For seven and a half decades, the Ox Roast has been a Riverside Park event with a parade attached. The 80th edition, running Friday, August 14 through Sunday, August 16, 2026, quietly changes that. The organizers have stitched the festival into the downtown dining strip rather than penning it inside the park, and the practical effect is that the two blocks between Bridge Street and Riverside Park now function as one continuous venue for three days. If you have lived here a while, that is the shift worth planning around.

What Changed On The Program

Two additions do most of the work. The first is the Street Social, which opens Friday afternoon on Bridge Street and pours craft beer and wine from downtown businesses alongside food trucks. The new Street Social sells drinks from local downtown businesses and a variety of food trucks, which means the sidewalk in front of places like Bridge Street Social and Looking Glass Brewing Co. becomes the festival, not a walk to the festival. The second is Funday Sunday at Riverside, a full third day of programming that historically fizzled after the parade.

The other headline is the drone show. A drone show is scheduled for Saturday, August 15 at 10:00 PM in downtown DeWitt, which is a departure from the traditional dusk fireworks over the Looking Glass River. Fireworks are still on the schedule at dusk, but the late-night drone piece is what people will be crossing the bridge for. Set your expectations accordingly: the sightlines are downtown, not the park.

And the Arts Festival has grown. The 80th Annual DeWitt Ox Roast adds Funday Sunday at Riverside, a Michigan-based Arts Festival, and new live entertainment to the parade and carnival tradition. If you skipped the Arts Festival in prior years because it felt like a handful of tents, this year is a different animal.

The Weekend At A Glance

A new carnival from Wade Shows brings rides, games, and fair food to downtown DeWitt, and if the past pattern holds you will want to buy carnival access ahead of time. All-day access passes purchased online in advance save $10 each. That is a real number, not a marketing rounding: two adults and two kids equals $40 back in your pocket for later.

Friday: The Case For Arriving Early

The Street Social's 4:00 PM start is deceptive. If you show up at 6:00, you are behind the crowd that walked over from work. The math is simple. Bridge Street is narrow, the food trucks anchor the north end, and the drink pours from downtown businesses anchor the south. By dinner, the pinch point is roughly in front of the bakery block.

Two moves that work:

• Eat first, drink second. Have a proper dinner at 5:00 at a sit-down spot before the sidewalk clogs. Bridge Street Social's menu leans on comfort-influenced dishes with seasonal ingredients like pasta, mushroom ragu, and shrimp meatballs, with only one burger on the whole menu. That is not a festival meal. Book a table, then step out into the Street Social with an appetite for a beer flight, not a taco.
• Reverse it. Start with a food truck taco standing up, then land at The Draft House, a DeWitt fixture since 1982 known for its Olive Burger and rotating craft beer, when the sidewalk gets loud. Draft House opens at 4:00 PM Friday and pours 16 rotating taps focused on Michigan breweries, which is the right endpoint for a Friday that started with a plastic cup.

Skip Draft House on Sunday and Monday. It is closed both days.

Saturday: The Parade Is The Easy Part

The parade at 10:00 AM is the most predictable slice of the weekend. Stake out a curb by 9:30, done. The harder call is the twelve hours between parade and drone show.

Here is where the layout change matters. In prior years the carnival ran and the park hosted vendors and there was not much reason to leave either zone. This year, with the Street Social live all afternoon and the Arts Festival expanded, the walking loop is roughly: park in the morning, downtown midday, back to the park for fireworks at dusk, downtown for the drone show at 10:00 PM. That is a lot of movement.

Two things make it survivable:

• Use the Sports Park shuttle. Parking is available at DeWitt Sports Park with shuttle service at certain times each day, and throughout downtown DeWitt. If you are inbound from Round Lake Road, the shuttle beats trying to re-park after the parade.
• Do not eat dinner at the carnival. Corn dogs at 6:00 PM plus a beer at 9:00 PM plus standing for a drone show is a lot to ask of anyone's stomach. Sit down between 5:00 and 6:30. Relli's does the job. Relli's is doing its own take on the space with items like Crack Fries and Stromboli, serving big flavors and big portions. If Relli's is packed, walk to Freshies Bakery or Family Tree Cafe for a lighter regroup.

For the drone show itself, the best vantage is not where the fireworks crowd is standing at dusk. Fireworks sightlines favor the park. Drones favor downtown, closer to the launch. Move between the two shows.

Sunday: The Genuinely New Day

Funday Sunday at Riverside is the piece most residents will underestimate. For years, Sunday of Ox Roast weekend was a soft close: teardown, a few stragglers, maybe brunch. This year the day has its own programming, which is why the 80th feels structurally different rather than just older.

If you have out-of-town family in for the parade, this is the day to keep them. Two ideas that pair well with a Sunday morning at the park:

• Breakfast at Sweetie-licious first. The vintage cafe offers giant cookies alongside chicken salad with homemade chip dip, gluten-free macaroons next to famous pies, in a 1950s pink space. Order a pie for later.
• Ice cream at iScream after the park. The signature scoop, Eskimo Kisses, is vanilla bean with crushed peppermint and white chocolate flakes, and it is the kind of thing that only makes sense in DeWitt.

If Sunday programming ends earlier than you want, Bridge + Main Market fills the rest. Bridge + Main runs three themed outdoor markets celebrating summer in Michigan, with shops open during scheduled monthly market weekends. Check the calendar before you drive over; the market is not open every Sunday.

Where To Eat, Ranked By When

The all-purpose downtown dining list is a category, not a plan. Here is the same list re-sorted by when it actually helps during the weekend:

• Friday 5:00 PM sit-down before the Street Social: Bridge Street Social or The Draft House.
• Saturday breakfast before the parade: Family Tree Cafe or Freshies Bakery. Both open early, both faster than trying to feed a family at a chain on Old US-27.
• Saturday early dinner between fireworks and drones: Relli's Italian for full plates. Peppino's Pizza or Fiesta Charra if you want to be in and out in 40 minutes.
• Saturday nightcap after the drone show: Looking Glass Brewing Co. for a pour of something on the current tap list. Draft House if the tap wall is calling.
• Sunday brunch before Funday Sunday: Sweetie-licious Pie Pantry.
• Sunday afternoon walk-around: iScream, then over to the market if it is a Bridge + Main weekend.

If you only have room for one meal out during the whole weekend, and you have been living here long enough that you have already tried the obvious pick, this is the year to sit through a proper dinner at Bridge Street Social. Their format punishes drive-through habits and rewards a slow table.

The Practical Notes

A few things that catch residents off guard even after years of Ox Roasts:

• The parade route closes Bridge Street early. If you need to be east of the river by 10:00 AM Saturday, cross earlier or plan to wait until roughly noon.
• The Saturday 10:00 PM drone show is late for kids who have been at the carnival since morning. Fireworks at dusk is the better anchor for younger families.
• Sunday parking downtown is easier than Saturday, but only until Funday Sunday programming lands people back at Riverside. Late morning is the tight window.
• Ox Roast is a cash-and-card mixed environment. Some Arts Festival vendors take Square, some do not. A little cash in the pocket is faster than a line at the ATM behind the bank.

The Take

The 80th DeWitt Ox Roast reads on paper like a bigger version of the last 79. In practice, the addition of the Street Social, the expanded Arts Festival, the drone show, and a real Sunday makes it the first Ox Roast where the whole downtown-to-Riverside corridor operates as a single venue. Plan your weekend around movement between the two zones, not around parking at one and staying put. That is the difference between a good festival weekend and one where you spend Sunday complaining about your feet.

DeWitt is a small enough town that the same weekend you spend at the Ox Roast tells you a lot about how the community lives the rest of the year. If you are thinking about what your next chapter here looks like, whether that is a first home, a move up the street, or a rental you have been eyeing on Bridge, Josh Nelson is happy to talk after the fireworks fade. Get Your Instant Home Valuation whenever you are ready to start with a number.