Our festivals and outdoor events are open to the public and free to enter! These events take place at our outdoor amphitheater located behind the Mauldin Cultural Center and often feature music, food, fun activities, and more. Enjoy nights of live music & dancing with Amp’d Up Fridays; the best BBQ in the southeast with SOOIE. Mauldin’s BBQ Cook-off; local art with our Mauldin Public Art Trail; and so much more!
Check out our current Festival Season, or visit our FAQS to see answers to popular questions.
Mauldin Blues & Jazz Festival
Saturday | April 26, 2025
2 p.m. – 9 p.m.
FREE ENTRY
Join us for a weekend of Bites, Blues & Jazz! This annual event will feature a variety of your favorite restaurants and food trucks, complete with live blues and jazz music. Sink your teeth into the tastiest food around, wash it down with cold beer and wine, and groove to some live blues and jazz bands!
Amp’d Up Fridays
Fridays, May 23 – July 25, 2025
6:30 – 9:30 p.m. | FREE ENTRY
Get Amp’d Up at Mauldin’s favorite summer concert series! Enjoy live music from a variety of bands featuring genres like beach and pop to rock, country and more. All shows are free, so bring your dancing shoes, lawn chairs, and blankets – it’s gonna be a long, fun, Southern night!
Enjoy beer & wine, food trucks, and more. Outside food & beverages prohibited. Must be 21+ to consume alcohol; ID & wristband required.
Chautauqua History Comes Alive Festival
Wednesday | June 11, 2025 – Meet “Babe Ruth”
Thursday | June 12, 2025 – Meet “Albert Einstein”
7:30 – 9:00 p.m. | FREE ENTRY
Get ready to laugh, cry and flat out have a great time at this festival of non-stop live history and fun for the whole family. Shows are performed in costume by nationally acclaimed historical interpreters. Step back in time and meet these brilliant American game changers – hear their stories – ask them how their world changed.
Juneteenth: A Cultural Celebration
Saturday | June 21, 2025
5 – 9 p.m. | FREE ENTRY
Celebrate the day in 1865 when, in Galveston, Texas, many enslaved African Americans were informed of the end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. Juneteenth is an opportunity to honor and celebrate Black history, heritage and culture through live music, dance, spoken word and local history. There will be over 30 market vendors, food and kids activities to make this a wonderful day for celebration!
SOOIE. | Mauldin BBQ Cook-Off
Friday | September 12, 2025
6 – 9 p.m.
Saturday | September 13, 2025
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
FREE ENTRY
The Mauldin BBQ Cook-off features cookers from all over the Southeast competing to bring the best BBQ to Mauldin. The festival opens Friday night with our Anything Butt competition, where Participating Cookers serve anything BUTT their BBQ to pique your tastebuds. Sliders, grilled chicken, smoked cobbler—the only way to know what’s cooking is to come try it for yourself. Saturday features the main event, a BBQ Cook-off competition with a panel of certified BBQ Tasters from the South Carolina Barbeque Association. The public will also have a chance to cast their vote for the best BBQ and the winner of the People’s Choice Award. Paired with live music and family fun, this can’t-miss festival is the perfect pig-out.
Friday Night Flicks
Fridays, October 3 – 24, 2025
Movies begin at dusk | FREE ENTRY
Grab your popcorn and head to the Mauldin Outdoor Amphitheater every Friday in October for a new outdoor movie series! Bring your blankets or lawn chairs and relax under the stars as we feature a different film each week.
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A Merry Mauldin Christmas
Thursday, December 4, 2025
5 – 8 p.m. | FREE ENTRY
’Twas the start of December, when all through Mauldin
The season was changing, and Christmas was callin’.
The City was decorated, glistening with might,
Knowing the holidays would soon bring delight.
Make it A Merry Mauldin Christmas and enjoy an evening of live holiday music, a holiday market, pictures with Santa, the annual tree lighting, and some jolly extras that will help make your spirits bright!
Public Art Trail
April 26, 2025 – Sculpture unveiling “Bonsai Clouds” by Carey Morton
FREE ENTRY
Mauldin’s Public Art Trail seeks to beautify the community and support South Carolina artists. A new work is commissioned each year to fill one of the nine trail sites lining the perimeter of the Mauldin Outdoor Amphitheater.
Are you interested in becoming the next artist to join the Mauldin Public Art Trail? Stay tuned for when submissions open for 2025!