Knott’s Boysenberry Festival Guide 2026: Berry Best Bites & a Beautiful Bird Cage Revival

Let’s begin our dive into this year’s Boysenberry Festival, starting with the food… but be sure to keep reading, there’s some exciting entertainment news this year as well. 

Boysenberry Festival Food Offerings

Knott’s Berry Farm is not just known for being the “Friendliest Place In The West,” it’s also famous for good eatin’. As the Knott’s Boysenberry Festival returns for its 11th season, there are plenty of new food offerings, along with returning favorites— and a few things we didn’t even know you could stuff a boysenberry into. 

We figure you’ll likely want to dig into a tasting card (the best way to save a little money and enjoy festival favorites), so let’s begin with our top picks:

1. Kettle Chip Nachos with Boysenberry Brisket

2. The Boysenberry Brick: Fried Brioche with Boysenberry Jam and Boysenberry Soft Serve

We may have another Fun Bun situation on our hands. The line for Ghost Town Grub was wrapping around the entire building, and most patrons were leaving with this brick. The namesake is a loaf of deep-fried brioche bread, topped with boysenberry jam, boysenberry soft serve, and a boysenberry drizzle. As we devoured this mountain of sugar, it continued to surprise us. It wasn’t all bread… in the center, more boysenberries! 

Bring some friends, this is a big one.

3. Crispy Chicken Wings with a Boysenberry Sriracha Dipping Sauce

Chicken wings often end up on our favorite lists, but I do feel like Knott’s should bottle this Boysenberry Sriracha sauce for sale in the store…

4. Double-Stuffed Baked Potato with Boysenberry BBQ Brisket

Brisket again! You really can’t go wrong with anything topped with this culinary wonder, but we thought putting it on a wonderfully fluffy double-stuffed baked potato elevated it a bit. 

5. Boysenberry BBQ Meatballs over Mashed Potatoes with Green Onions

The classic, the original, the thing that made the Boysenberry BBQ sauce infamous. It’s been in and out of the festival over the years, but it’s finally back on the tasting card again. 

6. Boysenberry Glazed Candied Bacon On-A-Stick

A bit of a curveball in the final spot, this is simply a piece of bacon on a stick. Yet, it’s a deliciously glazed piece of bacon! And you can enjoy it while listening to some sweet guitar licks from the Wilderness Dance Hall guitarist… if you can find it. This item was so popular that it kept selling out on opening day. 

In addition to the tasting card options, there’s a myriad of à la carte options— some are even on the meal plan! The Boysenberry-Marinated Carnitas Fries with Boysenberry Crema and Boysenberry Pico at Papas Mexicanas was one of our favorite items throughout the day, included in our season pass meal plan.

The Deep-Fried Pickle Spears with Boysenberry Aioli aren’t listed as a meal plan item on the guide, but they are listed as one when you actually visit Strictly-on-a-Stick. These two were surprisingly delicious— well-battered and served with a very creamy boysenberry aioli to dip into. 

Here’s a look at some other festival items:

2026 Knott's Berry Farm Boysenberry Festival Food Offerings

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Tasting Card

The Boysenberry Festival Tasting Card is the best way to try all the best items for $55, with 6 tastings of your choice. Your tastings can range from savory to desserts, drinks, and even alcohol if desired (and of legal age).

Take a look at the 2026 Tasting Card List offerings below: 

Knott’s has a full guide to all the food available on their website.

Boysenberry Festival Entertainment

Knott’s Boysenberry Festival also features world-class entertainment throughout the park, including:

The Great Bank Robbery!

Returning this year to the Bird Cage Theater is the (now improved after a major restoration) old-fashioned melodrama, The Great Bank Robbery. The audience is encouraged to cheer on the hero, boo the villain, and sigh for the heroine. It’s fun for the whole family and cannot be missed during your visit.

Just in time for the festival, the Bird Cage Theater has undergone an extensive refurbishment. It’s quite the glow up. What they’ve done here is absolutely gorgeous and should be applauded. The stage has received extensive upgrades, especially to the lighting and sound. The former is even evident in photos— take a look at just how sharp and brilliant the photos turned out. 

The stage isn’t the only improvement; it’s the entire theater. 

Everything reinforces the bird cage theming, from the cages under the stage to the chandeliers, gates, the Victorian-style birdcage drapes hiding the lighting equipment, and even the wallpaper!

I bumped into historian Eric Lynxwiler (co-writer of the magnificent Bear-y Tales book now being sold at the park), who had a hand in bringing back the original bird cage wallpaper. I had no idea the theater even had wallpaper, but it’s back now, and Eric was even wearing a custom bird cage wallpaper shirt he made featuring it!

The Knott’s team invited us to check out the updated Great Bank Robbery in the remodeled theater, followed by a panel with members of the entertainment team. 

They were, of course, very excited to unveil just how much work they put into making the Bird Cage Theater feel like a classy joint. Their focus was on improving two things: the stage itself and the theater experience. In a way, those two things are intertwined, as the upgrades to things like lighting and sound are improved by all the structural work. The entertainment team was very excited about the fancy new stuff, which lets them do new things (like point lights for comedic effect) and can keep the theater cool for guests and performers. 

An example of one of the gags now improved by the upgraded theater is the painting of the bank manager’s deceased father speaking to him from beyond the grave. Jeff Tucker was very amused that the painting is actually of Knott’s veteran, Daniel Miller. 

For the entire 72-year run, The Bird Cage Theater was just a tent, but they’ve now wrapped it in a new insulated exterior. It’s essentially a sound stage now. 

This keeps out the sound of the outside theme park, but also the smell of a nearby trash compactor and the sweltering summer heat. And, the new LED lights will help keep the stage cooler for the actors as well. 

Yes, my friends, I’m happy to say it is now very comfortable to sit in the Bird Cage Theater. It was 92º at the park during our visit, but the restoration of the Birdcage Theater has made it very pleasant to sit and watch a classic melodrama in cool comfort. 

Wherever possible, the theater has been restored to the original 1954 aesthetic, but with all the modern features a small theater could want. 

The college students who built the Bird Cage Theater back in 1954 could’ve only dreamed of what it looks like today. We highly recommend dropping in to see the hilarious Great Bank Robbery and soak up all that new theater magic. 

Knott’s Preserved

This show celebrates the heritage of California’s original theme park with a musical journey from the little Ghost Town of Calico to the Seaside Boardwalk of the Roaring ’20s.

Last year, digital signage was added to the stage, which allowed for a dynamic backdrop. Unfortunately, we found that the later evening show has much more dramatic theater lighting that can’t overcome the bright backlighting. It works for some scenes, but not others.

Knott’s Preserved is shown twice a night, and the earlier showing may be the better one since there’s still a bit more natural light during the performance to illuminate the actors.

Guests of all ages can also try their “berry best” in Boysenberry Fun and Games in Calico Park or head to Calico Mine Stage for the Boysenberry Pie Eating Contest – and those unfamiliar with “the berry that started it all” can stop by the History of the Boysenberry Museum in Town Hall.