Hatch Chile Festival

The Hatch Chile Festival celebrates the chile harvest in Hatch, a farming village in the south of New Mexico that gives its name to the chile grown in its valley. The festival, run by the Hatch Valley Chamber of Commerce, says it began in 1971 as “a modest gathering of local farmers celebrating the annual chile harvest”, and that it is “held annually on Labor Day weekend”. Its tagline is “Grown in Hatch, Celebrated By All!”

Hatch Chile Festival 2026

The 2026 parade route was listed as Franklin & Hall Street, and the carnival was set up behind Village Market, 101 School Street. The festival’s pages do not print the year next to the 2026 dates. They match Labor Day weekend 2026. The 2027 dates had not been published when this page was checked, on 6 October 2026.

What to eat

• Green chile. Hatch chile is picked green in late summer and roasted, often in rotating drum roasters, until the skin blisters and peels off. Roasted green chile goes into stews, sauces, burgers and breakfast burritos.
• Red chile. Left on the plant, the same chile ripens to red. It is dried, strung into ristras and ground into red chile sauce.
• Green chile cheeseburger. A New Mexico classic: a burger topped with roasted green chile and melted cheese.
• Red or green? That is New Mexico’s official state question, asked in restaurants about the sauce you want. “Christmas” means both.

Practical tips

• Come on Saturday morning if you want the parade, which started at 9 am in 2026.
• Heat. Early September in southern New Mexico is hot: bring water, sunscreen and a hat.
• Chile to take home. Roasted green chile freezes well. If you fly or cross a border with it, check the rules first.
• Getting there. Hatch is just off Interstate 25. A car is the practical way in.

Where to stay

Las Cruces, the nearest large city, to the south-east, is a practical base, and El Paso International Airport can be reached by road.

Planning for the next edition

The festival describes itself as a Labor Day weekend event, and Labor Day falls on the first Monday of September. The 2027 dates, though, had not been published on 6 October 2026, so confirm them on the festival’s site before you book. The chile season itself runs longer than the festival: roadside roasters in the Hatch Valley work through late summer, so a trip in August or September finds chile in season.