Picnic Day
Take part in Picnic Day. If you want to experience the single largest student-run event in the United States, visit Davis in late April and revel in Picnic Day. The day consists of over 150 free events, most of which take part on campus, including dog races, food tastings, exotic animal shows, an infamous Battle of the Bands, an exciting fashion show displaying unique student work and much much more. As one might expect, a good amount of drinking takes place throughout the day and by late afternoon there tends to be intoxicated people everywhere, but the mood of the event is very positive and arrests are very few relative to the number of the 50,000+ attendees.
Whole Earth Festival
Experience the Whole Earth Festival (http://wef.ucdavis.edu/). Whole Earth is an annual celebration of counterculture, art, politics, sustainability, and music, taking place over a three day period on Mother's Day Weekend. Tens of thousands of hippies, punks, and miscellaneous weirdos descend on Davis for this event, taking place on the UC Davis quad.
Mondavi Center
Visit the Mondavi Center (http://www.mondaviarts.org/), located on campus. A wide variety of performances can be seen year round, ranging from music to theatre to puppetry.
student
Become a student. Davis is currently ranked as the second most educated city in the United States according to CNN Money Magazine and it shows. The downtown area is very youthful and is peppered with bars, coffee shops, and restaurants that are popular among the college crowd. The city of Davis is very conducive to college and graduate school lifestyles.
Farmers Market
Shop at the Farmers Market. Open twice a week on Saturdays and Wednesdays, the Davis Farmers Market takes place in Central Park and offers fresh, locally grown foods. Much of the produce is grown organically. From March through September, the Wednesday evening Farmers Market becomes the Picnic in the Park, offering several restaurant stands, live music, and various other events geared towards a wide variety of ages.