Carrollton Festival at the Switchyard

What Carrollton Festival at the Switchyard does

Carrollton Festival at the Switchyard is an annual community event organized by the City of Carrollton, Texas, a Home Rule municipality operating under a council-manager form of government. The festival is produced by the City's Parks & Recreation department as part of its broader special events programming and is held at a venue in Carrollton, TX, with the next scheduled occurrence on November 7, 2026, from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM. A 2025 recap video indicates the event has run in prior years, and the City maintains a dedicated calendar page for it alongside other special events.

The festival is offered free of charge to the general public and targets Carrollton residents and visitors across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, with a secondary touchpoint for local vendors, artisans, and businesses seeking booth participation. Promotional distribution spans the official city website, social channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Nextdoor), Vimeo video content, cable TV (Spectrum HD 1305/SD 16 and Frontier HD 539/SD 39), and email newsletters (eNewsletter and On the Horizon). As a municipally funded program, the event has no disclosed commercial revenue model; any vendor application fees would be incidental and are not quantified in the available data. Underlying technology is limited to standard municipal government services platforms, with no AI/ML, proprietary software, or commercial product surface area identified.

Name

Carrollton Festival at the Switchyard

Legal name

City of Carrollton, TX

Website

https://cityofcarrollton.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

1900

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Event Services

NAICS

All Other Amusement and Recreation Industries (71399), All Other Amusement and Recreation Industries (713990)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPAGAEAE

Community Parades, Carnivals & Street Fairs

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Live Entertainment & Events (Concerts, Theater, Festivals)/Cultural Festivals & Community Events

SECONDARYMPAGAEAH

Community Music & Dance Festivals (Non-Commercial/Local)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Live Entertainment & Events (Concerts, Theater, Festivals)/Cultural Festivals & Community Events

Keywords

• Community festival events
• Municipal special events
• Public community gatherings
• Cultural entertainment events
• Local vendor events

Headquarters

HQ city

Carrollton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Others

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Festival at the Switchyard is a free, single-day annual community festival organized by the City of Carrollton, Texas Parks & Recreation department. It offers community entertainment, cultural activities, and vendor booth participation opportunities for general public residents, visitors to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and local vendors and artisans. The event is part of Carrollton's broader special events programming and is publicly funded as a municipal service.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Festival at the Switchyard Free, single-day annual community festival organized by the City of Carrollton Parks & Recreation department, providing entertainment, cultural activities, and vendor booth opportunities for Carrollton residents, Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex visitors, and local vendors and artisans.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• State Fair of Texas: The State Fair of Texas is the largest annual community/family festival in the DFW region, running at Fair Park in Dallas. Both events compete for the same regional DFW family attendance base during the fall season, operate on a free/affordable admission model with vendor participation, and are community-anchored annual traditions.
• Addison Oktoberfest: Addison Oktoberfest is a major annual community festival in the DFW Metroplex featuring vendor booths, live entertainment, and family activities. It directly competes with the Switchyard festival for the same regional attendees, vendor pool, and fall-season calendar slot.
• Cottonwood Art Festival (Richardson): The Cottonwood Art Festival is a semi-annual juried art and community festival in Richardson, TX featuring local artisans, vendors, and live entertainment. It competes directly with the Switchyard for the North Texas artisan-vendor pool and family attendee base.
• Frisco Freedom Festival: Frisco's Freedom Festival is an annual community celebration in the DFW Metroplex featuring vendor booths, live entertainment, and family programming. Like the Switchyard, it is a free municipal-area event competing for the same North Texas family audience.
• Plano Balloon Festival: The Plano Balloon Festival is a recurring North Texas community festival featuring vendor exhibits, live entertainment, and family activities. It mirrors the Switchyard's model of an annual municipal-area event with vendor participation and free/affordable admission for DFW residents.

Regional players

• Denton Arts & Jazz Festival: The Denton Arts & Jazz Festival is a recurring North Texas community festival featuring live music, vendor booths, and family activities. It serves a similar function to the Switchyard as a free/affordable annual festival in the broader DFW region but is anchored in Denton rather than Carrollton.
• Grapevine Main Street Days Festival: Main Street Days is an annual DFW-area community festival in Grapevine, TX featuring vendor booths, live music, and family activities. It is a regional festival comparable in scope to the Switchyard but anchored in a different North Texas city with its own tourism draw.
• McKinney Arts & Music Festival: McKinney's annual arts and music festival is a community event in nearby Collin County featuring local vendors, live entertainment, and family programming. It is comparable to the Switchyard as a North Texas municipal community festival but draws from a different sub-region.

Broad incumbents

• City of Plano Special Events: The City of Plano operates a portfolio of recurring community festivals and special events through its Parks & Recreation department. As a fellow North Texas municipal government producing similar community events, Plano offers structural parallels in funding model, marketing channels, and Parks & Recreation execution.
• City of Frisco Special Events: The City of Frisco runs multiple recurring community events through its Parks & Recreation department with similar municipal funding models, vendor participation, and multi-channel promotional infrastructure. It represents the broad incumbent model of municipal festival production comparable to Carrollton's Switchyard.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/carrolltonTX
• Facebookfacebook.com/carrolltontexas
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/city-of-carrollton

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Carrollton Festival at the Switchyard