Nantucket Daffodil Festival: A Celebration of Spring

Every spring, the last weekend of April, over four million daffodils bloom across Nantucket and the island erupts in yellow. The Nantucket Daffodil Festival, organized by the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce, transforms the island into one of New England's most celebrated springtime gatherings, with a beloved antique car parade, a juried flower show, and a community spirit that reflects everything that makes Nantucket more than a summer destination.

Bernadette Meyer has spent more than twenty of those Daffy Weekends on Nantucket, and she will tell you the moment the first antique car turns onto Main Street still stops her in her tracks. Here she shares what the festival means to the island, how it began, and why there may be no better weekend to understand Nantucket as a place worth calling home.

Daffy Weekend at a Glance

• The Nantucket Daffodil Festival is held every year on the last weekend of April; the 2026 edition was the 50th Annual, taking place April 24 to 26.
• Over four million daffodils now bloom across the island each spring, the result of a half-century of planting by the Nantucket Garden Club and island schoolchildren.
• The weekend's centerpiece is the antique car parade from Main Street out to a tailgate picnic in Sconset, joined by the Garden Club's juried Daffodil Flower Show, the Daffy Hat Pageant, and the NiSHA Daffy Dog Parade.
• Daffy Weekend marks the unofficial start of the island's season, and the sense of community it reveals is part of what makes Nantucket special as a place to live.

How the Daffodil Festival began

The story began on May 2, 1975, when the Nantucket Garden Club, encouraged by member Jean MacAusland, organized the first Nantucket Daffodil Show. That debut show drew over 250 entries and was officially recognized by the American Daffodil Society; the Nantucket Board of Selectmen declared the week of April 28 to May 4 "Nantucket Daffodil Week." MacAusland, whose vision and energy drove the earliest years, was just getting started.

In 1978, she spearheaded an ambitious project: to plant one million daffodil bulbs around the island. The effort started with 30,000. The following year, MacAusland personally purchased eight tons of bulbs, which were planted that September with the help of community members and local organizations. With additional plantings every year since, and the natural spread of the hardy bulbs through Nantucket's sandy soil, the island now blooms with over four million daffodils each April. The Garden Club continues the tradition today, donating thousands of bulbs annually to be planted by island schoolchildren, who grow their own entries for the following spring's show.

The festival moved from May to late April in 1980 to better align with the bloom, and has grown steadily ever since. The antique car parade and 'Sconset tailgate, first held in 1978, became the weekend's signature tradition. By 1983, so many cars registered that the first nearly lapped the last.

The daffodil as a symbol

The daffodil is a natural fit for Nantucket. Associated with spring, renewal, and resilience, the flower mirrors the island's own character: hardy, unhurried, and built to last. It thrives in sandy soil, spreads naturally, and returns year after year without much tending, qualities that have made it the perfect emblem for a community that has always found a way through the long winters. That symbolism, optimism after hardship, is part of why the festival resonates so deeply with year-round islanders.

What happens during Daffy Weekend

The weekend offers a full range of events across the island, with several beloved traditions anchoring it each year.

The antique car parade is the centerpiece. Vintage vehicles, decorated in daffodils, assemble on Main Street before winding through downtown and out Milestone Road to Siasconset, where participants set up elaborate, often whimsically themed tailgate picnics on the village lawns. The spectacle draws an estimated 9,000 visitors to the island and is the image most associated with Daffy Weekend.

The Nantucket Garden Club's juried Daffodil Flower Show, sanctioned by the American Daffodil Society, brings together thousands of individually grown and arranged blooms with judges travelling from across the country. Alongside it, the Daffy Hat Pageant celebrates creative millinery in daffodil themes, the Children's Beach Bike Parade brings the youngest islanders into the festivities, and the NiSHA Daffy Dog Parade invites costumed pets to parade in support of the island's animal shelter. Shops, galleries, and restaurants across town join in with daffodil-inspired touches throughout the weekend.

The Nantucket Garden Club: at the heart of it all

The Nantucket Garden Club has been the living engine of the Daffodil Festival since its founding moment in 1975. Established in 1953 by a group passionate about gardening and preserving Nantucket's unique wildflowers, the Club has grown into one of the island's most important community institutions, shaping not only the festival but the character of the island itself. From maintaining the historic Hadwen House Garden to sponsoring the annual Daffodil Show, decorating the iconic Main Street fountain, and funding scholarships for the next generation of environmental stewards, the Garden Club's contributions reach far beyond the last weekend of April.

The daffodil planting project Jean MacAusland launched in 1978 was always a community act. It succeeded because of volunteers, schoolchildren, local organizations, and decades of collective commitment. That the island now blooms with over four million daffodils every spring is a testament to what Nantucket's community builds when it works together, and that is precisely the spirit the festival celebrates.

Why Daffy Weekend matters beyond the blooms

Daffy Weekend is the unofficial start of Nantucket's season. For many seasonal residents, it is the first weekend they return; for the island, it is the moment the year begins. But for those who know Nantucket well, it also offers something more: a clear view of the community beneath the summer surface.

The festival was built by islanders for islanders, and it shows. The schoolchildren entering the flower show, the volunteers running the parade, the families who have tailgated in 'Sconset for generations: these are the people who live here year-round, and this is their celebration. For anyone considering Nantucket as more than a summer destination, a weekend like this one may be more persuasive than any listing. Spring is also when Nantucket's real estate market reawakens, and the festival marks the front edge of that season. For more on the island's year-round appeal, see living on Nantucket, and for those weighing the quieter seasons as an opportunity to buy, the guide to buying in the off-season is a useful companion.

Where to stay for the Daffodil Festival

The festival draws visitors from across New England and beyond, and accommodation fills quickly, particularly for the core weekend. In-town inns, hotels, and bed and breakfasts are popular choices for their walkability to the events, while private vacation rentals offer the comfort of a home base for families or groups. Bernadette maintains a portfolio of exclusive vacation rentals across the island, from cozy in-town cottages to spacious retreats near the beaches, for those who prefer the space and character of a private home. Booking early is strongly advised.