This curated collection considers the topic of the Festival City and examines how research on this theme published in the Event Management journal has contributed to extant theory in event management and event studies. Our commentary examines the evolution of the Festival City concept over the last 25 years. Firstly, we introduce the Festival City in theoretical and practical terms. We then explore related concepts, most notably the Eventful City, which is the most prominent theme in the existing research. Our commentary continues by exploring how the research has conceptualised the Festival City; major themes emerging from the research; and contributions to theory development. We reflect upon the limitations of the present research and conclude by suggesting future research directions for the Festival City concept in Event Management.