Clarkston International Rice Festival 2026

The City of Clarkston presents the International Rice Festival Saturday, September 12, 2026, noon to 4:00 p.m. at Clarkston Community Center, 3701 College Avenue, Clarkston. The municipal homepage and city social channels frame a free afternoon of international flavors, chef samples, music, entertainment, and kids activities under the tagline “Celebrate Culture. Share Rice. Build Community.”

Clarkston is often called the most diverse square mile in America, with refugee resettlement history that shows up in grocery aisles, mosque and temple blocks, and apartment courtyards along Market Street. A rice festival fits the city’s identity: staple grain as shared table across Ethiopian, Burmese, Nepali, Vietnamese, and dozens of other communities that call the corridor home.

Who this is for: east-metro families who want a city-run afternoon fair with global food without driving to Gwinnett convention centers. Skip it if you need a late-night market; Lawrenceville International Night Market opens two weeks later on a Friday evening schedule.

The community center anchors downtown Clarkston off College Avenue, walking distance from MARTA bus lines that connect Decatur and Avondale. Four hours is compact for a civic festival, so arrive at noon if you want first pass at vendor samples before afternoon music sets.

City staff promote vendor registration through official Cognito forms linked from Clarkston channels. Food entrepreneurs, crafts sellers, and community groups use the fair as a storefront to neighbors who might not otherwise discover their kitchens. Prior city festivals in Clarkston have paired cultural booths with kids zones and live performers on the community center lawn.

September 12 sits one week after FEAST Buford Highway and the same Saturday as the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival on Lake Lanier. Roswell’s Atlanta India Festival follows September 19 if you want a north-metro India Day after Clarkston’s pan-international rice frame.

Our take: go hungry and early; this is a four-hour window, not an all-day mela. Pair with a Buford Highway dinner run afterward if you want to extend the diaspora food crawl into evening service.

When: Saturday, September 12, 2026 (12:00–4:00 p.m.)
Where: Clarkston Community Center, 3701 College Ave, Clarkston, GA

Updates on clarkstonga.gov.