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Spring event Smithfield

A Smithfield tradition every May since 1925

Smithfield Health Days.

Every May, Smithfield gives over a whole week to a festival it has held without a break since 1925, and it is the reason the town bills itself as Utah's Health City. It began as a single day about children's health and grew, one added event at a time, into a week that fills Mack Park and Main Street with a parade, a Fun Run, horse pulls, a youth rodeo and a carnival. Here is what the week actually is, where it came from, and how to time a visit.

On this page The short answer The week itself Where it came from The anchors Getting there FAQ
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah Updated August 2026

The short answer

Smithfield Health Days is the town's signature festival, a week of events every May that has run every year since 1925. It centers on Mack Park and Main Street, and its anchors are a Saturday parade, a Fun Run, horse pulls and a youth rodeo, wrapped around a carnival, a car show, a chalk art festival, a mountain bike challenge, a pickleball tournament and the Health Days pageant. Most of it is free to watch, a few pieces take a small entry, and Smithfield sets the exact dates fresh each year, so confirm the current schedule before you plan a trip around it.

Where Mack Park, 325 East Canyon Road, and Main Street, Smithfield
From central Smithfield A few minutes to the park and Main Street; about twelve to fifteen from Logan
Season A week each May, building to the main Saturday; confirm the current year dates
Cost Free to watch; the Fun Run and a few events charge an entry
Time needed An hour for the parade, a full day if you work the park and events

The week itself, a town given over to one celebration

Mack Park and Main Street Mostly free A week in May

Health Days is not a one afternoon event you drop in on. It is a week that Smithfield plans its spring around, spread across evenings and mornings and then poured into a single big Saturday. The rhythm is simple enough to follow. The lead up days carry the events you sign up for, the music, the art and the competitions, and the final Saturday is the public heart of it, when the parade comes down Main Street and the park fills with booths, food, foot races, inflatables and the car show.

What holds it together is a theme the town has kept for a hundred years: health, read broadly. The modern week treats that as physical, mental and social all at once, which is why a Fun Run and a mountain bike challenge sit on the same calendar as a chalk art festival, a Battle of the Bands and a park full of neighbors visiting booths. It is a community build rather than a promoter's show, and that is the reason it has lasted.

The lead up, the events you enter

Through the week, the festival runs the pieces that take a sign up. There is a chalk art festival and a Battle of the Bands, the Stratford Loosle cup for young musicians, a pickleball tournament, a mountain bike challenge, a kids bike race and a Smithfield Youth Theatre production. Several of these carry a small entry and fill up ahead of the day, so if you want to take part rather than watch, check the current Health Days listing early and register.

The Saturday, the part everyone comes for

The main Saturday is the free, public face of the week. The Fun Run steps off early from Mack Park, the parade rolls down Main Street later in the morning, and the horse pulls and youth rodeo draw a crowd to the arena. Between them the park carries the Show and Shine car show, the carnival, booths and races, and the Health Days pageant. It is the day to bring the family and simply show up, no ticket required for the bulk of it.

The details

WhereMack Park, 325 East Canyon Road, and Main Street, Smithfield
From central SmithfieldA few minutes to either the park or Main Street
SeasonA week each May, with the big day on the Saturday
CostFree to watch; entered events charge a small fee
Time neededAn hour for the parade, a full day to work the whole Saturday

Before you go

  • The Saturday is the one to plan for if you only come once; the parade and the park are the free, no reservation core of the week.
  • The Fun Run, the pickleball tournament and the mountain bike challenge take registration, so sign up ahead rather than the day of.
  • Mack Park, and the rest of Smithfield's parks, are covered on the Smithfield parks and recreation page.

Where it came from, one day in 1925

Since 1925 100th in 2025 Utah's Health City

The festival started as a single Health Day in 1925. Summit School principal Sarah McCracken organized it after a national call for towns to promote wellness, and the first version was built around children's health, dental health in particular. Students who earned a clean report from the dentist got to march in a parade, and that little civic reward is where the whole tradition begins. The mayor was impressed enough to make it an annual event, and it never stopped.

From there it grew the way small town traditions do, one added activity at a time, until a single Health Day had turned into a week of Health Days. The town leaned into the idea and came to call itself Utah's Health City, a claim the festival earns simply by having set aside time to it every year for a century. In May 2025 Smithfield marked the 100th celebration, running the week from May 3 to 10, proof that the thing has genuinely run without a gap.

Why the name stuck

Utah's Health City is not a marketing line bolted on later; it grew straight out of what the town chose to celebrate. Because the original day was about health, and because Smithfield kept setting aside a week for it every May, the identity and the festival became the same thing. The modern week reads health broadly, which is how a footrace, a bike challenge and a pageant all end up under one banner, but the through line back to 1925 is unbroken.

The details

WhereSmithfield, on US-91 in northern Cache Valley
From central SmithfieldThe festival grounds sit right in town at Mack Park and Main Street
SeasonHeld every May since 1925; the 100th ran in 2025
CostFree to attend the parade and the park
Time neededA few minutes to read the story on Main Street; a day to live it

The anchors

The parade, the arena and the Fun Run, side by side.

Three pieces do the heavy lifting on the main Saturday, and they suit different visitors. The parade is the free, easy, show up and watch option. The horse pulls and youth rodeo are the ticketed arena draw. The Fun Run is the one you take part in. Here is how they compare.

What to compare The parade Horse pulls and youth rodeo The Fun Run
What it isA community parade down Main StreetDraft horse pulls and a youth rodeo in the arenaA morning road race from Mack Park
WhenMid morning on the main SaturdayOn the Saturday, around the parade and park eventsEarly Saturday morning, before the parade
WhereMain StreetThe arena near the festival groundsStarts and finishes at Mack Park
CostFree to watchMay carry an entry or seating feeRegistration fee; usually open to race time
Distances or formatFloats, riders, bands and civic entriesDraft teams and youth ridersA 10K, a 5K and the shorter Mayor's Mile
Best if you wantAn easy, free family morningThe old fashioned arena spectacleTo be in it, not just watch it

If you only do one thing

Find a spot on Main Street for the parade, then drift over to Mack Park for the booths and the car show. That free stretch of the Saturday is the festival at its most Smithfield.

If you want the arena

Aim for the horse pulls and the youth rodeo. The draft teams are a genuine throwback, and the youth rodeo is the kind of small town event that is getting harder to find.

If you like to compete

Register for the Fun Run and pick your distance, the 10K, the 5K or the Mayor's Mile. The pickleball tournament and the bike challenge are the other ways to take part.

Getting there

Parking, the road in, and timing the Saturday.

Smithfield sits on US-91 a short drive north of Logan, and the festival grounds are easy to find on the east side of town toward the canyon. The only real planning is around the parade closure and the Saturday crowd.

WhereMack Park, 325 East Canyon Road, and Main Street, Smithfield
From central SmithfieldA few minutes to the grounds; about twelve to fifteen from Logan
SeasonA week each May; confirm the current year dates
CostFree to attend and to park; some events charge
Time neededBudget a full morning for the parade and the park on Saturday

Parking and the parade closure

On the main Saturday, Main Street closes for the parade and the nearby streets fill, so leave a little extra time and expect to walk a block or two from the car. Mack Park is the anchor for the Fun Run, the booths and the events, so if you are heading for those, aim for the park side of town and the streets around 325 East Canyon Road.

Coming from out of town

Getting here means crossing Sardine Canyon: there is no interstate into Cache Valley, so from the Wasatch Front you take US-89 and US-91 up from Brigham City, then follow Main Street north past Logan into Smithfield. A visit pairs naturally with a day in Logan, twelve to fifteen minutes south, on the Logan events calendar.

Confirm the current year dates before you plan a trip around it. Health Days runs a week in May that Smithfield sets fresh each year, and the posted dates do not always agree across the city, the recreation department and the Fun Run registration, so pin them down close to the event. As a fixed point, the 100th celebration ran May 3 to 10 in 2025, with the parade on Saturday, May 10. Treat that as the pattern, not this year's calendar, and take the exact dates and the event times from the city or the recreation department. Checked August 2026.

Keep reading

More of Smithfield and the valley around it.

The rest of the year

Things to Do in Smithfield

The canyon, Mack Park, the Sky View pool and the Main Street walk, beyond the one week in May.

Read the guide

Where it happens

Smithfield Parks and Recreation

Mack Park at the canyon mouth, the fields and disc golf at Forrester Acres, and the Sky View pool.

Read the guide

The valley calendar

Logan Events and Annual Calendar

Summerfest, the Gardeners' Market, the Cache County Fair and the Cruise-In, month by month.

Read the guide

Up the canyon

Smithfield Canyon

The campground, the trail toward Mount Naomi Wilderness and gentler Birch Canyon, at the town's back door.

Read the guide

The whole region

Cache Valley on The Local

Logan Canyon, Bear Lake over the summit, the ski hills and the farm country, town by town.

Open the region

The city guide

Smithfield homes and neighborhoods

Prices, neighborhoods, schools and current listings, for anyone weighing a move to Smithfield.

Open the city guide

Quick answers

Smithfield Health Days, answered.

It runs for about a week each May, building to a full Saturday of events, and Smithfield sets the exact dates fresh every year. The 100th celebration ran May 3 to 10 in 2025, with the parade on Saturday, May 10. Posted dates sometimes disagree between the city, the recreation department and the Fun Run registration, so confirm the current year before you plan a trip around it.

It is Smithfield's signature community festival, a week of events every May centered on Mack Park and Main Street. The anchors are the Saturday parade, the Fun Run, the horse pulls and the youth rodeo, and the week fills out with a carnival, the Show and Shine car show, a chalk art festival, Battle of the Bands, a pickleball tournament, a mountain bike challenge and the Health Days pageant. It has run every year since 1925.

The core of it is free. Watching the parade, walking the booths at the park and taking in the carnival atmosphere cost nothing. Some pieces carry a small entry, like the Fun Run, the pickleball tournament and the mountain bike challenge, which take registration ahead of the day. Treat the free parts as the heart of the week and the ticketed events as optional add ons.

It centers on Mack Park at 325 East Canyon Road, on the east side of town where Smithfield Canyon opens up, and on Main Street, which the parade runs down mid morning on the Saturday. The Fun Run starts and finishes at Mack Park, and the booths, carnival and park activities fill the same grounds through the day.

It began in 1925 as a single Health Day, organized by Summit School principal Sarah McCracken after a national call for communities to promote wellness. The first event was built around children's dental health, and students who earned a clean bill from the dentist got to march in the parade. The mayor liked it enough to make it annual, and over the decades one day grew into a week, so Health Day became Health Days.

The nickname grew straight out of the festival. Because Smithfield has set aside time every May since 1925 to promote health, the town came to bill itself as Utah's Health City, and Health Days is where the name lives. The modern week frames health broadly, physical, mental and social, which is why it mixes a Fun Run and a bike challenge with a parade, a pageant and a park full of booths.

The Saturday anchors are the parade, the Fun Run, the horse pulls and the youth rodeo. Around them the week adds a carnival, the Show and Shine car show, a chalk art festival, Battle of the Bands, the Stratford Loosle young musicians cup, a pickleball tournament, a mountain bike challenge, a kids bike race, the Smithfield Youth Theatre production and the Health Days pageant. The exact lineup and times shift year to year, so check the current schedule.

Both fall on the main Saturday of the week. The Fun Run steps off first, early in the morning from Mack Park, with a 10K, a 5K and the shorter Mayor's Mile, and registration usually stays open up to race time. The parade comes later in the morning, running down Main Street, and after it the booths, foot races, inflatables and the car show take over the park.

Smithfield sits on US-91 about twelve to fifteen minutes north of Logan, and Health Days centers on Mack Park on the east side of town toward the canyon. Cache Valley has no freeway of its own, so from the Wasatch Front the way in is US-89 and US-91 over Sardine Canyon from Brigham City, roughly an hour and a half from Salt Lake City. On the Saturday, expect Main Street to close for the parade and park nearby streets to fill.

Scott Buehler, Moving Utah

A week in May, and a town worth a longer look.

A week of Health Days is the warmest way to meet Smithfield, but a festival cannot tell you whether the town fits a household. That answer lives in the ordinary details: where the school boundaries fall, which lots back up against the canyon or the creek, whether secondary water conveys with a parcel, and what a home is really selling for on a given street. Tell me what you are weighing and I will connect you with a Cache County partner agent who knows these blocks, then stay with you through the research and the financing.

Explore Smithfield 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.