Hot Springs Events in October 2026: Birding, Film and More

"In this, our 35th year — also the 150th anniversary of Hot Springs, and the 250th birthday of the USA — we proudly use this occasion to embrace history." That's how Ken Jacobson, executive director of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, opened the festival's 2026 lineup announcement in late September.

The other news in that release is easy to miss. This year the film festival didn't just schedule around Hot Springs' newest event. It wrote parts of its program to match it. The inaugural Birding Festival of the South runs Oct. 8 to 10. The documentary festival opens Oct. 9 with a film about an owl. For three days, the two festivals share stages, guests and a downtown street.

That matters for anyone who lives here because Birding Festival passes are sold out. A lot of what's left sits in the overlap, and much of the overlap is free.

The hinge is a Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco

The film festival opens Friday, Oct. 9, at the Oaklawn Event Center with Penny Lane's Wild Inside. The film follows Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped through a hole cut in his enclosure at New York's Central Park Zoo in 2023 and went on to become one of the city's best-loved residents. Wildlife photographers Jacqueline Emery and David Lei, who appear in the film, will do a Q&A after the screening. The festival calls this gala "the centerpiece of the festival's new partnership with the upcoming Birding Festival of the South."

The Birding Festival lists the same screening on its own Friday schedule, at 7 p.m. at Oaklawn Hot Springs. The next morning, Saturday, Oct. 10, from 10 to 11 a.m., Emery and Lei lead a Birding Festival session called "Wildlife Photography in New York" at the Hot Springs Convention Center. One owl story ends up running through two festivals' programs.

Oaklawn presents both events, which helps explain how neatly they fit together.

Thursday night, Bridge Street is the free front door

The overlap really starts Thursday, Oct. 8, and it starts on the free block. That night is also the second of October's Bridge St. LIVE! Thursdays, after the Pink Piano Show on Oct. 1, and its costume contest is Best Bird Costume. Visit Hot Springs runs the free block-party series, now in its sixth year. The Birding Festival has made that Thursday its public opening night. Here's how its schedule lays out the evening:

1. 6 p.m. Black Diamond Dash Ostrich Fun Run, Hot Springs Convention Center, free and open to the public
2. 6:30 to 8 p.m. Melissa Carper, Bridge St. LIVE! Entertainment District, free
3. 8 p.m. Samuel Henderson bird-calling performance, Bridge Street, free
4. 8:20 p.m. Sad Daddy, Bridge Street, free

The regular October listing for Bridge St. LIVE! gives the usual rhythm: the district opens at 5 p.m. and music starts at 7. On Oct. 8, the Birding Festival's schedule moves Carper's set to 6:30. If you're planning around the first song, go by the Birding Festival times.

One rule has changed since the series began. When Bridge St. LIVE! first launched, adults 21 and over could walk the district with drinks in a designated cup. Visit Hot Springs' 2026 guidance says beer, wine and spirits are sold inside the district, but drinks can't be brought in or carried out.

Saturday, the Arlington becomes the bird hotel

By Saturday, Oct. 10, most of the overlap moves to the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa. The documentary festival has been based there since it left the Malco in 2013. At 5 p.m., the Little Rock Zoo puts on a live owl and eagle demonstration. Director Ashley York, known for Hillbilly, follows with a work-in-progress look at Jackie & Shadow: A Love Story. At 7:15 p.m., the festival's traditional Secret Screening goes on. The only hint about the title so far is that it's "bird-related."

At 9:30 p.m., Steam City Records, inside the Arlington, hosts "Bird is the Word: A Fashion Flash." The Birding Festival lists it as free to attend.

Here's how the weekend splits between what's open to everyone and what needs a ticket:

Other events stay behind the sold-out pass, including the vendor hall, Ted Floyd's eBird sessions and field trips to the Northwoods Trails, Lake Ouachita State Park and the Andrew Hulsey Fish Hatchery. Field trip registration for pass holders closes at 10 a.m. on Oct. 8. Pass holders also get half off admission at Mystic Ozark.

After the birds leave, the film festival keeps the Arlington busy

The Birding Festival wraps up Saturday, but the documentary festival goes another week. That second week brings several new pieces for the festival's 35th year. On Sunday, Oct. 11, at 6 p.m. at the Arlington, Joe Berlinger receives the Brent Renaud Career Achievement Award before a 30th-anniversary screening of Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, and he'll be there for the screening. At 9:15 the next morning, he sits down with filmmaker Allison Berg for a conversation about his career at the Filmmaker Forum. Yoruba Richen also accepts the Impact Award at the Filmmaker Forum on Monday, Oct. 12, at the Arlington.

At 7:30 that same Monday night, the festival holds its first Documentary Roundtable, moderated by Deadline documentary editor Matt Carey. Liani Greaves, Michał Marczak, Poh Si Teng and Biljana Tutorov are on the panel, representing films the festival describes as top contenders for this year's Documentary Feature Oscar. All four films screen during the festival. The festival's Eventive schedule puts the Roundtable in the Arlington's Crystal Ballroom.

On Tuesday, Oct. 13, Nick Capezzera's The Other Side of Memory has its world premiere at the Arlington. The film follows his search for his Korean birth parents. Closing Night is Friday, Oct. 16, back at the Oaklawn Event Center, with Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu, starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. The program also includes all 16 hours of Mark Cousins' The Story of Documentary Film.

Unlike the Birding Festival, the film festival still has tickets. The festival's Eventive page lists these options:

• All Access Pass: $425 for all nine days
• Film Buff Pass: $250, opening and closing galas not included
• Filmmaker Forum Pass: $95
• Six-ticket bundle: $70
• Day passes: $50 to $65

You can also buy tickets to individual screenings from each film's page. For a resident who wants just the Berlinger night or the Roundtable, the six-ticket bundle or a single day pass costs far less than full access.

The calendar runs straight into Oaklawn

Once the overlap week ends, the rest of fall fills in fast and never really quiets down. Bridge St. LIVE! continues Thursdays with Electric Avenue on Oct. 15, The Mixtapes on Oct. 22 and Manhattan Orchestra on Oct. 29. Magic Screams runs weekends at Magic Springs through Oct. 31.

Late October

The Güdrun Northwoods Mountain Bike Festival takes over Northwoods Trails at 461 Wildcat Road Oct. 23 to 25. It's open to all ages and includes races plus a downtown Slow Roll. On Wednesday, Oct. 28, from noon to 1 p.m., Hot Springs National Park and the Garland County Library host a free Park Chats talk, "Stories in the Soil: Archeology at Hot Springs National Park," at the library at 1427 Malvern Avenue. No registration is required. Glow on the Row fills downtown with trick-or-treating and activities on Saturday, Oct. 31, from 5 to 8 p.m.

November

Feast Month runs Nov. 1 to 30. Participating restaurants post deals on Visit Hot Springs' Feast Month Deals page, and diners can vote for favorites in 12 categories for the Visitors Choice Awards. Then on Friday, Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving, Oaklawn opens its 2026–27 live racing season. Oaklawn says it's the earliest opening day in the track's history. The season includes 61 stakes races worth $18.79 million, and the first condition book covers the holiday stretch through Jan. 10.

Parking for the busy nights

Downtown gets crowded on festival nights, and the city added an option this fall. Starting Sept. 23, ParkMobile works as an extra way to pay at city public parking. It doesn't replace the existing kiosks or app, and it uses zones 50101 and 50102. Over on Pakis Road, U.S. Pizza Co. is renovating the former Outback at 180 Pakis Road and plans to open in early 2027.

Living near Bridge Street, the Arlington or the Northwoods trailheads means a festival week like this one is part of everyday life. If you're curious how that kind of access shows up in what a Hot Springs home is worth, Lindsey Blaylock can walk you through it over a free consultation or a free home valuation, any time between the Ostrich Fun Run and Oaklawn's opening day.