Alpine Days is Alpine's city celebration, and it has one of the fullest programs of any small-city festival in Utah County. It has a professional rodeo that sold out all three nights in 2026, a carnival, a two-day boutique, a day of live bands in the park, a parade up Main Street and fireworks to close, and around those it packs a week of small-town traditions: a bake-off, a pet show, a chalk art contest, a family dance and a star party in the foothills.
The setting helps. Alpine sits at the top of Utah County where the valley floor runs into the mountains, and the celebration is built around Creekside Park, with the rodeo grounds, Burgess Park and Main Street close by. On a warm August evening, with the rodeo lights on and the carnival turning in the park, it is about as good as a Utah city celebration gets.
This guide covers how the week runs, the rodeo and how to get tickets, the carnival, the parade and the fireworks, the smaller events, what it costs, and how to plan it. The details come from the organizers' Alpine Days website and the city's own materials; where a year is named, it shows how the celebration has run, not a promise about next time.
When Alpine Days Happens
Alpine Days runs Saturday to Saturday in August. In 2025 it ran August 2 to 9, and in 2026 it ran August 8 to 15. The organizers' website already lists the 2027 dates: August 7 to 14. In recent years the closing Saturday has fallen somewhere between August 9 and August 15.
One event starts early. The Alpine Days pickleball tournament begins on the Monday of the week before, with senior and youth divisions early in that week and open divisions later, so the courts are busy before the rest of the celebration begins.
Registration for most of the contests and races opens in July through the city, and rodeo tickets go on sale in July as well, first to residents and then to everyone.
The Shape of the Week
The opening Saturday is for the competitors: a golf tournament at the Cedar Hills Golf Course and a mountain bike race on the trails of Lambert Park and North Mountain, with four course levels and staggered starts.
Monday has yoga in Creekside Park in the morning, a service project for a local charity, and then the first big evening: the auto show, the fire department's barbecue and the Blue Ribbon Bake Off, all in Creekside Park.
Tuesday is a family day. Tots in the Park entertains children up to 6 in the morning, a youth kickball game follows, and the home run derby fills the evening at Burgess Park. Residents 65 and older gather for the senior dinner, and after dark the library and the Utah Valley Astronomy Club host stargazing at Lambert Park.
Wednesday starts with the pet show and a petting zoo, runs through a day of chalk art on the Creekside Park sidewalks, and ends with the youth market and a movie on the lawn.
Thursday brings a kids' activity morning, a disc golf clinic, the family dance, and the first night of the rodeo.
Friday is the start of the weekend: an early-morning group hike, a children's story time, the boutique and the carnival opening at noon, live bands in the park from late afternoon, and the second rodeo night.
Saturday runs from a 5K and a toddler trot at dawn to the parade in the morning, the quilt show and relic hall tours through the day, the boutique, carnival and bands in the park, the final rodeo and the fireworks.
The Alpine Days Rodeo
The rodeo is the heart of Alpine Days and its biggest draw. The organizers describe it as a professional rodeo with eight events, and it runs on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights of the week at the Alpine Rodeo Grounds. Each night opens with mutton bustin', when small children ride sheep, before the professional events begin.
The practical point is tickets. They go on sale in July through the official Alpine Days site, with Alpine residents getting the first window before general sales open. In 2026 all three nights sold out. The organizers also warn, in capital letters, about fraudulent ticket sites, so buy only from the official site and be wary of anyone reselling seats online.
If you have tickets, come when the gates open; the mutton bustin' comes first and is the best part of the evening for many families. Bring a jacket for after dark; Alpine sits higher than most of the valley, and evenings cool off quickly once the sun drops.
The Carnival
The carnival arrives for the weekend and sets up in Creekside Park on the Friday and Saturday. Friday has an early-bird window through the early afternoon when every ride costs a single ticket, which the organizers pitch at families with small children who want a few rides without buying a wristband.
For a full day of rides, the better deal has been the presale wristband. Discounted one-day wristbands are sold at City Hall in the weeks before the festival and exchanged for a wristband at the carnival, where every rider must be present to have it put on. On-site, rides are sold by the ticket, with each ride costing several tickets, or by a more expensive one-day wristband. Check the current prices on the Alpine Days site before you go; they change from year to year.
The Parade on Main Street
The parade is on the final Saturday morning, and it runs up Main Street. In 2026 it began just north of the roundabout and proceeded through town to the north end of Main Street. The route closes to traffic before the start, and the city is strict about chairs: none may be placed along the route until 24 hours before the parade, and chairs set out earlier are removed.
Bring a bag for candy. The parade is a hometown affair with floats and entries, and families line Main Street for it. Groups that want to take part register through the Alpine Days website, where the parade page carries the details and the grand marshal for the year is announced.
Saturday Night Fireworks
The week ends with fireworks at Creekside Park on the Saturday night. The show has run about 20 minutes, and the organizers describe it as back by popular demand. The city blocks off part of the park for the launch area, keeps a 50-yard safety zone around it, and thanks the fire department for helping run the show.
If you plan to watch from the park, set up your chairs outside the marked-off areas during the day. The park is also home to the carnival and the music that evening, so the fireworks close out an evening when the whole festival is in one place.
The Boutique and Music in the Park
Alpine Days is known for its boutique, and the organizers say so plainly. It runs two days in Creekside Park, on the Friday afternoon and evening and through the Saturday, with local vendors and small businesses selling all sorts of wares.
Music in the Park runs alongside it. Local bands play in rotation from late afternoon on Friday and from noon on Saturday until the fireworks. Set up a canopy or find some shade and treat it as a day in the park; the lineup changes every hour or so, and the crowd drifts between the stage, the boutique and the food trucks.
The Smaller Traditions
The rest of Alpine Days is a list of small events, and together they are what make the week feel like a town celebration.
The auto show brings cars and music to Creekside Park on the Monday evening, and both entering a vehicle and visiting are free. The city has offered golf cart tours for visitors with limited mobility. The fire department barbecue runs alongside it, with proceeds going to help the families of fallen and injured firefighters, and the Blue Ribbon Bake Off follows, with prizes in each category, favorites chosen by the grand marshals and a Best in Show.
The pet show invites owners to bring their pets onstage and show off a trick, and a petting zoo keeps children without pets happy. Chalk the Walk gives each entrant a section of sidewalk in Creekside Park for a day of drawing, with voting in the evening and winners announced before the movie in the park, which has chair sections and blanket-only sections so everyone can see. Concessions at the movie are sold by the Alpine Youth Council to fund the dinner it hosts each year to thank the city's first responders.
The youth market is built for children running their own businesses, and the organizers are strict about it: the products and the decisions belong to the kids, not to their parents. Tots in the Park serves children up to 6, and a kids' activity morning has usually been a water day ending in a spray from the fire department; in a drought year it turns into dry fun with bounce houses instead.
The family dance at Legacy Park, across from City Hall, has a DJ and is free. The stargazing night at the Lambert Park bowery brings telescopes and astronomers from the Utah Valley Astronomy Club. The senior dinner is, in the organizers' words, a long-time tradition for residents 65 and older. On the last Saturday, the quilt show fills the Red Brick Church, and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers open Relic Hall on Main Street for tours of historical items, including a replica room furnished with Alpine treasures.
The Hike and the Races
Alpine Days includes a group hike led by longtime residents who know the trails, and it is not a stroll. In 2025 the hike went to Horsetail Falls. In 2026 it returned to an older tradition with a pre-dawn start for Lake Hardy, a hike the organizers put at about 11 miles round trip with some 4,500 feet of climbing, taking around seven hours. If you join it, bring sturdy shoes and several liters of water.
The races are gentler. The mountain bike race on the opening Saturday uses the trails of Lambert Park and North Mountain, with four course levels. The 5K on the closing Saturday starts at Burgess Park, with prices that rise as race day approaches and streets along the route closed early in the morning, and the toddler trot that follows gives children 7 and under a lap of the park and a prize at the finish.
An Anniversary Year
Alpine is one of the older settlements in Utah County, and the city marked the milestone in 2025, when its Alpine Days mailer was headed "Celebrating 175 Years of Alpine." The organizers' 2026 description of the relic hall tours still refers to the 175th anniversary year, so the anniversary language appears in both years' materials. Either way, the relic hall tours and the quilt show are the week's best windows into the town's history.
What It Costs
A good share of Alpine Days is free. The auto show, the family dance, the movie, the stargazing, the pet show, the relic hall tours and the fireworks do not list admission charges, and neither does the parade.
The costs are concentrated in a few places. The rodeo is ticketed and the carnival sells ride tickets and wristbands. The 5K, the mountain bike race, the golf tournament, the bake-off, chalk art entries and the children's story-time craft all carry fees, most of them small. The fire department barbecue sells meals to raise money, and the boutique and food trucks sell what they sell. The best money-saving move is buying a carnival wristband at the presale price.
Planning It by Age
Toddlers and preschoolers have Tots in the Park, the kids' activity morning, story time, the pet show and petting zoo, the toddler trot and the Friday early-bird carnival hours, when rides are cheapest.
Grade-schoolers get the most out of the week: youth kickball, the home run derby, chalk art, the youth market, the carnival, and the mutton bustin' at the rodeo.
Teenagers gravitate to the carnival, the home run derby and the music in the park, and the more adventurous ones to the mountain bike race or the group hike.
Adults have the rodeo, the auto show, the bake-off, the boutique, the quilt show and relic hall, and the stargazing night, which is as good for adults as it is for children.
Older residents have the senior dinner, and the family dance is built for every generation at once.
Making a Day of the Last Saturday
The final Saturday is the one to plan around if you can only come once. Start on Main Street for the parade, then walk over to the Red Brick Church for the quilt show and to Relic Hall on Main Street while both are open, since they close by late afternoon. Spend the middle of the day in Creekside Park, where the boutique, the food trucks and the bands are within a few steps of each other, and take the carnival in the afternoon before the evening crowd arrives.
If you have rodeo tickets, eat early and head for the rodeo grounds before the gates open. If you do not, stay in the park for the evening sets and claim a spot for the fireworks outside the marked-off launch area. Either way, bring a layer for the evening and a flashlight for the walk back to the car.
Getting There and Parking
Alpine sits at the northern tip of Utah County, above Highland and near the mouth of American Fork Canyon, roughly a 35-minute drive from Provo. The celebration's hub is Creekside Park, with Burgess Park, Legacy Park, the rodeo grounds and Main Street all close by, and Lambert Park in the foothills for the bike race and the stargazing.
The busy moments are the rodeo nights, the Saturday parade and the Saturday fireworks. Streets close for the 5K early on the final Saturday and along the parade route before it starts, so arrive early and plan to walk from wherever you park. For the rodeo, allow time to park before the gates open.
How It Compares
Alpine Days comes at the tail end of the county's late-summer small-city celebrations, arriving after the Highland Fling, Lindon Days and Salem Days. It also differs from them in two big ways: a professional rodeo where Lindon and Salem run youth rodeos, and a carnival that neither of those two brings in. Our guide to the small-city celebration circuit compares them all.
For other professional rodeos, the Lehi Round-Up and the rodeo at Pleasant Grove's Strawberry Days come earlier in the summer. The festivals hub holds the full calendar, and the festival and celebration finder filters it by month, city, rodeo, parade and fireworks. Our guide to Alpine covers the city itself, and our guide to things to do on the north bench covers the rest of this corner of the valley.
Taking Part
Alpine Days runs on local involvement. Groups register to march in the parade, vendors apply for boutique booths and food truck spaces, and children apply for the youth market, which has filled early. Anyone can enter the bake-off, chalk art, the auto show or the pet show, and the races and tournaments register online through the city. The organizers also recruit volunteers and sponsors each year.
Registration opens in July for most events, and several fill: the youth market and the golf tournament both hit their limits in 2026.
A Few Practical Tips
Buy rodeo tickets as soon as they go on sale, and only through the official site. Buy the carnival wristband at the presale price if your family will ride for a full day. Leave chairs off the parade route until the day before, when the city allows them.
August days in Alpine are hot, and its water events depend on the year's drought conditions. Bring water, sunscreen and shade for the daytime events, a layer for the rodeo and fireworks, and check the Alpine Days site and social media for changes during the week.
The Short Version
Alpine Days is Alpine's Saturday-to-Saturday city celebration in August, centered on Creekside Park. The week builds from an auto show, a bake-off, a pet show and a movie night to a professional rodeo on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, a Friday and Saturday carnival and boutique, a Saturday-morning parade on Main Street and fireworks to close. Rodeo tickets sell out, so buy them as soon as sales open.
Related Guides
- The Small-City Celebration Circuit
- The Highland Fling
- Festivals and Celebrations in Utah County
- Festival and Celebration Finder
- Alpine, Utah: City Guide
- Things to Do on the North Bench
- The Lehi Round-Up
Frequently Asked Questions
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