Sands for Singapore Charity Festival 2026 Returns to Event Plaza for its 12th Edition
From 28 to 30 August 2026, Marina Bay Sands turns the Event Plaza on its waterfront promenade into a free, three-night charity festival that runs 5pm to 11pm each evening. The Sands for Singapore Charity Festival is back for its 12th edition, and since 2013 the event has raised more than S$45 million for local social causes supporting low-income families, youths, seniors and persons with disabilities. For anyone visiting Marina Bay that weekend, the festival is a free, walk-in reason to spend an evening on the waterfront with live music, food and a direct line to local charities.
This year's programme is split into two parts. The Event Plaza weekend is the public-facing focal point: live performances, a curated food market called Good Bites, and a Giving Marketplace with 11 local non-profits and social enterprises. Running alongside it through the whole of August is Dine for Good, where 12 of Marina Bay Sands' restaurants, including the celebrity-chef outlets, each pick one signature dish and donate the proceeds to the same charity initiative.
The Good Bites Market on the waterfront
The Good Bites Market is the most concrete reason to turn up hungry. Five Marina Bay Sands F&B outlets run pop-up stalls at Event Plaza, with proceeds channelled to AWWA's Enabled Living @ Bedok programme, a pilot supporting independent living for people with disabilities. The line-up includes Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer, Bread Street Kitchen (Gordon Ramsay's fried chicken and sticky toffee pudding are the two dishes the brand is best known for here), RISE, Roberta's Pizza and the homegrown Nesuto café. Prices are paid per item, and the stall format means you can build a tasting walk around the plaza rather than committing to one restaurant.
What separates Good Bites from a standard food festival is the charitable tie-in. Every dish bought at the market sends proceeds to the same AWWA programme, so the spend is the donation. That is also the framing for the Giving Marketplace, where 11 local non-profits and social enterprises run booths across the plaza, selling products and taking sign-ups, rather than the more usual charity-festival model of bucket collections.
Live music and the opening night headliner
Entertainment runs across all three nights. The opening night on 28 August features RRILEY, the Singaporean artist who first debuted as a founding member of local pop quartet The Sam Willows, backed by local bands 53A, The Vibes and SuperSonic covering the rest of the weekend. The performances are free and staged against the Marina Bay skyline, so the view is part of the draw. There is no ticket, no cover charge and no reserved seating.
One charity-festival-specific event worth flagging is on 29 August: the Community Chest Heartstrings Walk and the Race to the Sky Vertical Marathon. The Heartstrings Walk is a community walk around Marina Bay, and the Race to the Sky version is a climb up all 57 storeys to the SkyPark Observation Deck. Both are fundraisers, both finish at the festival, and the vertical marathon in particular is a genuine one-off way to see the SkyPark that most visitors never access at that pace.
Dine for Good runs all August across 12 Sands restaurants
If you cannot make the Event Plaza weekend, the Dine for Good campaign is the fallback. For the whole of August, 12 Marina Bay Sands restaurants each nominate one signature dish whose proceeds go to the same AWWA Enabled Living @ Bedok programme. The 12-restaurant figure is not accidental: Marina Bay Sands chose that number to mark the 12th edition of the festival.
The named participants so far include LAVO, Yardbird Southern Table & Bar and Maison Boulud, with the rest of the line-up listed on the festival page. The practical angle is simple: if you already have a dinner booked at any of those restaurants in August, ordering the signature dish turns a normal meal into a small donation without changing your plan or your bill. The festival's own page on marinabaysands.com lists each dish and the charity it supports.
Getting there and when to go
Event Plaza is the open waterfront space between Marina Bay Sands Tower 3 and the Helix Bridge, a two-minute walk from Bayfront MRT (CE1/DT16) Exit D. Because entry is free and the festival runs 5pm to 11pm, the practical rhythm is to arrive around 6pm for dinner at the market, stay through the live set, and finish with a walk along the promenade. The busiest night is the Friday opening with RRILEY; Saturday is family-heavy; Sunday is quieter. Bring cash or a card for the food stalls, as the charity booths often take donations by QR code.
Practical Details
- Dates: Event Plaza weekend 28 to 30 August 2026; Dine for Good 1 to 31 August 2026
- Time: Event Plaza 5.00pm to 11.00pm nightly
- Venue: Event Plaza, Marina Bay Sands waterfront promenade, 10 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018956
- Nearest MRT: Bayfront MRT (CE1/DT16), Exit D, a 2-minute walk
- Price: Free entry; food and marketplace stalls are paid, with proceeds to AWWA's Enabled Living @ Bedok programme
- Headliner: RRILEY (formerly of The Sam Willows) on 28 August; bands 53A, The Vibes and SuperSonic across the weekend
- Special event: Community Chest Heartstrings Walk and Race to the Sky Vertical Marathon on 29 August
- Charity partner: AWWA Enabled Living @ Bedok
- Website: marinabaysands.com Sands for Singapore