Stardew Valley Desert Festival Guide: Start Time, Location & Activities

Stardew Valley's 1.6 update added a slew of new content to the game, from a new farm type to multiple new festivals such as the Desert Festival. The Desert Festival is an event that takes place in the middle of the desert, just as its name implies, allowing players to dive into tons of new themed activities in exchange for rewards.

Here's everything you need to know about the new Desert Festival, including when it takes place, all the activities there, what rewards you'll get for completing them, and what villagers you can expect to attend.

When Is The Desert Festival?

The Desert Festival takes place every year on Spring 15th, 16th, and 17th. The festival officially begins at 10 am, though players can enter the desert prior to the start time on all festival days except the last, when they must wait for Pam to arrive.

To access the Desert Festival, players will need to be in the desert and thus must have repaired the Bus.

All Desert Festival Activities

There are numerous festival activities that take place throughout the day and night during this event. You can earn numerous rewards in exchange for completing these activities, from Calico Eggs - the event currency - to new cosmetics or a great meal.

The Races

During the Desert Festival, races take place throughout the day between some interesting competitors: King Sting (a scorpion), Speed Rooster (a small chicken), Boot (a literal boot), Escargot (a snail), and Cactus Crawler (a cactus).

You can place a bet on any of the competitors you'd like, and if they win, you'll get 20 Calico Eggs. You can even fix the race by talking to the shady-looking man nearby, but this doesn't guarantee you a win, instead it simply guarantees that one of the two competitors that you haven't picked will lose, greatly increasing your chances from 1 in 3 to 1 in 2.

The betting is available multiple times throughout the day, until 11 PM.

Emily's Outfit Services

For each day of the event, players can get a brand-new outfit to celebrate the festival by approaching Emily and Sandy in their giant cardboard box. Emily will "read your aura" and give you a suitablle outfit. Players can switch back to their original outfit by going to their inventory.

The Chef

The Chef can make a delicious meal for the player, with each meal giving the player different effects. You'll get to pick what you'd like for your first meal, but when you come back for subsequent meals, the chef will choose for you.

The player can also eat multiple different meals, as there are several available. You won't need to worry about your hunger depleting throughout this festival, but unfortunately, you can't bring any of his dishes home with you.

Fishing & Adventuring Quests

Throughout the event, Willy offers fishing quests each day; completing them will reward players with Calico Eggs. To complete these quests, you'll need to fish up Desert Fish or find certain item around the festival.

TheAdventurers Guildalso offers adventuring quests that reward Calico Eggs in return for slaying monsters or fighting through the Skull Caverns. The more levels

Scholar

The Scholar will ask the player to answer some questions to test their knowledge; if you get them all right, you'll be rewarded with 50 Calico Eggs. If you get the answers wrong on day one, don't fret, as you can re-try this for each day of the festival. Once you get all of the answers right, though, you'll need to wait until next year's festival to get another reward.

The questions are randomized, but here are a few possible questions you could receive and their answers:

• Where are we? Calico Desert
• What day is Pierre's store closed? Wednesdays
• How much does a pig cost? 16,000g
• How many trash cans are there in Pelican Town? 8
• What is the date of the season's end? 28th
• When does the Apricot tree bear fruit? Spring
• What is George's last name? Mullner
• How many steps have you taken? Answer depends on your exact step count

All Desert Festival Shops

Calico Egg Merchant

The Calico Egg Merchant sells a variety of items in return for Calico Eggs:

• Mystery Box - 20 Calico Eggs
• Mummy Mask - 120 Calico Eggs
• Blue Bow -  50 Calico Eggs
• Dark Velvet Bow - 75 Calico Eggs
• Mega Bomb - 15 Calico Eggs
• Mixed Seeds - 5 Calico Eggs
• Eggplant Parmesan - 10 Calico Eggs
• Desert Table - 25 Calico Eggs
• Desert Chair - 20 Calico Eggs
• Decorative Barrel - 10 Calico Eggs
• Woodcutter's Weekly - 100 Calico Eggs

Villager Shops

Many villagers also set up shops during the Desert Festival including:

Travelling Cart

The Travelling Cart features a randomized stock each day, offering a variety of items from both its Standard and Special Stock. The Standard Stock includes various cooked foods, crops, forgeables, and seeds, while the Special Stock can include Rare Seeds, Rarecrow #4, Coffee Bean, or even the Wedding Ring Recipe in multiplayer. 

Free Cactus

The 'Free Cactus' stand is less of a shop and more of an outright freebie. If you approach the stand that says "Free Cactis," you'll be rewarded with a free decorative cactus to commemorate the occasion!

You can only get one cactus each year, but there are multiple different cactuses with different colors and designs, so be sure to come back and grab another one during your next Desert Festival.