Hyde Park Hometown Days.

It is held each July, on a Friday and Saturday, and in recent years it has fallen on the third weekend of the month. The exact dates move a little year to year, so check hpcutah.gov or the city's Facebook page for the current year before you plan around it. Friday is the evening events and Saturday is the full day, from the fun run at seven in the morning to the fireworks after dark.

The heart of it is Church Square in the center of Hyde Park, near Center Street, with the parade running the main streets through town and the bike race over at Lions Park. Hyde Park sits on US-91 between North Logan and Smithfield, about ten minutes north of Logan. Almost everything is within a few blocks, so the plan is to park once and walk.

It is free to attend. The parade, the car show, the games on the square, the family wildlife show, the bike race, bingo and the fireworks all cost nothing to watch. The paid pieces are a handful of small fees: the Fun Run has a small entry fee that has recently run about five dollars, the Hyde Porker barbecue has a larger fee to compete, and building a box car at the Autobody Shop costs a couple of dollars. Food and drinks are for sale throughout.

It is the Hometown Days parade, and it steps off around ten in the morning on Saturday down the town's main streets. It is a true small town parade: floats, tractors, the youth council, candy for the kids, and horses, which are specifically invited, with a good natured prize for the best circle a rider can lay down in the road. The exact route can change from year to year with street work, so watch for the posted route and claim a shaded curb early.

The Hyde Porker is the town's Friday rib cook off, held to crown the year's Hyde Porker Pit Master. Teams bring their own grills, smokers and seasonings and work a rack of pork ribs, and judges pick first, second and third. There is an entry fee, recently around thirty five dollars, and the field is capped at the first handful of teams to sign up and pay, so it is something you enter ahead of time rather than a walk up. If you are just there to eat, food is for sale on the square while it cooks.

Yes. The Fun Run and Walk opens Saturday at seven in the morning, with a one mile option and a 5K, for a small entry fee that has recently run about five dollars a person. It is family paced rather than a serious race. A little later, around half past eight, there is Yoga on the Lawn for anyone who would rather stretch than run.

Quite a lot. Friday night has the Kids Box Car contest, where children build and paint a cardboard car, with boxes handed out at the city office beforehand and an Autobody Shop to build one on the spot. Saturday brings the parade with candy and horses, and then the square fills with carnival games, inflatables, the youth council's barrel train rides, a dunk tank, a firefighter's hose to cool off in, and a family wildlife and reptile show. The fireworks close the night.

On the neighborhood streets around Church Square. The parade closes some of the streets through the center of town, so come in early, park a block or two off the route, and walk. Because everything else that day happens on or beside the square, one parking spot covers the whole day if you plan to stay.

It is one of the quieter Saturday traditions, a sit down social held near the square alongside a round of bingo. It is the part of the weekend that gives Hometown Days the feel of a reunion rather than a festival, a place to sit in the shade and catch up while the games run outside. Like the rest of the day, it is free.