Brewster Blooms During Its Festival

9 May, 2025 – BREWSTER, MA – Brewster's daffodils sprouted the festival Brewster In Bloom.

What is Brewster In Bloom?

08 May, 2025 – BREWSTER, MA Friends Susan and Annie are chatting like friends do, sitting close together under  one of Brewster’s blossoming cherry trees. The falling cherry petals means that early spring is behind us and summer is just around the corner and today they are enjoying Brewster's annual spring event: Brewster In Bloom. The annual festival with its parade floats and handmade local crafts has visitors setting up camp all along Main Street.

“It’s a great all-American fun event. The kids love it, they throw them candy. It’s really great,” said Susan.

“Yeah, everyone's in a good mood. Everyone's loving the town. it's a perfect event,” added Annie.

Every spring Brewster's Main Street is lined with blossoming cherry trees, tulips and daffodils. This year's annual Brewster In Bloom took place for the 39th year May 2-4.

How did the festival start?

“Well, it started in 1985 when a group of business people from Brewster decided that they needed to figure out a way to brighten up the town after winter when it's so cold and damp and gray all the time,” said Kyle Hinkle, Executive Director of Brewster Chamber of Commerce, organizer of the event.

“And so they went along Main Street and then sold daffodil bulbs to any of the homeowners and businesses along Main Street who were willing to buy them and plant them. So in the spring in 1986, all those blooms came up and of course then Brewster was like cloaked in yellow. And that's how Brewster In Bloom got started.”

What is the art show?

One part of today's festival is a traditional fine arts and craft show, which HInkle said had a steady stream of attendees strolling among the 86 different vendors. People traveled wide and far for the show.

“That's a juried show, so it's high quality, which is wonderful. If someone is new to the show and they haven't been at it before, then their work goes before a jury of two artists who will evaluate it."

What is Brewster In Bloom's parade?

An estimate of a total of 5,000 visitors came to the crafts show, but around midday on Sunday, the market area emptied of consumers. It was time for the parade. More than 40 floats competed for titles. The theme this year?

“‘Let's take a hike," said Hinkle. "We've had a lot of sea themed events over the last few years, and this time we decided let's keep it land bound this time around, which was good. We had some really interesting floats."

How doe the festival benefit the community?

Brewster In Bloom is funded mostly by sponsorship money and Hinkle says the influx of visitors spills out into Brewster's local businesses. “And the fact that we have a very attractive arts and craft show that attracts a lot of people and then they spill out into the rest of the community and they spend their money in the restaurants, they spend their money in the retail and they stay in the Inns and the B&Bs," said Hinkel. "We definitely get an influx of people that weekend.”

Brewster In Bloom has loyal visitors and participants, returning year after year to see the parade and art items and the festival itself remains true to its traditions. But for the big 40 coming next year, the Chamber of Commerce would like to turn things up just a little. 

“We're still in the works of looking at that and how we want to promote it and what we want to do or how we want to change something that might brighten it up a little bit,” said Hinkle. “So that will be one of the first things that we do when we sit down to start planning.”