If you are looking for things to do in Bastrop County, Texas, you have come to the right porch. This is our running, neighbor-to-neighbor guide to the whole county, from the pines of Bastrop and the smoke of Elgin to the front-porch calm of Smithville, Cedar Creek, Paige, and McDade. We keep it stocked with the recurring markets and live-music nights you can count on every week, the big annual festivals worth marking on the calendar, the theaters and breweries that reliably host a good time, and the state parks and river trails that make the Lost Pines such a good excuse to get outside. Every event and venue below links to the organizer’s own website so you can confirm details and plan fast, and so your dollars stay local. Dates shift a little year to year, so we describe timing the way locals actually remember it (second Saturday of July, fourth weekend of June) and update the page as organizers post their 2026 calendars.

In this guide

Bastrop

Bastrop is the county seat and the busiest calendar of the bunch, with a walkable historic downtown wrapped around the Colorado River. It is the kind of place where you can hit a farmers market in the morning, catch a play at night, and still have time for a hike in between.

Recurring events in Bastrop

  • Bastrop 1832 Farmers Market runs Saturday mornings year-round on Chestnut Street, with local produce, eggs, honey, and makers. bastrop1832farmersmarket.com
  • First Friday Art Walk takes over Main Street on the first Friday evening of each month, with galleries open late, live music, and shops staying lit. It is one of the easiest, friendliest nights out in the county. Downtown Bastrop First Friday Art Walk
  • Live music lands most weekends at Neighbor’s Kitchen & Yard, a riverside pizza kitchen and music venue, and at The Grace Miller (Gracie’s), where the patio hosts bands on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday lunch.
  • The Bastrop Opera House has staged live theater since 1889 and runs a full season of musicals, plays, and community productions. Check the show calendar before you go. bastropoperahouse.org

Annual festivals in Bastrop

  • Bastrop Juneteenth Celebration (June): the county’s longtime Juneteenth weekend, with a parade down Chestnut Street and community gatherings, held the third weekend of June. Details post on the City of Bastrop events page.
  • Bastrop Homecoming & Rodeo (summer): one of Central Texas’ most cherished traditions, with rodeo events, a parade, live music, and small-town charm across several days.
  • Lost Pines Christmas and River of Lights (December): the holiday centerpiece, when the June Hill Pape Riverwalk turns into a half-mile of light displays and downtown fills up for the tree lighting, Merry on Main, and the Christmas parade. Watch the City of Bastrop events page for the schedule.

Outdoors in and around Bastrop

  • Bastrop State Park protects a stretch of the Lost Pines, the westernmost stand of loblolly pines in the country, with hiking, cabins, and the scenic Park Road 1C connecting it to Buescher.
  • Lake Bastrop North and South Shore parks, run by the LCRA, offer swimming, paddling, fishing piers, and even lakeside mini golf at the South Shore. lcraparks.com
  • Fisherman’s Park is the put-in for the El Camino Real Paddling Trail, a roughly six-mile float down the Colorado River toward Tahitian Village.

Local favorites and hidden gems in Bastrop

The Lost Pines Art Center on Chestnut Street is often called Bastrop’s best-kept secret, with rotating gallery shows, working studios, and classes. It pairs nicely with a slow wander through the downtown historic district, where the 1800s storefronts and the old Colorado River bridge are worth the stroll on their own.

Elgin

Elgin wears the title “Sausage Capital of Texas” with pride, and the smoke from its barbecue joints is half the reason people make the drive. It is a proud railroad town with a tidy brick downtown and a genuinely fun events calendar.

Recurring events in Elgin

  • Elgin Farmers Market gathers local growers and makers downtown on regular market days. Confirm the current day and hours on the city’s calendar. elgintexas.gov
  • Aviator Pizza & Drafthouse on Highway 290 pours more than 50 Texas craft beers and wines and is a reliable family-friendly hangout with a big patio.

Annual festivals in Elgin

  • Western Days (June): a beloved three-day celebration held the fourth weekend of June, with a grand parade, live music, food, and vendors. Elgin Chamber of Commerce
  • Hogeye Festival (October): Elgin’s signature downtown street party on the fourth Saturday of October, with three stages of music, a BBQ pork cook-off, the crowning of King Hog and Queen Sowpreme, a children’s costume pet parade, a car show, and plenty of “hogalicious” fun. City of Elgin Hogeye page

You can see the full lineup of city celebrations on the Elgin annual and community events page.

Local favorites and hidden gems in Elgin

The Elgin Depot Museum, housed in the historic 1903 Union Depot at Main and Depot, tells the town’s railroad and “cotton was king” story and is typically open Friday and Saturday afternoons. And no visit is complete without a barbecue pilgrimage to the town’s legendary smokehouses, which have been feeding Central Texas for well over a century.

Smithville

If Smithville looks like a movie set, that is because it has been one more than once. This walkable railroad town along the Colorado River leans into its charm with festivals, a Sunday market, and a brewery with a view.

Recurring events in Smithville

  • Smithville Market meets every Sunday at James H. Long Railroad Park off Main and 1st, with fresh produce, handmade goods, live music, and a playground for the kids. Hours run 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. September through May and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the summer. smithvillemarket.com
  • Smithville Brewing Company is the county’s homegrown brewery, with craft beer, a full kitchen, a dog-friendly yard, and live music on weekends.

Annual festivals in Smithville

  • Smithville Jamboree (April): a spring tradition since 1958, with three days of live music, a parade, carnival, livestock show, and food, centered on Riverbend Park. jamboreesmithville.com
  • Airing of the Quilts and Tour of Homes (November): each fall the Smithville Stitchers Quilt Guild drapes downtown in handmade quilts for a day celebrating craft and community, held the second Saturday of November.
  • Festival of Lights and Lighted Parade (December): a hometown holiday kickoff on the first Saturday of December. Details post on the City of Smithville visitor page.

Local favorites and hidden gems in Smithville

The Smithville Heritage Society keeps a century-old house museum at 602 Main Street, usually open Tuesday mornings or by appointment, where volunteers are happy to walk you through the town’s history. Just north of town, Buescher State Park offers a quieter, less-crowded slice of the Lost Pines with a spring-fed lake, easy trails, and some of the best birding in the area.

Cedar Creek

Cedar Creek sits on the county’s western edge, closest to Austin, and it punches above its weight for family outings and nature. There is no dense downtown here, but there are some genuinely fun anchors worth the drive.

Things to do in Cedar Creek

  • McKinney Roughs Nature Park is an LCRA gem where four ecosystems meet along the Colorado River, with more than 17 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding, plus some of the best birdwatching in Central Texas.
  • The Dinosaur Park is an outdoor museum of life-size dinosaur replicas along a shaded nature trail, with a fossil dig, playground, and picnic areas. It is a reliable win with kids.
  • Cedar Creek Park, Bastrop County’s first county park, spreads across 46 acres with sports fields, a big pavilion, walking trails, and river access.

Local favorites and hidden gems in Cedar Creek

The Capital of Texas Zoo is a small, hands-on animal park near Cedar Creek that surprises first-time visitors, with big cats, kangaroos, and a petting area. It is an easy add-on to a Dinosaur Park day.

Paige

Paige is the quiet one, a small unincorporated community out east along Highway 290 where the country roads and the pines do most of the talking. You come here to slow down, not to chase a packed calendar, and that is exactly the appeal.

Things to do around Paige

Paige’s biggest seasonal draw sits right on its doorstep. Each spring, the wooded acreage near town comes alive with the Sherwood Forest Faire, the Renaissance festival that unfolds across the McDade and Paige stretch of the Lost Pines from late February into April. Beyond that, Paige rewards the wanderer: farm stands, country churches, and back roads made for a Sunday drive, with Buescher State Park and the Smithville and Bastrop calendars all a short hop away.

McDade

McDade is tiny and proud of it, a historic railroad town that throws one of the longest-running festivals in Texas and hosts a full-blown medieval kingdom each spring.

Annual festivals in McDade

  • McDade Watermelon Festival (July): always the second Saturday of July, this beloved summer tradition brings a parade, watermelon eating and seed-spitting contests, a car show, live music, a 5K, a BBQ cook-off, and even a riding-mower rodeo. mcdadetexas.com
  • Sherwood Forest Faire (late February through April): one of the state’s most immersive Renaissance festivals, transforming 25 wooded acres near McDade into a medieval village with jousting, falconry, artisan markets, and more than 150 performances a day across weekends. sherwoodforestfaire.com

Local favorites and hidden gems in McDade

Outside of festival season, McDade is all small-town texture: a historic downtown, the local museum and community happenings organized by longtime residents, and that unhurried pace that makes the drive out feel like a proper getaway.

Coming up soon

Here is a quick look at what is on the horizon across Bastrop County, Texas from mid-summer through the end of 2026. Confirm exact dates on each organizer’s site before you head out.

  • Bastrop Homecoming & Rodeo, later this summer, with rodeo, a parade, and live music in historic Bastrop.
  • Elgin Hogeye Festival, the fourth Saturday of October, downtown Elgin’s big street party.
  • Smithville Airing of the Quilts, the second Saturday of November, when downtown gets draped in handmade quilts.
  • Smithville Festival of Lights (first Saturday of December) and Bastrop’s Lost Pines Christmas and River of Lights (December), the county’s two big holiday celebrations.
  • Year-round: the Bastrop 1832, Elgin, and Smithville farmers markets, Bastrop’s monthly First Friday Art Walk, and live music most weekends at Neighbor’s, Gracie’s, and Smithville Brewing.

Explore Bastrop County by town

Dig deeper into each community with our local guides: Bastrop, Elgin, Smithville, Cedar Creek, Paige, and McDade. Prefer to browse by category? See Things to Do, Restaurants, Places to Stay, and Shopping in Bastrop County, Texas.

We refresh this guide as organizers post their calendars, so bookmark it and check back before you plan a weekend. Want the shortlist delivered to your inbox every Thursday? Join the free Bastrop Current newsletter for the week’s best events, and browse our local business directory when you are ready to support the shops, restaurants, and makers who make Bastrop County, Texas such a good place to explore.