How to start the Desert Festival in Stardew Valley

The Stardew Valley 1.6 update patch has arrived, and players have plenty of new content to enjoy. A notable addition to the game is the Desert Festival, which can only be enjoyed during a specific time of the year, and you don’t want to miss it.

Like the other festivals in Stardew Valley, the Desert Festival offers a variety of activities. However, you won’t be able to access it at any time of the year. It only happens once, and then you have to wait until the next time it rolls around in your game. We have a distinct breakdown of how you can get to it and what you can expect to do when you arrive at the Desert Festival.

How the Desert Festival works in Stardew Valley

The Desert Festival is a three-day event in Stardew Valley. You can only access it during the spring months, and it’s only a place you can travel to after you have finished repairing the bus. The Desert Festival won’t be available if you haven’t repaired the bus yet.

You can access the Desert Festival in Spring from the 15 to the 18. The bus can only take you to that location when a bus driver is present. The bus is available from 9am to 5pm in Stardew Valley, and then you can make your way to the Desert Festival, so long as you’re playing on the 1.6 patch.

While visiting the Desert Festival, you can participate in several activities. There’s a race going on in the center of town, a spicy food vendor where you can create a unique dish based on your ingredient preferences, a knowledge scholar, and several other NPCs gathering for the event. You have three days to encounter them all and enjoy them in Stardew Valley. But after the third day, the Desert Festival ends, and you must wait until next year for it to reappear.

How to get Calico Eggs and redeem them for the Desert Festival in Stardew Valley

Your main focus for the Desert Festival is to collect Calico Eggs. These are the special currency for the event, and when you have enough, speak with the Calico Egg vendor at the center of the Desert Festival. They have a variety of prizes you redeem based on the number of Calico Eggs you earn during your Stardew Valley playthrough.

These are the many ways you can get Calico Eggs during the Desert Festival, including the following:

• Answering the Scholar’s questions
• Guessing the winner of the Desert Festival race
• Completing Willy’s fishing request at Calico Desert pond
• Completing Adventurer’s Guild Challenge in the Skull Cavern
• Exploring Skull Cavern

When you’re finished gathering up your Calico Eggs, there’s a primary vendor you can visit at the center of the festival. You can also speak with the vendors set up by the NPCs, such has the Blacksmith’s vendor who offers various minerals, or Elliot’s vendor who sells things he found on the beach.

The days for the Desert Festival remain the same for every Stardew Valley playthrough. Because it’s early in the year, I recommend repairing the bus as quickly as possible to ensure you don’t miss out on it during your second year. For my first playthrough, I could only participate on the last day before it ended, and I plan to check it during my game’s third year.