Overview The Original Lobster Festival is a three-day end-of-summer party in Orange County built around live Maine lobster, flown in daily and steamed in what the festival calls the world's largest lobster cooker. It runs at Fountain Valley Sports Park, off the 405 at Brookhurst Street, and the 30th edition was held there in September 2026. The festival moved to Fountain Valley in 2022, its 26th year, after running in Long Beach. Around the lobster dinners sit a main stage with a dance floor, live-band karaoke, a food court, bars and a children's area with carnival rides. On site Guests watch the crew work the big cooker, then eat lobster dinners or vendors' lobster rolls, bisque and lobster mac and cheese; the food court also covers non-seafood plates and desserts. The bars pour beer, wine, margaritas and the house drink, the Screaming Lobster. Live bands back the karaoke lounge on Friday and Saturday nights, and there are dance lessons on the floor. For children there are magic shows, balloon sculptures, face painting, a petting zoo and carnival rides and games. Every guest can pick up a free souvenir e-photo, parking is free, and kids 12 and under get in free. In 2026 the gates opened Friday evening and ran from noon on Saturday and Sunday. Audience In 2022 Fountain Valley's director of community services, Rob Frizzelle, said most of the crowd came from Orange and Los Angeles counties, and the festival's own sheet says it pulls from 214 surrounding cities. The same Daily Pilot story met a group of about a dozen friends from Compton; one of them, who sang a karaoke duet that night, had gone to the festival a few times in its Long Beach years. Track record Fountain Valley brought the festival in for 2022 as part of a city series of special events meant to get people back together after the pandemic, alongside a Crawfish Festival and a BBQ Music Festival. The 29th edition ran September 5 to 7, 2025, and the 30th September 11 to 13, 2026. The festival lists past coverage on KTLA's morning show, ABC7, FOX11, KABC and KFI radio, the Daily Breeze and the Grunion Gazette. Brand presence In 2026 Stella Rosa poured free wine and spritzer samples and El Baston del Rey ran a tequila and whiskey tasting, which the festival says attendees voted No. 1. Sponsor levels run from an exclusive title sponsor and a beer sponsor through gold, an exclusive stage position, auto display by the car and the day, sampling by the day, and associate. Levels can include a 10-by-10 canopy with sidewall, power, tables and chairs, a name and logo on print media and press releases, mentions from the main stage and on the stage banner, a logo on the festival video and website, and commercials on the digital screens at the souvenir e-photo booth.