Food Festivals in Lexington

Lexington Bourbon Week lines up featured bourbon cocktails across the city's bars each November, a Smiley Pete-run counterpoint to the spring race crowds.

TipWork the featured cocktail list like a passport; the participating bar map posts on the event site each autumn.

Railbird pairs headline music with the Bourbon Hideout's hand-picked barrels at Red Mile, Lexington's June weekend of Tyler Childers-grade Americana.

TipThe Bourbon Hideout tastings sell separately from admission and cap daily; book both when the lineup drops.

Lexington Burger Week sends dozens of kitchens chasing the city's best off-menu burger at $7 and $8 flat, one gluttonous week each July across Lexington.

TipDownload the passport app and hit the weird one-off burgers early in the week before kitchens start selling out.

Lexington Restaurant Week runs set menus at more than 40 locally owned rooms in late July, founder Connie Jo Miller's annual excuse to eat somewhere new.

TipThe flagship rooms book out fast once menus post; reserve the fine-dining stops in the first days of the window.

Crave gathers dozens of Lexington restaurants and food trucks with two days of live music at Gatton Park, the city's biggest pure food festival since the mid-2010s.

TipAdmission is $15 for a weekend pass or $10 for a single day, kids 10 and under are free, and the festival is cash-free, so bring a card; every vendor serves $5 small plates.

Festival Latino de Lexington fills the courthouse plaza with Latin American food vendors, music and dance across two September evenings, a downtown fixture since the early 2000s.

TipIt runs late, from 17:00 on Friday and 16:00 on Saturday to 23:00 both nights; come hungry and work the vendor rows between stage sets.