Stardew Valley 1.6 added a new major Festival, the Desert Festival, and two new mini fishing based Festivals, Trout Derby and SquidFest. SquidFest requires you to catch as many Squid as possible, with different levels earned depending on how many you catch.
SquidFest will not only allow you to brush up on your Fishing skill and stock up on Squid in huge numbers, but you can also earn exclusive prizes if you manage to catch enough of these tentacled creatures.
Squid have a difficulty rating of 75 and can usually only be caught between 6pm and 2am on Winter days, however during SquidFest this restriction is lifted and you can catch them at any time after 6:10am on both days.
When is SquidFest in Stardew Valley?
SquidFest is a Winter festival and takes place on the 12th and 13th of the Season. This means that you’re unlikely to have any major crops to tend to, making it easier to step away from the Farm. However, if you have animals on your farm, you should still tend to them before making your way to participate in SquidFest.
The rest of the Valley remains open, with SquidFest happening in the background while the Villagers go about their life as normal. You can still Shop, interact with Villagers and complete quests during SquidFest.
Where is Squidfest in Stardew Valley?
To find SquidFest, head down to the Left side of the Beach. Here, you’ll not only see a bunch of NPCs fishing in the water, but you’ll also find the SquidFest Booth.
Interacting with this Booth allows players to either receive an explanation of events, or to pick up prizes.
How to earn prizes during SquidFest in Stardew Valley
The premise of SquidFest is simple: catch as many Squid as you can in a single day. Each day, the sign next to the SquidFest Booth will display the four different tiers of prizes, alongside how many Squid you’ll need to catch in order to reach that tier.
The four tiers are:
- Copper
- Iron
- Gold
- Iridium
Each tier comes with its own prizes, which change each day of the Festival. You’ll know how many Squid you’ve caught via either your inventory, or the counter in the top-left corner of the screen, and the number of Squid you’ve caught resets between Festival days.
The good news is that you get to keep your Squid and can either sell them (Squid sell for between 80 and 240 Gold, depending on their quality and your selected Fishing profession) or use them to cook up some delicious meals to keep your energy up.
Alternatively, to increase your chances of catching more Squid on day two of SquidFest, you can put the Squid caught on the first day into a Bait Maker in order to make Squid Bait. This is a newly added type of Bait in the 1.6 update, and SquidFest is the perfect the time to make use of it.
SquidFest rewards in Stardew Valley
Day one
| Tier | Squid Required | Rewards |
| Copper | 1 | 20 Deluxe Bait |
| Iron | 3 | Dish O’ The Sea Either: – 2 Mystery Boxes – 10 Winter Seeds |
| Gold | 5 | 1 Pearl 3 Coffees |
| Iridium | 8 | ‘Squid Kid’ Either: – The Art O’ Crabbing (if not already owned) – 3 Mystery Boxes & 1 Seafoam Pudding |
Day two
| Tier | Squid Required | Rewards |
| Copper | 2 | Trap Bobber |
| Iron | 5 | Dish O’ The Sea Either: – 3 Mystery Boxes – 15 Winter Seeds |
| Gold | 7 | 1 Treasure Chest 5 Triple Shot Espressos |
| Iridium | 10 | Squid Hat Either: – The Art O’ Crabbing (if not already owned) – 3 Mystery Boxes & 1 Seafoam Pudding |
