Kerrville Events on October 24, 2026: Four Ways to Spend Saturday
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
On Saturday, October 24, 2026, four separate Kerrville events land on the same calendar square. The Kroc Center has a 5K at 8 a.m. Downtown has a street festival from 9 to 3. The Outdoor Painters Society holds its public reception at 4. Kerrville-Schreiner Park runs a state championship mountain bike weekend the whole time. On paper they compete with each other. Lay them out by start time and they mostly hand off, one to the next, from breakfast to last call.
The handoff downtown is planned. The Water Street Festival and Paint Kerrville were linked from the festival's first year. The arts center hosting the painters sits on one of the two streets the festival closes to cars. Treat the day as one sequence and you'll get through most of it.
Here's how the published schedules stack up for October 24:
The morning overlap is the only real squeeze. A family can run the 5K, stay for an hour of Kroctober and still reach Water Street with most of the festival left. Getting there by 1 p.m. for the kids' parade lines up with Kroctober's earliest listed end time.
The Water Street Festival closes Water Street and Earl Garrett Street to vehicles, making a pedestrian- and pet-friendly corridor through downtown. The Kerr Arts & Cultural Center is at 228 Earl Garrett St. That puts the gallery hosting Paint Kerrville inside the festival's closed footprint.
The setup goes back to the first festival. The inaugural Water Street Festival was held October 25, 2025, as a downtown block party celebrating Kerrville's Texas Cultural District designation. It opened at the corner of Water and Earl Garrett with a blessing and ribbon cutting, and organizers tied it to the Paint Kerrville event running at the same time. The Kerrville Daily Times reported that "hundreds" of adults and children came, though it gave no exact count.
This year the painters are part of the festival itself. The Kerr County Lead reports that KACC's outdoor plein air painters will move through the festival making live work. The Outdoor Painters Society runs its 6th Annual OPS Membership Paint Out Competition & Exhibition from October 19 through October 24, 2026, and KACC hosts the wet-paint show and sale. Saturday is the last day of that paint-out week. A canvas started on a downtown corner in the morning could be hanging at the 4 p.m. reception, a short walk from where it was painted.
KACC's 2026 calendar lists a VIP reception on Friday, October 23, at 5 p.m., before the public reception on Saturday. The schedule for this year's quick-paint or quick-draw events hasn't been published yet, so check KACC before planning around one.
Admission to the festival is free, and the official site lists no wristband or tasting fee for attendees. The food and drink map leans on downtown businesses that are already open:
The day also includes a farmers' market, a kids' activity center and free booths for local nonprofits. No 2026 musicians have been named yet. Parking is free in the downtown garage and on nearby streets, with reserved ADA spaces. No shuttle has been announced.
Last year's festival included live music. Delayne Sigerman, the event chair and a Kerrville city councilmember, told the Kerr County Lead that local musician Corey Weaver played in front of Francisco's.
The Mountain Bike Festival at Kerrville-Schreiner Park, 2385 Bandera Highway, is the USA Cycling Texas State Championship and the fourth and final race of the Texas Fall Cup, held October 24 and 25. It doesn't follow the downtown clock. Saturday is the festival day, with on-site registration, a free Kids Cup and a first-time racers clinic. Sign-up for both of those is on-site only. The cross-country race is Sunday, and online registration for it stays open until 6:30 a.m. that morning.
Spectators get an easy way to watch. Organizers note that the course can be followed along the paved Park Road, so someone on a bike can see a racer several times from the viewing route. In 2026 the course runs clockwise. The trails are open for pre-riding every day from sunrise to sunset. The park charges a day-use fee, and organizers point to the $55 yearly pass for anyone planning several visits. All campsites and RV sites on the Hillside are held for festival participants, and bookings go through the park office at 830-257-7300.
Sunday has its own food plan. The Conchitas Mexican Fusion Cuisine food truck will be on-site October 25 until the food runs out. Families who split up on Saturday, with one rider at the park and everyone else downtown, can all meet at the park on Sunday.
The race site also gives a status update on the park after the July 15-16, 2026, flood. The RV sites are open, but the riverfront cabins aren't available yet. The site also notes that the Camp Meeting Creek bridge on the River Trail still needs replacing, and a section on the trail's west end may not be open by festival weekend. Anyone thinking of riding the River Trail from the park toward downtown on Saturday should plan for that gap.
Sigerman has been direct about why the festival is going ahead this fall. On The Lead Live's Nonprofit Week, she said community events are part of keeping downtown businesses open during recovery.
"Once we get people back in their homes, we really are going to have to think about how we keep businesses alive. Those tourist dollars help everybody."
She also said, "We can't ignore the fact we still have to do a lot of cleanup, but we also want to keep our business doors open." The festival map reflects that. The restaurants and galleries on it are businesses that operate on Water and Earl Garrett all year, and Saturday puts more people at their doors.
The day winds down from there. The Paint Kerrville reception starts at 4 p.m. on Earl Garrett. The Rocky Horror shadow cast plays Arcadia Live that night. Trailhead Beer Garden at Schreiner University is open from noon to 11 p.m. on Saturdays. Its posted October events stop at October 10, so an October 24 lineup may still be announced.
Days like October 24 are a big part of what our clients love about Kerrville, and a lot of out-of-town guests first see the town at a festival like this one. If friends or family are visiting for Water Street and start asking what it's like to live here year-round, Kelly Jo Gonzalez is happy to give them the local's version. Start Your Hill Country Journey.
Stay up to date on the latest real estate trends.
As your real estate agent, Kelly Jo Gonzalez is committed to making the home buying and selling process as smooth as possible. She will listen to your needs and criteria in finding you your “Dream House” and will be dedicated to keeping you informed throughout each step.
Kelly Jo Gonzalez
321 Hale Street, Fredericksburg, TX 78624 1002 River Road, Suite 300 Boerne, TX 78006