Starsand Island Beach Festival, New Year & Pumpkin Events

Starsand Island has three calendar festivals — the Beach Festival at the end of summer, the Spring Festival (the in-game Chinese New Year, which the community also calls the New Year Festival) bridging winter and spring, and, new in Version 1.0, the Autumn Pumpkin Festival (often searched as “pumpkin carnival”). Each follows the same shape: two or three days of preparation quests for the NPCs, then the event days with minigames and a festival currency. This page gives dates, location, activities and rewards for each, then the smaller events (Blue Tears, Island Life milestones) and the two official out-of-game contests.

Festival details below are mostly Early Access observations (February–July 2026) plus official patch notes; the 1.0 versions are still being re-checked and the first 1.0 Beach Festival was widely reported as broken.

Festival calendar

Patch 0.4.9467 fixed fainting on Summer 26 skipping the Beach Festival, so do not pass out on day two.

Beach Festival (Summer 25–27)

Preparation. Two to three days of repair-the-stall quests from Momo, Delphin, Sylvain, Stella, Lunelle and Aurelis, mostly paid in metal ingots and planks; the game does not warn you about materials in advance, so stockpiling is the standard advice. Quest names in the data include “The Beach Festival is coming!”, “Ta-da! Beach Festival!”, “Herd the Crabs!”, “Summer Sea Breeze” and side quests such as “Let’s Build Racing Gate!”, “Style Up! Island Chic!”, “Snap! Capture the Moment” and “Light it up! The Bonfire Party”.

Activities on the day:

• Jet ski race (“yacht race”). Sources disagree on the name: a Steam guide calls it the Jet Ski Race, the official patch notes call it “yacht racing” and refer to “Delphin’s yacht” and a “yacht rental” interface, and a Reddit walkthrough says Delphin provides a rental jet ski and you start the timed run at a scoreboard out on the water. It is very likely one event with inconsistent localisation, so we write “jet ski (in-game ‘yacht’) race”. You pass through waypoints and are rewarded by finishing time; game time does not advance during the race, which players use to farm coins. You can also craft your own Jet Ski at Worktable II (Mini Reactor 4 + Rubber 10 + High-Performance Wire Set 10 + Premium Wood Plank 10 + Starflare Crystal 10) — see vehicles.
• Herd the Crabs. Find the “Crab boss”, pay 100g, and steer one crab into the highlighted zone for 15 Beach Coins; pause mid-way or the crab burrows into the sand.
• Band rhythm game — a Guitar Hero-style minigame; a March 31 patch fixed NPCs refusing to perform.
• Beach Festival Treasure Maps picked up on the beach and in mining areas; follow the arrow and dig. The Explorer perk Victory Siphon doubles the chest. Players warn not to gift the map to Neona by mistake, and one report says Aurelis’s recipe was hidden by Zephyria in a Half-Moon Bay map chest.
• Beach litter pick-up (respawn was fixed in 0.6.4631) and a Beach Coin exchange stall — coins sitting in storage were not counted until 0.3.2537.

1.0 status. Multiple Reddit threads from August 21, 2026 (one with over 100 upvotes) report that in the first Version 1.0 Beach Festival the stalls, race and crabs did not appear, the scoreboard never spawned, and 3-heart/5-heart event mail interrupted the festival. The 1.08.3916 notes do not mention a fix, so treat the festival as known to be bugged at launch; an Early Access thread from February also called the event disappointing.

Spring Festival / New Year Festival (Winter 25 – Spring 4)

Preparation day 1: Solara asks you to build the festival square/stage — players recommend saving planks and ingots. One transcribed video lists Iron Sheet 3, Glass Pane 3, Hardwood Plank 10, Softwood Plank 10, Stone Brick 6 and Copper Ingot 6 (single source, reported). Elders Sagewood and Hattie get gift quests.

Preparation day 2 (from a Reddit prep guide that matches the Steam guide): Pastelle wants 6 Eggs + 3 Milk (goat milk or large eggs substitute); Aurelis makes you guess her Clam Soup = Clam + Winter Melon + Garlic + Fine Salt — wrong guesses eat the ingredients; Graminova wants 20 self-grown fruit or berries (wild berries do not count); Zerine’s fireworks quest hands out a Skyrocket blueprint for the Ammo Maker (make 10; the Firework Shell blueprint moved to the Spring Festival Exchange Shop in 0.6.6510); Alex needs five lanterns from the public worktable outside his ranch; and there are photo tasks (the “Fu” character at Chrono Arcade, signboards). Fine Salt comes from the Charcoal Kiln — see machines.

Festival days:

A dragon-dance/lantern cutscene with fireworks closes the event, and from Year 2 the festival repeats annually (0.5.3429 references the Year 2 Spring Festival). Known Early Access bugs: “Out with the old, in with the new!” popping at character creation (fixed 0.4.7081), duplicated quests after entering Moonlit Forest (0.5.1822), invisible walls blocking the questline (0.6.6510), and a March report of the quests not triggering after an update.

Autumn Pumpkin Festival / Pumpkin Carnival (1.0)

Officially announced on August 15, 2026 as a festival with “a unique storyline, festival-exclusive quests” and rewards tied to all five professions. Everything beyond that comes from one early-1.0 playthrough video, so treat it as reported: it runs Autumn 22–28, the currency is Candy, and each profession has its own source — Farming plants festival seeds for Jack-o’-lanterns, Ranching buys festival feed so animals produce candy (and sprout little devil wings), Fishing catches coloured festival jellyfish, Exploration collects Troublemaker Crystals from enemies, and Crafting mines Naughty Sprite Crystals. Candy is spent at the Pumpkin House of Wonders on outfit patterns, recipes, furniture blueprints, makeup, a Halloween building manual and emotes; some NPCs offer trick-or-treat, and it works in multiplayer. Do not confuse this with Pumpkin Coins, an older system that traded Gmax Pumpkin Fragments for pumpkin furniture.

Smaller events and things that only sound like events

• Blue Tears — a summer night coastal event delivered by mail.
• Island Life — not a festival but the phone app tracking main-story milestones in five stages (Returning Resident → Island Pro → Home Builder → Bright Star → Starsand Legend, ~25 sub-stages). Key rewards include the Buy Land app (Junior Talent) and multiplayer access (Smooth Sailing, after meeting all mentors and helping Marston build the Maritime Bureau; the entrance not unlocking was fixed in 1.08.3916). See expanding your farm and quests.
• Dreamfall Garden — a Moonlit Forest zone (and boss arena), not a timed event; the search term almost certainly comes from Glowfish guides. See the Moonlit Forest map.

Official contests (out of game)

• “Island Life” Homestead Layout Design Contest — build on Hopeland, save the blueprint, submit on the event site. Submissions April 27 – May 31, 2026 (extended from May 18), voting May 31 – June 14, rewards were gift cards plus in-game implementation. More than 20 Gold/Theme-award blueprints shipped in the 1.0 Blueprint Library; 40+ Silver/Bronze entries are being added over time.
• Starsand Chic Costume Design Contest — teased August 10, opened August 19, 2026, submissions until September 7, 2026, 8:59 AM PDT, Character and Pet categories, winning designs may be added to the game. Entry is through the official site (starsandisland.com). See character creation and outfits.

When is the Beach Festival?

Summer 25 to 27 — it starts at 6:00 on day 25 and runs all day on 26 and 27.

Is the jet ski race the same as the yacht race?

Almost certainly yes: the patch notes say “yacht”, players say “jet ski”, and both describe Delphin’s rental and a scoreboard time trial.

What is the Clam Soup recipe for Aurelis?

Clam, Winter Melon, Garlic and Fine Salt; a wrong guess consumes the ingredients.

Is the Pumpkin Carnival in Early Access saves?

It arrived with Version 1.0 on August 18, 2026 and, per the one available playthrough, appears in Autumn 22–28 of any save.

Related guides

• Vehicles guide (jet ski, yacht)
• Quests and bulletin board
• Machines (Fine Salt, Ammo Maker)
• Character creation and outfits
• Updates and patch notes

Last reviewed: August 23, 2026 — sources: official Steam announcements and patch notes, Steam community guides, Reddit player reports, one 1.0 YouTube playthrough (Pumpkin Festival only).