Nov 27 – Nov 29, 2026
Sacramento Hmong New Year Festival 2026 at Cal Expo
Sacramento Hmong New Year Festival returns Friday through Sunday, November 27–29, 2026, at Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Boulevard. Hours 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Building C until 6:00 p.m. Kids 5 and under and seniors 65+ free. Parking $10. General tickets TBA.
Cal Expo lists the Sacramento Hmong New Year Festival for Friday through Sunday, November 27–29, 2026, at 1600 Exposition Boulevard. Daily hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with Building C open until 6:00 p.m. Children 5 and under and seniors 65 and older are free. Parking is $10. General admission tickets were still marked coming soon on the Cal Expo card as of this check, so buy through sacramentohmongnewyear.com or Cal Expo before you treat a door price as final. Organizer phone is 916-476-5018.
Organizers frame the 21st annual festival weekend and 51 years of Hmong community life in America, with attendance cited around 40,000 and more than 200 vendor and partner slots in recent editions. The program slate includes Miss Hmong California, a two-day Hmong Dance Competition, Hmong Idol, a fashion designer contest, sports tournaments (volleyball, soccer, golf, cornhole), academic scholarships, and a Pokémon TCG and GO tournament weekend. Expect traditional dress, competition stages, a dense food court, and the kind of all-day fairground pace that rewards an early arrival and a written meet point.
Cal Expo sits north of downtown on Exposition Boulevard, not at the Capitol mall and not in Elk Grove. Thanksgiving weekend traffic around the fairgrounds is real. Give yourself parking time before phones get messy in the crowd. Marathi Mandal Diwali already covered mid-November. This is the larger regional Hmong calendar pin after the holiday. An interactive event map on the organizer site marks gates, vendor rows, stages, courts, and restrooms; open it before you walk in.
Who this is for: Hmong families across Northern California, Sacramento households introducing friends to the festival, and anyone who wants the region's biggest Hmong New Year floor under one fairgrounds roof. Skip it only if three fairground days are too much for your group. One focused Saturday still works if Friday is travel and Sunday is for one competition only.
Bring cash and a card. Wear shoes you can stand in. Confirm ticket on-sale and any Building C evening notes on the official sites the week of Thanksgiving. If you are driving from the Bay Area, treat Friday as a half-day arrival and Saturday as the full program.
When: November 27–29, 2026, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (Building C until 6:00; kids 5 and under / seniors 65+ free; parking $10)
Where: Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95815
Last checked: November 10, 2026
Details at Cal Expo and sacramentohmongnewyear.com.
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