For more than 70 years, the West Coast Estonian Days have helped keep Estonian culture alive across North America – not as nostalgia, but as a living community of song, dance, language, friendship and shared purpose.
From 25 to 28 June 2026, the festival returns to San Francisco, the city where it first began in 1953. The 36th edition of Lääneranniku Eesti Päevad (the West Coast Estonian Days), or LEP, will gather Estonians and friends of Estonia from across the United States, Canada and Estonia itself for four days of culture, conversation and celebration.
A festival rooted in diaspora life
This year’s location is more than symbolic. San Francisco and nearby Silicon Valley sit at the centre of the global artificial intelligence boom. For a diaspora festival founded by postwar refugees, the setting gives LEP 2026 a contemporary edge: alongside folk dancing, choral singing and Estonian film, the programme will explore startups, AI, democratic resilience and Europe’s security future.
The festival will be officially opened by Kristina Kallas, Estonia’s minister of education, and Kristjan Prikk, Estonia’s ambassador to the United States. Musical performers include pianist Hando Nahkur, bassoonist Martin Kuuskman, singer Elina Born, musician Robert Vaigla, pianist Mikk Otsmaa, the Inglikeeled kannel ensemble, performing on the Estonian zither, DJ Kiino Villand and the Puus Brothers Band.
The festival opens on 25 June with an evening of Estonian cinema at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. The programme pairs Pikad paberid (Rolling Papers, 2024), Estonia’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards, with Winter in March (2025), an Estonian-Armenian-French animated short that won third prize in the La Cinef category at Cannes.
Where Estonian tradition meets Silicon Valley
On 26 June, the Grand Hyatt Union Square will host Baltic Startups in the Age of Agentic AI, bringing together founders and technology leaders from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine with US investors and diaspora members. The session will examine how AI agents are changing the way startups are built and why founders from small, resourceful markets may be well placed to thrive.
The same day, the Resilience Forum will look at Estonia and the Baltic region’s position on Europe’s geopolitical frontline. Panels will address disinformation, AI in education, the use of AI by the state, public trust and societal preparedness – questions that matter sharply to small democracies living next to an aggressive Russia.
Saturday’s Rahvapidu will take the festival outdoors in Marin County, with Estonian song, dance, workshops, games, Midsummer traditions and a folk-market atmosphere. Choirs from the West Coast, Baltimore and Washington, DC, will perform alongside dancers led by Liina Teose. The evening continues with Salakõrts, the festival’s legendary secret pub night, featuring the Puus Brothers Band.
On Sunday, Sõnade maailm: Festival of Words and Creative Expression will explore Estonian as a language of culture, poetry, learning and diaspora life. The festival will close with a gala concert and dinner at the Grand Hyatt, headlined by Elina Born and Robert Vaigla.
LEP 2026 is both a homecoming and a statement of intent. It honours the generation that built Estonian life on the West Coast after the Second World War, while asking what kind of cultural, technological and democratic future Estonians abroad can help shape.
In San Francisco, under the soft Bay Area light, Estonia’s global community will gather again.
