Let's Get This Fiesta Started!

Provided by City of Manassas Economic Development Department

Manassas Latino Festival

Want some Latin flair?

Mark your calendars for the Manassas Latino Festival, Sept. 26, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., at Harris Pavilion in the heart of Historic Downtown Manassas. Part of National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15), this anticipated annual tradition brings everyone together for plenty of Latin flair!

Latino celebrations have a way of bringing people together through music, food, and dancing – all with a strong sense of family and community. That’s exactly what you’ll find at this lively fiesta.

As the area’s oldest Hispanic/Latino, family-centered festival of its kind, it continues to create new memories and experiences for the next generation.

Experience the vibrant sights, sounds, and flavors of Latin America, including:

Live music

Singers, cultural performances

Traditional + contemporary dances

Latin American food

Family-friendly activities + entertainment

Come hungry, get ready to dance, and expect the warmth and joy of Latin American cultures with neighbors and friends.

This is one fiesta you won’t want to miss! Manassas Latino Festival Facebook page

Mark Your Calendars!

DORA (Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area)

Face it.

Summer’s winding down, so gather family and friends for First Friday nights in Historic Downtown Manassas! Here, visitors freely stroll the old town streets within DORA (Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area) boundaries while sipping their favorite adult beverage. From participating establishments, drinks are served in a plastic cup with the DORA logo. DORA rules are in effect from 6 to 9 p.m. and no outside alcohol or coolers are allowed.

First Fridays, organized by Historic Manassas, Inc. (HMI), are every February through November. Don’t miss the next one, Sept. 4, THIS Friday!

2026 First Fridays

Hints of History

From the Manassas Museum Online Collections, this image is of a pamphlet, The Manassas Army Maneuvers, September 1904, that was provided as a souvenir for those who attended. What were these “Maneuvers”?

As described in the Prince William Reliquary (January 2010 issue), the Sept. 5 to 12, 1904 Army Maneuvers was not a reenactment; instead, it served as military training exercises for the basis of studying the battle plans of two Civil War conflicts that occurred there: First Manassas, July 21, 1861 and Second Manassas, August 28 to 30, 1862.

Those same fields were chosen 43 years later for staging the first peacetime Maneuvers on American soil on such an extraordinary scale, bringing together regular Army and state militia forces, and deliberately returning to the Manassas Civil War battlefield.

With commemoration foremost in the minds of veterans, this farmland proved to be the logical choice for these large-scale Maneuvers; today, those fields are forever protected by the 1940 establishment of Manassas National Battlefield Park.

Here’s why this event was so remarkable:

City of Manassas Resident: George Carr Round, Civil War Union officer, is credited with being the original promoter of the Army Maneuvers.

Purpose: Served as training exercises for military leaders to study battle plans of the two Civil War conflicts that occurred there, while practicing contemporary military operations.

Scale: About 5,000 regular Army troops and 12,000 militiamen participated, with units coming from both Northern and Southern states. Following the event, the Maneuvers appeared in newspapers nationwide, especially in publications from the towns and cities that sent the 12,000 militia.

Infrastructure: Southern Railway’s preparations included roughly 26 miles of temporary side and spur tracks and 170 special trains used to transport participants and visitors.

Land Use: Local farmers leased 65,000 acres to the government, with farmers compensated for damage to crops, livestock, structures, and other property.

Two Camps: Troops operated from two major base camps about 10 miles apart to simulate realistic hostile field contact. See photo below of (Plate “No. 89”) of Camp No. 1: Dogan’s farm in Manassas and buildings with division headquarters on the right. Camp No. 2 was near Thoroughfare/Gainesville.

Public Gathering: Visitors could witness portions of the exercises from specially constructed viewing areas and grandstands. Though the Maneuvers were for military training, they became a major public event with veterans, journalists, politicians, military observers, civilians, and visitors descending on Manassas. See photo below of grandstands and visitors at “Wellington Station,” the caption reads.

This souvenir pamphlet is more than a record of an unusual military exercise. It documents a moment when Civil War memory, the emergence of a more professional American military, the expansion of railroad transportation, and mass tourism all converged here.

And visitors continue to converge on Manassas for events, dining, shopping, and opportunities to learn about its enduring heritage.

Prince William Reliquary article on the Maneuvers, January 2010.