Beaver Dam Pepper Festival

Celebrate a piece of local history at the 13th Annual Beaver Dam Pepper Festival, held Saturday, September 12, 2026, in Beaver Dam. The festival honors the Beaver Dam Pepper, a unique heirloom variety whose seeds were brought to the community from Hungary in the late 1800s and passed from generation to generation. Today, the pepper that bears the city's name is celebrated for its mild bite and its connection to Beaver Dam's agricultural heritage—and each year, the festival brings that story to life through food, fun and a few deliciously unexpected uses for a pepper.

Come hungry! Festival favorites include apple-pepper pancakes, apple-pepper pie and Beaver Dam Pepper brats, along with Beaver Dam Pepper Beer from Potosi Brewing Company and Beaver Dam Pepper Wine and wine slushies from Edwin Brix Vineyard. Spend the day enjoying live music, vendor booths, the Chili Cookoff, Longest Pepper Contest, square dancing and plenty of family entertainment—including Dinosaur Dimensions, featuring realistic dinosaur puppets, meet-and-greets, strolling dinosaurs and stage shows. It's a one-of-a-kind celebration of local flavor, history and hometown pride—and proof that Beaver Dam has a pepper all its own.