Events and festivals in France on September 26-27, 2026: Pont-Audemer's Saint-Michel Fair runs five days, alongside the Tolkien convention in Plestin-les-Grèves, Les Correspondances de Manosque and Livres en Vignes in Vougeot.
Across France, this weekend. In Pont-Audemer, Normandy, the Saint-Michel Fair runs on September 26-27, 2026. It marks the end of summer in the "Norman Venice," between the Tolkien convention in Plestin-les-Grèves and the literary gathering in Manosque, from Brittany to the Ariège.
Pont-Audemer Celebrates Saint-Michel
Pont-Audemer becomes the "Norman Venice." The Saint-Michel Fair animates the town from September 25 to 29, 2026, with the weekend of 26-27/09 at its heart.
It is a traditional fair, a very old one. It marks, every year, in the town's streets, the end of summer and the start of autumn, heir to a centuries-old tradition tied to the feast of Saint Michael, set on September 29.
Funfair rides fill the town center. Residents also gather around market stalls and parades that cross the town, ahead of street performances and family entertainment.
The program runs five full days. It fills the town from Friday through the Tuesday right after Saint-Michel's day, with Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th at the heart of this stretch.
More Events, From Brittany to the Ariège
Words travel too, in other shapes. Plestin-les-Grèves welcomes Tolkien fans. The Sur les Terres de l'Unique convention gathers more than 7,000 visitors over the two days, with costumes, a fantasy medieval market, workshops, talks and a grand parade, around the author's work, in the Côtes-d'Armor. Manosque closes its literary week. The Correspondances de Manosque, born in 1999, gather more than 16,000 festivalgoers around writing, France's literary "rentrée" and new ways of encountering text. Vougeot pairs wine with books. At the Château du Clos de Vougeot, in the Côte-d'Or, Livres en Vignes welcomes publishers, authors and booksellers every last weekend of September since its creation in 2008, with support from the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin.
Music takes two shapes. Nangis throws open its streets. Organized by the Orchestre d'Harmonie de Nangis with the town council, the Festival des Musiques turns the whole town into a free, open stage, with more than 40 concerts across streets, squares, bars and shops. Fort l'Écluse lights up at night. Between Léaz and the Swiss border, the Electro'Fort Festival sets DJs on two stages inside the military fort, run by its manager in partnership with the Pays de Gex area, for a night of electronic music until the early hours.
Taste and effort answer each other. Saint-Martin-de-Ré closes its season. Organized by the Cercle Nautique Martinais, the Fête du Coquillage gathers more than 2,500 people every last Saturday of September, around oysters, mussels, cockles, scallops and clams, at long tables set on the quays. Lavelanet celebrates its local crop. The Fête de la Noisette has, since 2000, brought together local growers and craftspeople around tastings, a world hazelnut-spitting contest and a hazelnut pastry contest, in the Ariège. Bergues sends off its long-distance runners. The Marathon Bière Flandres Festival runs three races around the Saint-Winoc abbey and its craft brewers' village, between the half-marathon starting in Esquelbecq and the marathon and 13km circuit starting in Bergues itself.