The Ostrich Festival in Chandler AZ is a fantastic way to spend the day if you’re looking for some family-friendly entertainment. Even if you don’t have kids, the nostalgia of carnival rides, games, festival food, and live music is something that everyone can enjoy.
History of the Ostrich Festival
Most people who go in recent years will probably ask, why an ostrich? Ostrich ranching in Chandler used to be a part of Chandler’s robust agricultural history. Dr. A.J. Chandler, the first veterinary surgeon in Arizona territory and the city’s founder, owned one of the largest ostrich herds in the early 1900’s. Ostrich feathers embellished women’s fashion and the sale of top-quality feathers was quite lucrative.
In 1989, the Chandler Chamber of Commerce joined with the City of Chandler to create an event for the community that had a unique twist on the typical festival. Ostrich races and ostrich themed activities were the star of the show, but the festival also featured national and local musical talent, arts and crafts, dance troupes, and more. Ostrich races were stopped several years ago, but there is still an exhibit to see the distinctive birds.
Where is the Ostrich Festival?
The Ostrich Festival used to be held in Downtown Chandler, but in 2004 it was moved to Tumbleweed Park, located off McQueen and Germann roads.
Parking is available, but you will need to purchase a separate parking pass. Otherwise, there’s a place for pick up/drop off if you prefer to rideshare.
Food
One of the things that I like most about the Ostrich Festival is that Chandler goes a great job of encouraging local restaurants to set up food trucks for the event. My stomach does not do great with greasy fair food, so I was on the hunt for a more elevated dinner experience! There are a ton of food vendors, so I recommend walking around to scope out all the offerings before making your selection.
I settled on the Monkey Burger from the Ginger Monkey Gastropub, and it was so delicious! The burger was perfectly cooked on a brioche bun with bacon onion jam, arugula, garlic aioli and white cheddar cheese. The hand cut fries were incredibly tasty as well, so we got extra to share. I’ve not been to the brick & mortar restaurant, but with how good this burger was I’ll have to go soon. As a bonus, with ordering from the Mobile Monkey food truck they included a coupon for a 1₵ draft or a free desert. Yum!
Our next stop was the beer garden for some drinks. San Tan Brewing had a selection of beers available, and my husband got the Devil’s Ale, which he enjoyed. I’m not the biggest fan of hops, so I opted for Cider Corp’s Mango Foxtrot, which I love. It’s a cider that’s not too sweet but big on flavor.
To finish out the night, we stopped at Le Crepe AZ for dessert. I absolutely love crepes, and when there’s Nutella and fruit involved, I can’t resist! We split their Fruitella crepe, which had Nutella and bananas, and of course had to upgrade to include strawberries as well. The more fruit, the better!
Rides
We arrived at the festival a bit later, so we didn’t go on many rides. The wristband for the event entry and food/beverage purchases is not the same as the one for rides, which confused us to begin with but probably would have been more obvious if we paid attention to the information tents.
There are additional kiosks set up to purchase a ride card or wristband, on which you load your tickets. Tickets are $1 each, but each ride is somewhere between 3-10 tickets. The rides we were most interested in were on the more expensive end, so it basically worked out that if we planned to go on more than three rides, it was more economical to purchase an unlimited ride wristband. However, since we were mostly there in the evening, we just purchased our tickets a la carte.
We decided to go on the Vertigo swings, which was right near the east entrance of the festival. It had the longest line of out all the other rides, but the line moved quickly, and we maybe waited for a little under 20 minutes. The swings rose high above the park, so we got a great view of the entirety of the festival.
In addition to the main carnival, there is also a family carnival section that’s perfect for kids. Our daughter is still a little too small for the rides, but we had a great time walking around and watching some of the other kids go on the rides. Once she’s a little bigger she’ll be right up there with them!
Entertainment
The Ostrich Festival had three different stages, the Main Stage, the Community Stage, and the Family Stage, all which had a variety of shows going on throughout the day. In addition, there were also several attractions like SRP’s Ostrich Experience, Chandler Ninja Warrior Zone, duck races, PAW Patrol and lots more. To get the most out of the Ostrich Festival entertainment, I would recommend getting the map of the Ostrich Festival which shows all the event locations as well as the event lineup.
My husband loves the Beach Boys, so we had to see them on the Main Stage as part of Friday’s lineup. However, the Ostrich Festival does a fantastic job of drawing in a variety of popular music artists on all nights. If you can only go one day, visit the Ostrich Festival’s main site here and plan your visit for who you’d like most to see.
Have you ever been to the Ostrich Festival? Let me know what your favorite part was in the comments below!
