds GA for NAV, Dhillon, or the VIP cabana. Skip it if you wanted a free Diwali mela or a community-center clock. This is a twelve-hour music day with limited capacity language on the organizer site.
Our take: buy if NAV or the main-stage Punjabi bill is why you came, and use the official @calidamela / Flite path only. Treat $150 as the posted Cal Expo GA. Do not invent a farm-grounds nickname from a search snippet when Cal Expo already named The Cove.
When: October 17, 2026, 11:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m.
Where: Cal Expo (The Cove on the venue listing), 1600 Exposition Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95815
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