The Walking Moai — because the best steps are the ones you take together. Moais are small social circles rooted in Okinawan tradition and central to the Blue Zones philosophy. This is just one of the many ways Riverside is building community this May. (Erin Edwards)
May arrives in Riverside with something for everyone — from the first notes of a banda set echoing across White Park to a yoga mat spread out under open sky and the smell of fresh tacos on a warm May evening. This month the city leans into its traditions while making room for new ones, and whether you're raising a glass on Cinco de Mayo, making something with your hands, or dancing through the last Saturday of the month under a Pride flag, there's something for everyone and plenty of reason to be out and about.
Mission Inn Foundation Gallery, 3598 Main St, Riverside
Free
This new exhibit at the Mission Inn Museum traces Riverside's place in the American story through art, artifacts, and history — just in time for the nation's 250th anniversary. On view through August 3, it draws on the Mission Inn's remarkable collection: a Paul Revere handbell from Frank Miller's bell trove, Civil War–era street portraits, presidential mementos, and a retrospective of Riverside's own 1976 Bicentennial celebration. The opening reception on May 1 at 6 p.m. is open to all, and the exhibit runs free through the summer.
Riverside Art Museum (Julia Morgan Building) & The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, Downtown Riverside
Free
May kicks off the First Sundays series — a collaboration between the Riverside Arts Council and Riverside's two flagship art institutions. Both RAM and The Cheech open their doors free of charge from noon to 5 p.m., with no tickets required. It's the easiest way to spend a Sunday afternoon in downtown Riverside, and the first of many this year. Also on May 7, both venues are free again from 6–9 p.m. for the monthly Riverside ArtsWalk.
The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, Downtown Riverside
Free
Fold this one right into your First Sundays afternoon. Photographer Carlos Puma has spent nearly a decade documenting The Cheech from the inside — starting in 2017, he had exclusive behind-the-scenes access to Cheech Marin as the cultural center took shape. His black-and-white photographs trace the center's journey from concept to institution, and this reception is a chance to hear the story directly. Stay for the art, linger for the conversation.
UCR ARTS hosts a free virtual conversation with three celebrated photographers — Terry Evans, Mark Klett, and Laura McPhee — exploring landscape, place, and the influence of writer Barry Lopez. The discussion connects to the exhibition From Here to the Horizon, which gathers fifty artists responding to the sweeping American landscape. If you've ever stood somewhere and felt the land asking something of you, this conversation is for you.
CINCO DE MAYO
Cinco de Mayo falls on a Tuesday this year, and Riverside's got no shortage of ways to mark it.
Route 30 is going all out for Cinco — margaritas, slushes, horchata, micheladas, and Taco Tuesday making a one-night-only comeback. It's a neighborhood brewery doing what it does best: turning a Tuesday into a party.
Taco Station, 4088 Mission Inn Ave (corner of Brockton & Mission Inn Ave), Riverside
Free
Stop by Taco Station early in the evening for live mariachi and authentic Mexican food on one of the year's best days to eat tacos. A perfect warm-up before the night continues elsewhere.
Tacos Che Taqueria, 1635 University Ave, Riverside
Free
A community-rooted Cinco celebration at Tacos Che: $1.99 tacos, live music, a complimentary mocktail, margaritas, and a photo booth. The flyer says it plainly — "we will find a way to spread the message of love, unity, empowerment, and joy." Come hungry and stay for the music.
The Riverside East Rotary Club and the Old Farts Racing Team bring back the Show and Go Car Show for another year in Downtown Riverside. Running from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 4300 Main St, this is a full day made for car lovers — gleaming hoods, good conversation, and a downtown street scene that's hard to beat. Attendance is free; car registration is available at showandgo.org.
Saturday, May 16, 8–11 a.m. (check-in at 7:45 a.m.)
Nichols Park, Dewey Ave, Riverside, CA 92504
Free
Keep Riverside Clean & Beautiful invites volunteers to join the Ward 3 Beautification Project for a morning of litter removal, light landscaping, and community pride. All supplies are provided — just bring closed-toe shoes, sun protection, a reusable water bottle, and a great attitude. You'll be grouped with a team on arrival. Register via the link above or contact anguyen@riverside-chamber.com with questions.
Just in time for Mother's Day weekend, La Tardeada brings what it bills as the biggest banda fest in Riverside to White Park — and the lineup backs it up. Voces del Rancho leads a stacked bill that includes Los Plebes de Sinaloa, Banda Imperio, La Kultura, Desde Cero, Mariachi Tecuala, J Valentino, and more, across two live stages running from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. Add Lucha Libre, Baile Folklórico, food and art vendors, a beer garden, and kids' activities, and you've got a full day for the whole family.
The 4th Annual IE Pride Festival returns to White Park for a full day under the theme Stonewall Lives: Existence is Resistance. With 120+ vendors, food, a beer garden, music, DJ, drag performances, a youth zone, and workshops, this is one of the biggest free events Riverside hosts all year. RSVP online for your free tickets and bring the whole crew.
A moai is a small group of people who commit to showing up for each other regularly — a concept borrowed from Okinawa, one of the world's original Blue Zones, where lifelong social circles are linked to longer, healthier lives. Blue Zones Project Riverside runs a rotating calendar of free moais across the city: a Downtown Walking Moai with Erin Edwards (Tuesday mornings, 3311 Market St), a Reading Moai at the Main Library, Vinyasa and Yin Yoga Moais at Community Yoga Center, and a Harvest Moai at Overflow Farms. All started in April but are open to new members — check the Eventbrite page to find one that fits your schedule and just show up.
White Park gets a completely different energy on May 16 when the Ananda Yoga Festival fills it with movement, music, and what the organizers call "intentional commUNITY." A full day of yoga classes anchors the festival, alongside live music, a Cacao Ceremony, a restorative Audacity to Rest experience, a Soulful Musical Journey, a collaborative Community Mural, and a Little Yogis Zone for kids. Whether you're a serious practitioner or yoga-curious, this is one of those days that leaves you feeling genuinely better than when you arrived.
California Museum of Photography & Culver Center of the Arts, Riverside
Free
UCR ARTS opens its Family First Sunday with two hands-on workshops that feel like a time machine to the 19th century. In the cyanotype workshop, participants coat paper with light-sensitive chemicals, arrange negatives and found objects, and expose them under UV light to produce stunning cyan-blue prints. In the second activity, Gluck Fellow Hannah Tishkoff leads a thaumatrope-making session — spin the toy fast enough and two separate drawings become one. Free, open to all ages, and genuinely magical.
Various dates, Farm House, 1393 University Ave, Riverside
Tickets on sale now
Farm House's Spring Series rolls into its May stretch with five nights of live music: Boogaloo Assassins (May 22), TOPS (May 23), Blood Club (May 28), Salami Rose Joe Lewis (May 29), and Mismiths (May 30). It's a curated run of shows in one of Riverside's most beloved intimate venues — grab tickets now before they go.
Bar Ni Modo turns one this Friday and they're celebrating with happy hour all day, $11 cocktail specials (Root Reviver, Coco Mami, and Fresita), and $1 shots off the ice luge. Don't miss the negroni fountain. It's a party for the regulars and a welcome invitation for anyone who hasn't made it to Farm House yet.
The force is strong at Route 30 on May 6, when Star Wars trivia takes over the taproom the night after May the Fourth. Themed slushes, blue milk, prizes, and a special character appearance make this one worth rallying your crew for. May the trivia be with you.
Riverside in May is a city that knows how to show up for itself. Whether you're at White Park watching banda stages light up the night or sitting in a gallery tracing the quiet arc of 250 years of American history, the common thread is the same: people choosing to be here, together, in this place we call home. See you out there.
