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Festivals & Celebrations

The rodeo weeks, the Fourth, the small-city circuit, the Labor Day triple, the farms and the light walks — Utah Valley's whole year, with the guide for each.

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Utah Valley does not have one big festival; it has a calendar, and the calendar is the point. Every city of any size runs its own celebration week on roughly the same dates every year, built on the same bones — a parade down the main street, a rodeo or a carnival in the park, a night of fireworks, a pancake breakfast somebody's Rotary club has run since the seventies — and once you know the sequence you can plan a summer around it. June belongs to Pleasant Grove, Lehi and Springville. The Fourth belongs to Provo, with Orem's living-history festival tucked beside it. Late July is Spanish Fork and American Fork; August is the small cities, one after another; Labor Day weekend somehow fits three festivals into two days. Then the farms take October, and the light walks take the dark months. The valley's festival page at the visitors' bureau lists twenty of these, June through September. This one lists 64, all year, each with a guide written by someone who went.

Two things about how we write these. First, the dates: each guide states the last instance we verified and links the city, and the finder below shows next year's dates only where a city has published them, marking everything else as an estimate. Second, the honesty: the guides say which events are free and which are ticketed, which rodeo sells out and which does not, where the parade actually starts, and which "festival" is a Saturday in a park. That is what the aggregators cannot do and the cities will not.

The finder

Pick a month, a city, or a requirement — a rodeo, a parade, fireworks, free — and the Festival & Celebration Finder filters all 64 rows and counts down to the next one. Next up: Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, September 21, 2026. For what is on this week rather than this year, use this weekend.

The year, month by month

January

February

  • TEDxProvo Provo · late winter or early spring; each event needs a new TEDx license, so there is no fixed date

March

  • TEDxProvo Provo · late winter or early spring; each event needs a new TEDx license, so there is no fixed date
  • RootsTech Salt Lake City · three days in early March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Every guide

50 guides sit under this hub: the evergreen page for each celebration, the small-city roundup, the holiday circuits, and the dated posts from the years we covered a festival as news.

Annual Events Alpine Days: Alpine's Week-Long August Celebration — the Professional Rodeo, the Carnival, the Parade Up Main Street, the Creekside Park Boutique and the Saturday Fireworks Annual Events Art City Days: Springville's June Celebration, and the Three Art Events People Keep Confusing Annual Events Balloon Fest at Fox Field: Provo's Best Free Morning of the Year Festivals Christmas in Provo: Holiday Events & Lights Guide Annual Events Colonial Days in Orem: The Living-History Festival Locals Underrate Annual Events Cornbelly's vs. the Rest: Every Fall Farm Festival in Utah Valley — Corn Mazes, Sunflower Fields, Scarecrows and Haunted Fields, Compared Festivals FanX From Utah Valley: What a Three-Day Pop Culture Convention Actually Costs, Whether to Bring the Children, and Why You Should Take the Train Annual Events Festival Latinoamericano: Provo's Biggest Free Festival Is the One Nobody Writes About Annual Events Fiesta Days: Spanish Fork's Rodeo Week and the Valley's Biggest 24th of July Annual Events Fork Fest: American Fork's Festival of Utah Bands at Art Dye Park — Three Stages, the Forest Stage, a Friday Kickoff and a Family Day in the Park Annual Events Golden Onion Days: Inside Utah's Oldest Labor Day Celebration Festivals How to Actually Watch the Soldier Hollow Classic: What a Sheepdog Trial Is, How to Read a Run, and Why the Best Seats Are the Cheap Ones Annual Events Imaginaria at Thanksgiving Point: The Summer Play Festival in the Ashton Gardens — Themed Play Zones, the Obstacle Course, Splash Areas, Tickets and How to Plan a Day Annual Events Lehi Round-Up: The Rodeo Week That Predates Silicon Slopes by 85 Years Annual Events Lindon Days: Lindon's Week-Long Summer Celebration, Night by Night — the Junior Rodeo, Huck Finn Fishing, the Grand Parade, Free Swim Day and the Pheasant Brook Fireworks Annual Events Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point: The Light Walk, Explained (2026-27 Dates, Tickets, the Crowd Math) Annual Events Mapleton Pioneer Days: Mapleton's Mid-July Week — the Pioneer Festival, the Parade Down Main Street, the Ping Pong Ball Drop and the Firework Finale Annual Events Midway Swiss Days: The Complete Guide Festivals Obon and Japanese Utah: The Ninety-Year-Old Festival, the Two Buildings Left of Japantown, and Why the Street Gets Closed Every July Annual Events Orchard Days: Santaquin's Rodeo Week, and Why the Aggregators Keep Getting the Dates Wrong Annual Events Oremfest: The Orem Summerfest That Had to Change Its Name Festivals Payson Scottish Festival & Highland Games: The Complete Guide Festivals Pioneer Day, Explained: Why Utah Shuts Down on July 24 Annual Events Pony Express Days: The Celebration That Spreads Across Three Weekends Festivals Provo Freedom Festival: The Complete Guide Festivals RootsTech From Utah Valley: The World's Biggest Genealogy Conference Is Forty-Five Minutes Away, and Two of Its Three Tiers Are Free Annual Events Salem Days: Salem's Week-Long August Celebration, Night by Night — the Little Buckaroo Rodeo, the Tractor Pull, the Cardboard Boat Regatta, the Dutch-Oven Cook-Off and the Fireworks Over Salem Pond Annual Events Saratoga Splash Days: Saratoga Springs' Mid-June Celebration — the Foam Bash, the Carnival at Neptune Park, the Parade and the Fireworks Over Patriot Park Annual Events Springville World Folkfest: Utah's International Folk-Dance Festival Annual Events Stadium of Fire: How Provo's Fourth of July Actually Works Annual Events Steel Days: How American Fork Takes Over Two Full Weeks in July Annual Events Strawberry Days: Utah's Longest-Running City Celebration, and the Town That Stopped Growing Strawberries Festivals Sundance Oktoberfest and the Harvest Mini Markets: What the Resort's Autumn Actually Is, and What Changed This Year Festivals Taste of Orem: How the Ticket Sheets Actually Work, What Twenty Tickets Buys You, and How to Do a Tasting Festival Without Wasting Half of It Annual Events TEDxProvo: Provo's Own TEDx Event — How It Started, How It Works, Why Tickets Go Fast, and How to Catch the Next One Annual Events Thanksgiving in Utah Valley: Who's Open, What Sells Out, and the Student Problem Annual Events The Cedar Hills Family Festival: Cedar Hills' Early-June Celebration — the Car Show, the Parade to Heritage Park, the Ducky Derby and the Fireworks Over the Golf Course Festivals The Heber Valley Western Music and Cowboy Poetry Gathering Is Not Running, and Most Listings Still Say It Is: What It Was, Why It Stopped, and What Would Have to Happen for It to Come Back Annual Events The Highland Fling: Highland's Summer Celebration, Night by Night — Kickoff Night, the Luau, the Highland Games, Tarp Fishing, the Grand Parade and the Saturday Fireworks Annual Events The Orem Asian Festival: University Place's Free Spring Celebration of Asian Cultures — When It Happens, What to Expect at The Orchard, and Where to Find More Annual Events The Small-City Celebration Circuit: Utah County's Other Summer Festivals Annual Events The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival: What It Is and How to Do It Right Annual Events The Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point: Dates, Tickets, the Bloom Timing and the Crowd Math — Six Weeks, 400,000 Tulips, and How to Pick the Right Day (2027) Festivals The Utah Asian Festival: The State's Biggest Pan-Asian Day Out, Why It Is at the Fairpark in June, and How It Differs From Orem's Shopping The Utah Flower Market at Grove Station: The Wednesday Hour When You Can Buy Utah-Grown Flowers Direct, and How the Wholesale Half Works Annual Events The Utah Valley Parade of Homes: How It Works, How Tickets Work & How to Actually Tour It Annual Events The Water Lantern Festival in Salem: Utah County's Floating-Lantern Night at Knoll Park on Salem Pond — How It Works, What a Ticket Includes, and How to Catch the Next One Festivals Utah County Fair & Rodeo: The Complete Guide Annual Events Vineyard Days: Vineyard's Five-Day June Festival, Day by Day — Heritage Day, Huck Finn Fishing, the Car Show, the Friday Block Party and the Saturday Parade and Fireworks Festivals Wasatch County Fair Days: The Ten-Day Heber Fair, the Demolition Derby That Sells Out in June, and the PRCA Rodeo Most of Utah Valley Has Never Been To

From the Wire

Dated coverage of festivals as they happened; the evergreen guide for each is above.

New this month

The most recently written or updated guides under this hub, by their last edit.

Frequently asked

What is the biggest festival in Utah Valley?

By attendance, America's Freedom Festival in Provo, which runs for two weeks up to the Fourth of July and includes the Grand Parade, the Balloon Fest and Stadium of Fire. By reputation among locals, the rodeo weeks: Strawberry Days, Lehi Round-Up, Fiesta Days and Orchard Days. Festival Latinoamericano is the biggest free festival in Provo itself.

When is festival season?

Two waves. June and July belong to the rodeo weeks and the Fourth; August belongs to the small cities, one after another on the same weeks every year — the small-city circuit explains the sequence. Labor Day weekend brings Golden Onion Days, Festival Latinoamericano and Swiss Days at once; then the farms take October and the light walks take the dark months. The Tulip Festival in April opens the year.

Which festivals have a rodeo?

Strawberry Days, Lehi Round-Up, Fiesta Days, Orchard Days, Alpine Days, Pony Express Days and the Utah County Fair. The rodeo is usually the one ticketed event inside a free week, and the Strawberry Days and Alpine Days rodeos sell out early. The finder has a rodeo filter.

Are the city celebrations free?

Most of the week is; the rodeo and the carnival rides are the ticketed parts. Stadium of Fire, Luminaria, the Tulip Festival, Cornbelly's and the World Folkfest are ticketed throughout.

How do I know this year's dates are right?

Each guide states the last dates we verified and links the organizer. The finder shows next year's dates only where a city has published them and otherwise marks its estimate as expected. Aggregators roll last year's weekend forward without checking; we would rather say "expected" than be confidently wrong.

What happens on Pioneer Day?

July 24 is a state holiday and the valley's version is scattered: Fiesta Days ends on it with the valley's biggest 24th parade, Steel Days surrounds it, and Salt Lake's Days of '47 is the big-city version an hour north. Pioneer Day, explained covers why the day can feel bigger than the Fourth.