Right Whale Festival 2026

Each November, the Right Whale Festival celebrates the return of the endangered North Atlantic right whale to the warm coastal waters off northeast Florida and Georgia, where mothers give birth to and nurse their calves each winter. The 2026 festival is at Main Beach Park in Fernandina Beach on Saturday, November 7, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, November 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

What to expect

It's a free, family-friendly weekend of live music, food trucks, whale-themed art and gifts, and more than 100 exhibitors from conservation, water-sports, boating and outdoor groups, with marine mammal scientists on hand to answer questions. Kids get a festival program to work through, plus bounce houses and life-size inflatable whales. It's all built around protecting a population the festival puts at fewer than 380 animals.

Around the festival

The weekend also includes a Saturday 9 a.m. beach cleanup, a skate contest Saturday at 1 p.m., beach yoga, a Sunday noon dog parade, and a 35-mile #LiveLikeJessica tribute ride for experienced cyclists on Sunday morning, and the city's listing adds a Saturday movie in the park until 9:30 p.m. On Friday, November 6, there's a ticketed lecture luncheon at Story & Song and "A Whale of a Party" at the Tigre Room. The festival's schedule page has times and registration links.

Good to know

Admission is free. Main Beach Park is at 32 N. Fletcher Ave., an easy stop for anyone on the island that weekend.