About the Central Valley Lebanese Festival

From a parish gathering to a Central Valley tradition

The Central Valley Lebanese Festival began the way the best community events do — with a few families, a handful of recipes passed down from teta's kitchen, and a folding table in a church hall in Stockton. The Lebanese-American community of San Joaquin County has deep roots here, woven into the Valley's farms, restaurants, and small businesses for generations, and the festival started as a simple way to share that heritage with the neighbors next door.

What began as a modest parish gathering has grown, year after year, into one of the largest cultural celebrations in the Central Valley. Today the festival fills a full weekend with the aroma of shawarma on the grill, the sound of the oud and the derbake, and the energy of a crowd that comes from across the region. In 2026 we mark our 18th year — a milestone that says more about the community that keeps coming back than about any one of us who helps put it on.

Through all that growth, the heart of the festival hasn't changed: Lebanese hospitality. Whether it's your first time or your eighteenth, you're family for the weekend.

A regional crowd, all weekend long

The festival pulls from across the Central Valley and beyond. Families pack the grounds from Stockton, Modesto, Lodi, Tracy, and Manteca, with plenty of visitors making the easy drive from the greater Sacramento area too.

• Food lovers who plan their whole Saturday around the menu and try a little of everything.
• Makers'-market shoppers who come specifically to buy handmade jewelry, art, and gifts.
• Lebanese-American families reconnecting with heritage, food, and friends across generations.
• Curious neighbors who heard about it and want to experience Lebanese culture for the first time.

For vendors, that mix is the whole opportunity: an engaged, generous, ready-to-buy audience that stays for hours. See why so many sellers come back in our Food Vendors and Craft Vendors guides.

Who runs the festival — and why

The Central Valley Lebanese Festival is organized each year by the Central Valley Lebanese Festival Committee, a group of volunteers, families, and community members who give their time so that this tradition keeps going. There's no big corporate machine behind it — just neighbors who believe Stockton is richer when its cultures are shared openly.

Proceeds from the festival support local cultural and community programs in San Joaquin County. When you visit, shop, eat, or exhibit, you're helping fund the very thing that brings everyone back the next September.

Interested in standing alongside the festival as a partner? Our local sponsors make so much of this possible — learn more on the Sponsors page.