Lindon Days is Lindon's city celebration, and it is the most small-town of the valley's summer festivals in the most literal way. For one week at the turn of July into August, the city spreads its program across several parks, the community center, the pool and the horse arena on Main Street, and nearly everything in it is free. There is no carnival midway. There is a junior rodeo, a children's fishing night, a star party at a trailhead, a pioneer-home tour, a parade on Friday and fireworks on Saturday, and the whole thing is organized by the city's parks and recreation department rather than an outside promoter.
That shape comes from the town itself. Lindon calls itself "a little bit of country," and it leans into the phrase: the city keeps a public horse arena on Main Street, and its biggest celebration of the year includes a rodeo, a youth event from start to finish. The celebration is built for the people who live there, which is exactly what makes it worth the drive for everyone else.
This guide covers how the week is laid out night by night, the rodeo, the parade and the fireworks, the smaller traditions that give Lindon Days its character, where the celebration comes from, and how to plan it by age. The schedule details come from the city's own program magazines, and where a specific year is cited, it is to show how the week has run rather than to promise how it will run next time.
When Lindon Days Happens
Lindon Days takes one week and always finishes on a Saturday. The city describes it as the first full week of August, and that is the usual pattern, but the week moves with the calendar. The 2024 celebration ran August 4 to 10. In 2025 it started earlier and ran July 28 to August 2. In 2026 it ran August 1 to 8.
The practical rule is to expect the week that straddles the start of August and to confirm it in late spring, when the city posts the dates on its Lindon Days page. The program magazine follows, with every event, time and location for the week. The 2027 dates had not been posted as of September 2026.
Each year also carries a theme. The 2026 celebration, "Stars, Stripes and Small-Town Nights," was tied to the nation's 250th anniversary. The 2024 edition was rebranded for a single year as Lindon Stringtown Days, because it coincided with the city's centennial. The theme changes from year to year; the core events have stayed remarkably consistent.
The Shape of the Week
The most useful thing to know about Lindon Days is that its skeleton barely changes. Compare the city's programs from different years and the same nights keep turning up in the same order, often at the same parks and the same times. Plan around that skeleton and you will rarely be surprised.
The opening is quiet, and it varies. The 2026 celebration began on a Saturday with a morning horseback trail ride up Provo Canyon, for riders who bring their own horses, and a concert in the park that evening, while the 2024 celebration opened with a Sunday-evening concert in the park.
Monday is a mixed evening. The Jr. Rodeo royalty runs a free cowgirl and cowboy clinic at the horse arena, with pony rides and roping lessons for children. Other events have moved around the Monday slot, including the 5K in 2026 and the car show in 2024, and 2026 added a new evening called Stringtown Fun at City Center Park.
Tuesday belongs to Pioneer Park. The Lindon police host National Night Out Against Crime there, the city opens the historic Harris pioneer home for tours, there is an ice cream social, and a movie starts on the lawn at dusk. It is the most relaxed evening of the week and the easiest one for a family with young children.
Wednesday is fishing and stars. The Huck Finn fishing event fills the evening at Fryer Park, and later that night the Utah Valley Astronomy Club sets up telescopes at the Dry Canyon trailhead for the star party.
Thursday is rodeo night at the horse arena, followed by the mayor's candy scramble and a dance in the dirt.
Friday is the Grand Parade.
Saturday runs all day. It starts with a public safety breakfast at the city's public safety building, moves to the aquatics center for a cardboard boat regatta, the free swim day and the pool contests, and ends at Pheasant Brook Park with food vendors, a children's market, a concert and the fireworks.
Daytime programs at the community center fill in around those evenings, including a chess tournament, senior events and, in 2026, a quilt show. The evenings are what most people come for.
Rodeo Night at the Horse Arena
The Lindon Junior Rodeo is the event that sets this celebration apart from its neighbors. It takes place at the city's horse arena on Main Street, and it is a youth rodeo from start to finish. The competitive events are mutton bustin', where small children ride sheep for as long as they can hang on, along with steer riding and barrel racing. The show also includes raffle prizes, and the city encourages people to stay to the end.
The pre-show is where younger children join in. An hour before the rodeo, kids can enter a stick-horse race, with divisions running from age 3 up to adults, and a cash cow event split into two youth age groups. The pre-show events are free and need no registration, and the city asks families to bring a stick horse from home if they have one, so that every child who wants a turn gets one.
Competing in the rodeo proper is different. Entries are limited and must be made online in advance, children riding sheep bring their own helmets, and riders in the horse events bring their own horses. If your child wants to compete, look for the registration link as soon as the program is published, because the spots go to families who plan ahead.
After the last event, the arena turns into a party. The mayor's candy scramble sends children scrambling for candy in the arena, and a dirt dance follows. It makes for a late night with young children, and it is the evening they are most likely to remember.
The Jr. Rodeo also has its own royalty: a queen and attendants chosen each year, who host the Monday clinic and turn up throughout the week. The clinic is the gentlest introduction to the week's horse events, a free evening of pony rides and roping lessons meant for children who have never been near a horse.
The Grand Parade
The Grand Parade is the one event of the week that pulls in the whole city at the same moment. It runs on the Friday evening, and it is a classic small-city parade: floats, bands, dancers, horses, local businesses and elected officials, with the usual shower of candy, flyers and coupons for the children along the curb.
The route has changed in recent years. The city moved it in 2024, and the 2026 parade ran along Center Street from 700 East to Main Street. Because the route can change, look at the map in the program before you choose a spot. Places along the curb fill early, so plan to arrive well ahead of the start time if you want one.
Businesses and community groups that want to enter the parade can find the entry details in the program each year.
Saturday: the Pool by Day, Pheasant Brook Park by Night
The last day of Lindon Days is the longest, and it is really two separate events.
The daytime half happens at the Lindon Aquatics Center at 60 West 60 North. It opens with a cardboard boat regatta and then settles into Free Swim Day, when Lindon residents swim free all day with proof of residency. Non-residents are welcome to use a punch pass or pay regular admission. The city notes that entry is not guaranteed, so residents who want a swim should come early.
The pool contests are the part children talk about. At the Dime Dive, a local bank and the Little Miss Lindon royalty toss a pile of dimes into the water for children to collect, with age groups running from toddlers, who get floating toys, up to 14-year-olds. The KenDucky Derby, which the city bills as annual, sends a flotilla of numbered rubber ducks down the slide and through the lazy river to a finish line. Entry is free for all ages; you sign up at the pool, the city supplies the ducks, and the fastest duck wins the grand prize.
The evening half moves to Pheasant Brook Park at 400 North 800 West. Food vendors open in the late afternoon, children run their own booths at a children's entrepreneur market for ages 5 to 17, and a concert closes the week with the fireworks immediately afterward. The programs for 2024, 2025 and 2026 all put the concert and fireworks at Pheasant Brook Park, so it is the most dependable fixture of the week.
Bring blankets and chairs, and bring a way to carry tired children back to the car. The park fills well before dark on the final night.
The Smaller Traditions
Beyond the big nights, Lindon Days is a collection of small events that add up to its character.
Huck Finn fishing fills Fryer Park at 600 North Main Street on the Wednesday evening. The water is stocked for the event, children arrive with nets and buckets, and anyone who dresses as Huck Finn can compete for a costume trophy. The city is candid that the event depends on fish availability and drought conditions, so in a dry year it may change. For other places to take children fishing, our guide to kid-friendly fishing ponds in Utah County covers the ponds that are stocked through the summer.
The star party is one of the most unusual events on any city's summer calendar. The Utah Valley Astronomy Club brings telescopes to the Dry Canyon trailhead parking lot at the east edge of the city, points them at star clusters, nebulae and galaxies, and helps anyone who brings a telescope learn to use it. It starts after dark on the Wednesday, and it is free.
The Harris pioneer home stands in Pioneer Park at 150 South 500 East, and on the Tuesday evening of Lindon Days the city opens it for tours. Guides share the home's history and the preserved items inside, and the city also arranges tours during the rest of the year through its community development department.
National Night Out Against Crime, a national campaign that Lindon's police department hosts locally, shares the Tuesday evening at Pioneer Park with safety activities for children, the ice cream social and the movie.
The car show is free to enter and free to walk. It has moved around the week, from a Monday evening at Pheasant Brook Park in 2024 to a Saturday morning at City Center Park in 2026, so it is one of the events worth checking in the program each year.
The 5K and fun run has moved too. The 2025 race started from the public safety building on a Saturday morning; the 2026 race started from City Center Park on a Monday evening and followed the Lindon Heritage Trail, and every participant received a Lindon Days medal.
Stringtown Fun is the newest tradition, added in 2026. It is a free evening of games, music and food trucks at City Center Park, and the city describes it as a revival of the community celebrations Lindon held generations ago.
Royalty: Little Miss Lindon and the Jr. Rodeo Court
Lindon crowns two sets of royalty each year. The Jr. Rodeo court represents the rodeo, and the Little Miss Lindon court represents the city. Both ride in parades, serve at events and take on service projects, and during Lindon Days they are everywhere.
The Little Miss Lindon royalty hosts a Royal-Tea Party at the community center, a morning for young princesses, princes, knights and friends to dress up, make a tiara or crown and eat treats with the court. It is one of the gentlest events of the week and one of the most popular with small children. The court also helps run the Dime Dive at the pool.
Where Lindon Days Comes From
Lindon's history explains a good deal about its celebration. The first settlers were families from the Pleasant Grove fort who moved south onto open land in 1861, building homes along a wagon road that had once been an Indian trail and is today State Street. The houses were strung out along that road, one after another, and the settlement became known as Stringtown. Water was scarce, and in 1865 the settlers organized an irrigation board to dig ditches and canals and bring water to their farms from sources such as Curly Springs.
The town was incorporated as Lindon in 1924, which is why the 2024 celebration doubled as a centennial and briefly took the old Stringtown name. The Monday-night Stringtown Fun keeps that name in circulation, and the city's sponsorship tiers are named for local landmarks such as Big Baldy, Dry Canyon and Curly Springs.
The celebration has deep roots of its own: the city keeps an online archive of Lindon Days program magazines that begins with 1988.
What It Costs
Very little. The parade, the rodeo pre-show, the Huck Finn fishing, the movie, the star party, the pioneer home tour, the car show, the children's market and the fireworks are all free to attend. So is the Monday clinic.
The exceptions are small and predictable. Free Swim Day is free only for Lindon residents with proof of residency. The 5K charges an entry fee, as do some of the tournaments. Food at the Saturday vendors and at the concert costs money, and the children's market is, by design, a place for children to sell things. Because there is no carnival, there is no wristband to buy, which is the single biggest difference between Lindon Days and many other city celebrations.
Planning It by Age
Toddlers and preschoolers have more to do at Lindon Days than at most festivals. The Royal-Tea Party, the stick-horse race in the rodeo pre-show, the youngest age group at the Dime Dive and the Huck Finn fishing are all made for them. The Tuesday evening at Pioneer Park is the easiest night of the week with small children, and the fireworks are worth keeping them up for if they will nap in the afternoon.
Grade-schoolers get the full run of it: the cowboy clinic, the cash cow event, the pool contests, the regatta and, if you register in time, mutton bustin' or barrel racing. The candy scramble after the rodeo is the highlight for most of them.
Teenagers have their own divisions in the cash cow and at the Dime Dive, can run a booth at the children's market until they turn 18, and tend to enjoy the 5K and the star party more than they expect to.
Adults find the car show, the quilt show, the pioneer home tour, the parade and the closing concert the most rewarding, and the star party is as good for grown-ups as it is for children.
Older residents have daytime programs at the community center during the week, which in recent years have included bingo and a magic show.
Getting There and Getting Around
Lindon sits between Pleasant Grove and Orem, about a 15- to 20-minute drive north of downtown Provo, with State Street running through its middle and I-15 along its western edge. Lindon has no FrontRunner station; the nearest are in Vineyard and American Fork, so most people drive.
The events are spread across the city, from City Center Park on State Street to the horse arena and Fryer Park on Main Street, Pheasant Brook Park on the west side and the Dry Canyon trailhead in the foothills. On any given evening you will only need one of them, and the parks have lots and nearby street parking. The two busy nights are the Friday parade and the Saturday fireworks, when the streets near the route and around Pheasant Brook Park fill up well before the start. Park legally, arrive early, and expect to walk a few blocks.
Cycling is a good option for anyone who lives nearby. The Lindon Heritage Trail runs through the city, and the Murdock Canal Trail crosses the foothills above it.
How It Compares
Lindon Days is part of a summer circuit of city celebrations in Utah County, and it is easiest to understand next to its neighbors. It arrives in the same late-summer stretch as several other small-city celebrations, including Salem Days in the same week, and our guide to the small-city celebration circuit lines them up side by side.
Its rodeo is the thing to understand. Lindon's is a junior rodeo, a youth event run by the city. The valley's larger rodeos are separate events: the Lehi Round-Up, the rodeo attached to Pleasant Grove's Strawberry Days, the Utah County Fair and Rodeo in Spanish Fork and Santaquin's Orchard Days. If you want a full-size rodeo under the lights, go to one of those. If you want to watch a five-year-old ride a sheep while half the town cheers, come to Lindon.
Earlier in the summer, Vineyard Days runs on the same basic formula, a parade, fishing, fireworks and a free week in the parks, and it adds a carnival that Lindon does without. The county's full festival calendar lives on our festivals hub, and the festival and celebration finder filters it by month, city and whether there is a rodeo, a parade or fireworks.
Taking Part, Not Just Attending
Lindon Days runs on local participation, and there are many ways in. Businesses and community groups can enter the parade. Anyone with a car, truck or motorcycle worth showing can register it in the car show for free. Children from 5 to 17 can sell their own crafts and treats at the children's market, and young riders can enter the junior rodeo. Local businesses sponsor the week at several levels, and the royalty courts are chosen each year.
Registration windows open when the program is published, and several events, the rodeo in particular, have limited places. If your family wants to compete rather than watch, the program is the thing to watch for in early summer.
A Few Practical Tips
Early August in Utah County is hot, often in the 90s during the day, and the evenings cool off only after sunset. The evening events are the comfortable ones; bring water, hats and sunscreen to anything in daylight. Late-summer thunderstorms can roll off the mountains in the afternoon, and wildfire smoke sometimes drifts into the valley, so check the forecast on the day.
Bring a blanket or a low chair for the parade and the fireworks, cash for the vendors and the children's market, and a stick horse if you have one. Download or pick up the program before the week begins, because times and locations for the smaller events can change from year to year. And if you live in Lindon, bring proof of residency to Free Swim Day.
The Short Version
Lindon Days is Lindon's week-long city celebration, held in the week that straddles the start of August and ending on a Saturday. Monday brings a cowboy clinic, Tuesday is the pioneer home and a movie at Pioneer Park, Wednesday has Huck Finn fishing and a star party, Thursday is the junior rodeo with mutton bustin' and a candy scramble, Friday is the Grand Parade, and Saturday runs from the pool contests to a concert and fireworks at Pheasant Brook Park. There is no carnival and almost nothing costs money. For families with young children, it is one of the best weeks of the Utah Valley summer.
Related Guides
- The Small-City Celebration Circuit
- Festivals and Celebrations in Utah County
- Festival and Celebration Finder
- Things to Do in Lindon
- Lindon, Utah: City Guide
- Lindon Neighborhoods
- Vineyard Days
- Kid-Friendly Fishing Ponds in Utah County
Frequently Asked Questions
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