Warren County Kentucky White Squirrel Arts Festival
Bowling Green keeps a small, pale resident at the centre of its spring calendar. White squirrels, the pale-coated animals that have made the city known well beyond Warren County, give their name to a young arts festival that began in April 2023 and has returned every April since. It is a grassroots community celebration of music, visual art, writing, theatre and hands-on making, described as free for patrons in the layers read. The first two editions spread across downtown Bowling Green; the 2025 and 2026 editions settled in and around White Squirrel Brewery in the Historic Shake Rag District.
About
The event reaches readers under two printed forms. The dominant form is “White Squirrel Arts Fest”, the name carried by the organiser’s own website, a regional events magazine layer, a state magazine events layer and a convention-and-visitors-bureau calendar layer. The fuller form, “White Squirrel Arts Festival”, appears in a university calendar layer, in a local television station’s segment billing the gathering the “3rd Annual White Squirrel Arts Festival”, and in the organiser’s incorporated name, “White Squirrel Arts Festival Inc”, as a tax listing layer prints it. The sheet’s event-name form is the fuller one, and it is printed in sources.
The festival is described in a regional events magazine layer as a grassroots community celebration. The incorporated form “White Squirrel Arts Festival Inc” appears in a tax listing layer, and funding and sponsorship layers name a state tourism cabinet and the Bowling Green Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Those framings are recorded unmerged.
Across the four documented editions the layers list concerts and live music, an arts and crafts vendor fair, artist demonstrations, plays and theatre readings, poetry slams, youth talent show competitions, writers’ conference sessions and author readings, science and technology demonstrations, and food.
Admission is fenced to the layers that state it. A university newspaper layer states the 2024 festival was free to attend. A regional events magazine layer states all 2025 events were free for patrons. A state magazine events layer describes the 2026 edition as a free celebration of the arts. No ticket price appears in any layer read.
For a useful comparison, see the Warren County Kentucky Tequila N’ Tacos Festival for another county festival.
Quick Facts
| Detail | What the record shows |
| Published names | “White Squirrel Arts Fest” and “White Squirrel Arts Festival” |
| Host town | Bowling Green, county seat of Warren County |
| First edition | April 21–23, 2023, billed first annual and inaugural |
| Most recent edition | April 25, 2026, 10:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m. |
| Current venue | White Squirrel Brewery and the Shake Rag District |
| Earlier venues | Downtown Bowling Green, including Fountain Square Park and Circus Square Park |
| Organiser forms | “White Squirrel Arts Festival Inc” and a grassroots community celebration |
| Admission | Free, as stated by layers for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions |
| Programme | Music, art fair, theatre, poetry, talent shows, writers’ sessions, science demonstrations |
| Naming | Bowling Green’s white squirrels, honoured by the brewery that hosts the festival |
History
The layers present 2023 as the launch. A public radio layer billed the gathering the “first annual” White Squirrel Arts Fest in January 2023, and a regional events magazine layer called the 2023 edition “inaugural”. No earlier founding history is claimed in any layer read. The name was chosen because Bowling Green has one of the largest white squirrel populations in the United States and its craft brewery pays homage to them, according to a regional events magazine layer.
The first edition ran April 21–23, 2023. It opened with a concert at the Capitol theater and continued with an arts fair, vendors, science and technology demonstrations, poetry and talent shows.
The second year, April 19–21, 2024, is documented by a university newspaper layer and a university calendar layer with a full schedule. A kickoff concert filled Friday evening, an arts fair and youth talent shows filled Saturday, and a closing theatre reading filled Sunday. The university newspaper layer states that edition was free to attend. The downtown footprint still held: the 2023 and 2024 editions were spread across downtown Bowling Green, taking in Fountain Square Park, Circus Square Park, Main and State Streets, the Capitol Arts Center, White Squirrel Brewery and the Historic Shake Rag District.
The third edition, April 26, 2025, was billed the third annual in a television station segment and a regional events magazine layer. It was a single-day edition at White Squirrel Brewery and the Shake Rag District, with an indoor and outdoor art vendor fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and an evening poetry slam across the street. The magazine layer states all events were free for patrons.
The fourth edition, April 25, 2026, is listed by a state magazine events layer and the convention-and-visitors-bureau calendar layer at White Squirrel Brewery, 10:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m., described as a free celebration of the arts. The 2025 and 2026 editions were both held in and around White Squirrel Brewery on State Street at 3rd Avenue in the Shake Rag District, according to regional events magazine and convention-and-visitors-bureau layers.
One fence-out belongs in the history and nowhere else. A generic “White Squirrel Festival 2026” guide on a content-farm-style layer conflates other towns’ squirrel festivals, including the long-running White Squirrel Festival in Brevard, North Carolina, and that guide is disowned here. The Brevard event is a different festival in a different state, and other events at the same brewery are likewise separate.
What to Expect
The vendor fair is the spine of the event: an indoor and outdoor art vendor fair in the 2025 edition, and an arts and crafts vendor fair across the editions, with artists demonstrating their work as well as selling it.
Music runs through every edition. The 2023 opening was a concert at the Capitol theater, the 2024 kickoff concert opened Friday evening, and concerts and live music appear in the programme lists for the festival generally. Poetry featured in the 2023 programme, and the 2025 edition closed with an evening poetry slam across the street from the brewery. Theatre appears in the form of plays and theatre readings, with a closing theatre reading ending the 2024 weekend on Sunday.
Youth talent show competitions appear in the programme lists: the 2023 edition carried poetry and talent shows, and the 2024 Saturday carried youth talent shows beside the arts fair. Writers’ conference sessions and author readings sit in the programme alongside the visual arts. Science and technology demonstrations, carried in the 2023 programme, add a hands-on strand.
Planning Your Visit
The layers describing the 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions all describe the festival as free. A university newspaper layer states the 2024 festival was free to attend, a regional events magazine layer states all 2025 events were free for patrons, and a state magazine events layer describes the 2026 edition as a free celebration of the arts. No ticket price appears in any layer read. A visitor can plan on walking in without a ticket.
The venue is the second planning fact. The 2025 and 2026 editions were held in and around White Squirrel Brewery on State Street at 3rd Avenue in the Shake Rag District. The 2025 poetry slam took place across the street from the brewery, so an evening plan should allow for moving between the brewery and the surrounding spaces. Earlier editions spread across downtown Bowling Green, including Fountain Square Park, Circus Square Park, Main and State Streets and the Capitol Arts Center.
Timing is the third fact. All four documented editions fell in April: April 21–23 in 2023, April 19–21 in 2024, April 26 in 2025 and April 25 in 2026. The pattern is a late-April weekend, and the most recent editions were single Saturdays. Look for a late-April Saturday and confirm the year’s hours: the 2025 vendor fair ran 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the 2026 edition 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Bowling Green is the county seat of Warren County, confirmed by an encyclopedia reference layer.
A Sample Weekend
The 2024 edition offers the fullest model for a weekend plan, because a university newspaper layer and a university calendar layer document its schedule day by day. A visitor following that shape would arrive on Friday evening for the kickoff concert, spend Saturday at the arts fair and the youth talent shows, and close on Sunday with a theatre reading.
A single-day visit follows the 2025 and 2026 shape instead. Arrive in the morning for the vendor fair, which in 2025 ran from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and use the morning and early afternoon for the stalls and demonstrations. Stay into the evening for music and for the poetry slam, which in 2025 was held across the street from the brewery after the fair closed.
How It Compares
Within Bowling Green, the White Squirrel Arts Festival sits beside larger and older gatherings, and the contrast is instructive. The Bowling Green International Festival, held in Circus Square Park, is a long-running celebration of the city’s international communities with three stages, food booths, cultural displays and an international bazaar, and its 2026 edition carried a gate charge. Duncan Hines Days is a week-long, citywide homecoming spread across dozens of locations, with a restaurant week, a parade, a duck race and a closing music festival. The White Squirrel Arts Festival is smaller, younger and narrower: a grassroots arts gathering, free to attend, centred on one brewery and its district. A visitor choosing between the city’s festivals is choosing between scales.
Checklist
- Look for the late-April weekend and confirm the year’s hours: the 2025 fair ran 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the 2026 edition 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
- Head for the Shake Rag District and White Squirrel Brewery, on State Street at 3rd Avenue, rather than the wider downtown footprint of the first two editions.
- No ticket money is needed for entry: the 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions are all described as free.
- Arrive in the morning for the vendor fair, and stay into the evening for music and the poetry slam.
- Check the year’s schedule for writers’ sessions and author readings.
- Search under both printed names, “White Squirrel Arts Fest” and “White Squirrel Arts Festival”, so neither form is missed.
- Do not confuse this gathering with the White Squirrel Festival in Brevard, North Carolina, a different event.
Beyond the Festival
The Shake Rag District itself is worth the walk. It is the historic neighbourhood around the brewery, and the festival’s move there in 2025 gave the event a home with a distinct character rather than a generic fairground. Fountain Square Park and Circus Square Park remain the city’s public heart, and the Capitol Arts Center still anchors downtown performance.
Why It Matters
The festival shows a city making culture for itself rather than importing it. The White Squirrel Arts Festival began in 2023 as a first annual gathering, called inaugural by the layers that covered it, and it has returned each April since. It is a community celebration, organised under an incorporated name and supported by a state tourism cabinet and the local convention and visitors bureau, and it asks nothing at the gate. Bowling Green has one of the largest white squirrel populations in the United States, and a craft brewery in the city pays homage to them, so the name ties the event to a living local detail. A university newspaper layer, a regional events magazine layer and a state magazine events layer each describe an edition as free, and no ticket price appears in any layer read. That openness lets anyone walk into the vendor fair, sit in on a reading, watch a demonstration or stay for the evening poetry.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there any charge to walk into the festival grounds?
The layers describing the 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions all describe the festival as free. A university newspaper layer states the 2024 festival was free to attend, a regional events magazine layer states all 2025 events were free for patrons, and a state magazine events layer describes the 2026 edition as a free celebration of the arts. No ticket price appears in any layer read.
Which name will I find on signs, listings and the organiser’s own website?
Both printed forms circulate. “White Squirrel Arts Fest” is the dominant form, carried by the organiser’s own website, a regional events magazine layer, a state magazine events layer and a convention-and-visitors-bureau calendar layer. “White Squirrel Arts Festival” appears in a university calendar layer, in a local television station’s segment billing the “3rd Annual White Squirrel Arts Festival”, and in the incorporated name “White Squirrel Arts Festival Inc”. Searching under either form will find the event.
Where does the festival take place now, and has that changed?
The 2025 and 2026 editions were held in and around White Squirrel Brewery on State Street at 3rd Avenue in the Shake Rag District. The first two editions, in 2023 and 2024, were spread across downtown Bowling Green, taking in Fountain Square Park, Circus Square Park, Main and State Streets, the Capitol Arts Center, White Squirrel Brewery and the Historic Shake Rag District.
What kinds of performances and activities fill the day?
Concerts and live music, an arts and crafts vendor fair, artist demonstrations, plays and theatre readings, poetry slams, youth talent show competitions, writers’ conference sessions and author readings, science and technology demonstrations, and food.
What to Expect From the Next Warren County Kentucky White Squirrel Arts Festival
How often is Warren County Kentucky White Squirrel Arts Festival held?
The record shows one edition in each April from 2023 through 2026: April 21–23 in 2023, April 19–21 in 2024, April 26 in 2025 and April 25 in 2026.
When is the next Warren County Kentucky White Squirrel Arts Festival?
No date for a further edition is announced in the layers read. The most recent edition in the record is April 25, 2026, listed by a state magazine events layer and the convention-and-visitors-bureau calendar layer at White Squirrel Brewery. Watch the organiser’s own website and the convention-and-visitors-bureau calendar for the next April date.
Will the dates change?
The dates have already moved within April from year to year: a three-day weekend in late April for 2023 and 2024, then a single Saturday, April 26 in 2025 and April 25 in 2026. The venue has also narrowed from downtown Bowling Green to the Shake Rag District. A future edition will most likely fall in late April, but confirm the exact day and hours from the current year’s listings.
Four Aprils in, the festival has found its shape: a free, grassroots weekend of art, music, poetry and making in the Shake Rag District, named for the pale squirrels that make Bowling Green unmistakable.
