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Events River Heights

River Heights' signature weekend, held each August

River Heights Apple Days, the biggest parade in the littlest town.

River Heights covers less than a square mile on the bench above the Logan River, and once a year it throws a festival bigger than the town has any right to. Apple Days runs across a week each August and lands on one full Saturday of runs, races, a talent show, a dance and a parade that draws Cache Valley to the curb. It has been called the biggest parade in the littlest town, and the name it carries, from Zollinger's orchard just up River Heights Boulevard, is older than the apples are ready.

On this page The short answer The parade The day's events Events at a glance Getting there FAQ
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah Updated August 2026

The short answer

Apple Days is River Heights' one signature weekend, a small-town festival built around a single big Saturday every August. The week ahead of it stacks up a pickleball tournament, doubles tennis, a chalk contest and a movie in the park, and then the Saturday brings a morning 5K, the iHelp Foundation fun run at Heber Olson Park, children's bicycle barrel races, a Star Search talent contest, the Apple Darlings dance, a children's parade and the main parade, and an evening program with a Lions Club dinner. The parade is the draw, and it is the reason a town this size runs a celebration this big. One caution up front: only the most recent schedule is ever firm, so treat the dates as August and confirm the current year at riverheights.gov.

What River Heights' annual Apple Days, a week of events around one full Saturday
When Each August; the exact dates move year to year, so confirm before you plan
Where Heber Olson Park and the town streets, on the bench just south of Logan
Cost The parade and most of the day are free; the runs and dinner have a fee
Who runs it The city's Apple Days committee, with the Lions Club and the iHelp Foundation

The weekend at a glance

  1. The main parade and children's parade
  2. The morning 5K and iHelp fun run
  3. Children's bicycle barrel races
  4. Star Search talent contest
  5. The Apple Darlings dance
  6. Pickleball and doubles tennis
  7. Evening program and Lions Club dinner
  8. The apple name and the Zollinger tie
  9. Every event in one table
Planning sections Events at a glance Getting there and the day More on River Heights Quick answers

The main event

The biggest parade in the littlest town.

River Heights is a bench town of well under a square mile, and its Apple Days parade is famous for being far larger than the place around it. That is not marketing. The committee that runs the day says it plainly, the biggest parade in the littlest town, and on the Saturday afternoon the streets fill deep with people who drove in from Logan, Providence, Hyrum and the rest of the valley to line the route. Candy flies from the floats, the local groups and businesses roll through, and the whole thing has the feel of a county event squeezed onto small-town streets.

It comes in two waves. A children's parade goes first in the afternoon, a short loop of decorated bikes, wagons and small floats, and then the main parade follows, longer and louder. If you want a good curb spot you show up early, because for a parade this popular the shade and the corners go first. There is no admission and no reserved seating; it is a bring-a-chair, claim-a-strip-of-grass kind of afternoon.

The parade is the anchor the rest of the weekend hangs on. Everything else, the runs in the morning, the races and contests through the day, the program and dinner at night, is timed around getting people to town for the four o'clock hour when the main parade steps off. If you only do one piece of Apple Days, this is the piece.

The details

WhereThrough the streets of River Heights, with the crowd thickest near the park
From central River HeightsYou are already on the route; it runs through the middle of town
SeasonThe Saturday of Apple Days, each August
CostFree to watch, no reserved seating
Time neededCome early for a spot; the children's parade and main parade run back to back

Before you go

  • Arrive well ahead of the four o'clock hour for a shaded curb spot; the popular corners fill fast.
  • The children's parade rolls through first, then the main parade, so plan to stay through both.
  • Streets along the route close to traffic; park a block or two off and walk in.
  • The full run of what to see in town is on the things to do in River Heights page.

The rest of the day

Runs, races, a talent show, and a dance.

The parade is the headline, but Apple Days fills the hours around it, and the week before it, with the kind of small events a town organizes for itself. Here is what runs, roughly in the order of the day.

The morning runs

The Saturday opens with running. The town's own 5K goes off in the morning, and has set out from River Heights Elementary. Alongside it, the iHelp Foundation puts on a fun run at Heber Olson Park with one mile, 5K and 10K distances and an early start; that one is registered through the foundation rather than the city, so sign up ahead if you want a bib. Two runs on one morning is a lot for a town this small, and it is a fair sign of how much the place leans into the weekend.

The children's bicycle barrel races

In the early afternoon the barrel races take over. Children ride a course looped around barrels, a bike-handling event closer to a rodeo cloverleaf than a straight sprint, and it is one of the day's set pieces before the parade. It costs nothing to enter or to watch, and it is the kind of thing that keeps the younger crowd busy through the middle of the day.

Star Search and the Apple Darlings

Apple Days has its own stage traditions. The Star Search talent contest gives local performers a slot to compete, and the Apple Darlings dance performance is a recurring feature of the celebration. Both are the sort of homegrown entertainment a small festival builds up over years, and they run on their own scheduled slots across the weekend rather than at a fixed clock time you can count on from year to year.

Pickleball, tennis, and the week before

Apple Days is not only the Saturday. A pickleball tournament runs across several days earlier in the week, with a doubles tennis bracket alongside it, and the run-up also tends to carry a sidewalk chalk contest and a movie in the park after dark. By the time the parade Saturday arrives, the town has already had most of a week of it. The courts and fields that host the tournaments are covered on the River Heights parks and recreation page.

The evening at Heber Olson Park

After the parade the day gathers at Heber Olson Park, at 400 South 600 East, for the evening. There is a short program, the Lions Club serves dinner, and there is entertainment to close it out. It is the low-key end of a full day, the point where the crowd that lined the parade route settles onto the grass. The park itself, Ryan's Place and the ball fields and courts around it, is the recreation heart of River Heights the rest of the year too.

Events at a glance

The whole weekend, in one table.

The component events, with the day they usually fall on and where they happen. Times shift year to year, so this stays to the part of the day rather than a fixed clock hour. Confirm the current schedule at the city site before you build a day around it.

The event Day Where Time of day Cost
Pickleball tournamentEarlier in the weekRiver Heights courtsAcross several daysEntry fee
Doubles tennisEarlier in the weekRiver Heights courtsBracket playEntry fee
Sidewalk chalk contestEarlier in the weekIn townDaytimeFree
Movie in the parkFridayHeber Olson ParkAfter darkFree
Town 5KSaturdayFrom River Heights ElementaryMorningRegistration fee
iHelp fun run, 1 mile, 5K, 10KSaturdayHeber Olson ParkEarly morningRegistration fee
Children's bicycle barrel racesSaturdayRiver HeightsEarly afternoonFree
Star Search talent contestApple Days weekendRiver HeightsScheduled slotFree to watch
Apple Darlings danceApple Days weekendRiver HeightsScheduled slotFree to watch
Children's paradeSaturdayTown streetsMid afternoonFree
Main paradeSaturdayTown streetsLate afternoonFree
Evening program and dinnerSaturdayHeber Olson ParkEveningFree program, dinner sold

Confirm the dates before you plan. Apple Days is a reliably August celebration, but the exact days and start times change from one year to the next, and only the current year's schedule is ever posted with confidence. Check the city site, riverheights.gov, for this year's Apple Days dates and the run registration links before you travel or block out a Saturday.

The name

Why an August festival is named for apples.

The obvious question about Apple Days is why it runs in August, when the apples on the trees are still weeks from ripe. The answer is in the town's history and its orchard.

From the Food and Fun Festival

The celebration was not always Apple Days. Through the earlier years it went by the Food and Fun Festival, and it took its current shape in 1998, when a new committee took the weekend over and rebuilt it around the parade, the morning runs and the day at Heber Olson Park. They renamed it Apple Days, tying it to the orchard and the fruit-growing story of the town, and it has carried that name ever since.

The Zollinger orchard tie

The apple in the name is Zollinger Fruit and Tree Farm, the family orchard on River Heights Boulevard that has grown fruit here since 1904 and is the largest horticulture business in Cache County, with more than a dozen apple varieties among its trees. Apple Days honors that orchard and the town's fruit heritage. The apples themselves do not come on until October, so the August festival is a nod to the harvest ahead rather than a celebration of one already in.

The orchard is a stop in its own right the rest of the year, for cider, caramel apples and the u-pick season; it leads the things to do in River Heights list.

Getting there and the day

Where it is, and how to do the day.

River Heights sits directly south of Logan, on the bench above the river, which makes Apple Days one of the easiest festivals in the valley to reach. Here is the practical side.

Finding the park and the route

The hubHeber Olson Park, 400 South 600 East, River Heights, where the runs, program and dinner center
From central River HeightsWalking distance; the town is small enough to leave the car at home
From downtown LoganTwo to five minutes south, off the south edge of the city
ParkingOn side streets a block off the route, which closes to traffic for the parade
The 5K startRiver Heights Elementary has been the town run's starting point

Make a day of it

Run in the morning, take the barrel races and contests through the afternoon, hold a curb spot for the parade at four, then settle at the park for the program and dinner. It reads as one continuous day if you want it to.

Pair it with Logan

Logan is two minutes north with its own full calendar. If you are timing a Cache Valley trip, the Logan events and annual calendar lays out what else is on that month.

Bring the basics

Camp chairs, water and sun cover for an August afternoon on open streets, and cash for the Lions Club dinner and any vendor booths. Most of the day costs nothing, but the small things run on cash.

Keep reading

More on the town and the valley.

In town

Things to Do in River Heights

Zollinger's orchard, Heber Olson Park, Stewart Hill, the 1891 Olson House and the valley overlook.

Read the guide

Parks and courts

River Heights Parks and Recreation

Heber Olson Park, Ryan's Place, Stewart Hill and the courts and fields that host the Apple Days tournaments.

Read the guide

The town

River Heights on The Local

The bench town above the Logan River, its parks, its orchard and its one big weekend, in one place.

Open the hub

Next door

Logan Events and Annual Calendar

Summerfest, the Gardeners' Market, the county fair and the Cruise-In, two minutes north, month by month.

Read the guide

The region

Cache Valley on The Local

Logan Canyon, Bear Lake over the summit, the ski hills, farm country and the towns around the valley floor.

Open the region

The city guide

River Heights homes and moving

Prices, lots, school boundaries and current listings, for anyone weighing a move to River Heights.

Open the city guide

Quick answers

Apple Days, answered.

Apple Days runs each August in River Heights, and it has for years, though the exact dates move from year to year. The week builds across several days, with a pickleball tournament, a sidewalk chalk contest and a movie in the park earlier on, then the big Saturday of runs, races and the parade. Because only the current schedule is firm, check the dates at the city site, riverheights.gov, before you plan around it.

It is River Heights' own description of the Apple Days parade, and the town earns it. River Heights covers less than a square mile, yet its Saturday parade draws crowds from across Cache Valley and lines the streets deep. Candy flies from the floats, a children's parade rolls through first in the afternoon, and the main parade follows. For a town this small to run a parade this size is the whole joke and the pride behind it.

The name comes from Zollinger Fruit and Tree Farm, the family orchard on River Heights Boulevard that has grown fruit here since 1904 and is the largest horticulture business in Cache County, with more than a dozen apple varieties. The festival keeps the apple name as a nod to that orchard and the town's fruit-growing roots, even though it lands in August and the apple harvest itself does not come on until October.

The Food and Fun Festival. When a new committee took over the celebration in 1998, they renamed it Apple Days and rebuilt it around the parade, the runs and the day at Heber Olson Park. The apple name tied the event to Zollinger's orchard and the town's fruit heritage, and it has been Apple Days ever since.

The Saturday is the heart of it: a morning 5K, the iHelp Foundation fun run with one mile, 5K and 10K options at Heber Olson Park, children's bicycle barrel races in the early afternoon, the children's parade and then the main parade, and an evening at Heber Olson Park with a short program, a Lions Club dinner and entertainment. Across the week you also get a pickleball tournament, doubles tennis, a Star Search talent contest, an Apple Darlings dance performance, a sidewalk chalk contest and a movie in the park.

The hub is Heber Olson Park at 400 South 600 East in River Heights, where the fun run starts and the evening program and dinner take place. The parade runs through the town's streets, and the separate morning 5K has started from River Heights Elementary. River Heights sits directly south of Logan, so the whole event is a couple of minutes off Logan's south edge.

It is the fun run held on the Apple Days Saturday at Heber Olson Park, with one mile, 5K and 10K distances and an early morning start. The iHelp Foundation organizes it, with registration through the foundation rather than the city, so sign up ahead if you want a bib. It is separate from the town's own 5K earlier that morning.

The parade, the children's bicycle barrel races and the evening program at the park are free to watch and take part in. The runs charge a registration fee, the Lions Club dinner is sold on site, and a few activities across the week may carry a small cost. It is an inexpensive day out either way, and most of what draws the crowd costs nothing.

Apple Days is River Heights' one signature weekend, a compact small-town festival built around a single big Saturday. Logan, two minutes north, spreads its calendar across the year with Summerfest, the Gardeners' Market, the county fair and the Cruise-In. If you want the full Cache Valley run of festivals, the Logan events and annual calendar page lays them out month by month.

Scott Buehler, Moving Utah

A festival tells you what a town is like to live in.

A parade this big in a town this small is a real signal, of a place that still organizes itself and turns out for its own weekend. What Apple Days cannot tell you is whether River Heights fits your household: what the bench lots run, where the school boundaries fall, and how the two-minute reach into Logan changes the math. Tell me what you are weighing and I will introduce you to a Cache County partner agent who knows this town, and stay on the file for the research and the financing side.

Open the River Heights guide Talk to Scott

Referral disclosure. Outside Southern Utah, I connect home sellers and buyers with partner agents I trust in their area. If you choose to work with an agent I refer, that agent's brokerage pays my brokerage (Real Broker, LLC) a referral fee. The fee comes out of the agent's compensation; it is not an added cost to you. You are always free to choose any agent you wish, and using a referred agent is never required.