Every July North Ogden
North Ogden's summer festival, from the free rodeo to the parade
Cherry Days, North Ogden's Fourth of July
Cherry Days is North Ogden's own festival, a week of events around the Fourth of July that the city has run for generations. The rodeo is free, the parade comes down Washington Boulevard, and the morning of the Fourth brings a 5K, with a car show, a vendor market, a luau, a night at the pool and evening concerts filling out the week. It is named for the fruit this bench above Ogden was once known for, and it is still the busiest week on the town's calendar. Here is what happens, where it happens, and how to plan around it.
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah
Updated October 2026
The short answer
Cherry Days is North Ogden's town festival, a week of events built around the Fourth of July and run by the city itself. The centerpiece is a parade down Washington Boulevard, with a rodeo the city keeps free, a 5K on the morning of the Fourth, a car show, a vendor market, a luau, an evening at the city pool and outdoor concerts spread across the week. Most of it happens on Washington Boulevard and in the city parks: North Ogden Park, Barker Park, and Equestrian Park for the rodeo. The exact dates shift a little each year and the city posts the schedule close to the date, so check the current year with North Ogden City before you plan travel around it.
What it is
A town festival the city runs itself, around the Fourth of July
Cherry Days is North Ogden's own celebration, and the city runs it. It sits under the parks and recreation department, the events land on the city's own boulevard and in its own parks, and the city publishes the schedule and takes the entries. It happens around the Fourth of July, which makes it the town's Independence Day too, and it has been the busiest week on the local calendar for generations. If you are new to the bench and wondering what the banners along Washington Boulevard in early summer are about, this is the answer.
The shape of the week is a parade, a rodeo and a run, wrapped in the smaller events a town festival collects over the years. Where a bigger city's Fourth might be one night of fireworks, North Ogden spreads it across several days: a car show one day, a luau another, a night at the pool, a market, a pickleball bracket and a volleyball tournament, and concerts in the evenings. The 2026 edition was themed 250 Years in the Making for the country's semiquincentennial, which gives you a sense of the register. It is a civic event in the plain sense, put on by the town for the town.
What happens
A parade, a free rodeo and a 5K, with a week of smaller events around them
The parade is the anchor. It comes down Washington Boulevard through the middle of North Ogden, and there is a separate children's parade alongside the main one. The rodeo is the other headline, and it is one of the few events the city marks free, which answers the first question most people have about a summer festival. The 5K runs early on the morning of the Fourth, before the day heats up, and it is the event most tightly tied to a fixed spot on the calendar.
Around those three, the week fills in. There is a car show, a vendor market and a separate children's market, a luau, and an evening at the North Shore Aquatic Center the city calls Flick N Float. A pickleball tournament and a four on four volleyball tournament at North Ogden Park draw the players, and the evenings carry a concert lineup. Fireworks close out the celebration. The rodeo, the parades and the markets take applications and entries well ahead of the event, so taking part is a spring plan rather than a June one, while simply going to watch takes no more than showing up.
One honest caveat runs through all of it: the city sets each year's schedule and posts it close to the date, so treat the list above as the shape of the festival rather than a fixed program, and confirm the current year's events, times and any fees with North Ogden City. The rodeo has been free, but the surest way to know this year's lineup and cost is the city itself.
The details
Why cherries
Named for the fruit the bench above Ogden was known for
The name is not decoration. North Ogden was farming country from its first settlement in 1850, when the earliest families planted crops on the bench, and fruit was part of that living for a long time after. You can still read it in the street names: the city's largest civic park sits on Fruitland Drive, the address the city itself prints for it. Cherry Days is what a town does with a heritage like that, a summer festival named for the crop the place was once known for.
North Ogden incorporated as a town in 1934 and became a city in 1950, and it has grown into a bench community of about 21,700 with the orchards mostly given over to houses. The festival is one of the few living threads back to the older North Ogden, which is part of why it endures. If the farming past is the reason you find this town interesting, the moving to North Ogden page picks up the story of the place as it is now, from the school lines to the way three city boundaries braid together under one postal name.
Plan your visit
The boulevard closes for the parade, so check the date and the route first
The festival takes over Washington Boulevard and several city parks at the same time, which is why the parade and the road closures matter for anyone driving through town that week. Park near the boulevard for the parade and near the park that hosts the event you came for. The tournaments and much of the celebration are at North Ogden Park, 2750 North 500 East, the rodeo is at Equestrian Park, 2675 North Mountain Road, and some events are at Barker Park, 2375 Fruitland Drive. The pool evening is at the North Shore Aquatic Center on 200 East. All of them are within a short drive of each other.
The one thing worth doing before you set out is confirming the dates and the parade route with the city, because both can move year to year and the schedule goes up close to the event. North Ogden City Hall is the number to call, and the city's own events page carries the current year's schedule once it is posted.
Confirm this year's dates, times and parade route with North Ogden City before you plan around them. The festival runs on a schedule the city sets each year and posts close to the date, so a date you find on a third party listing can be wrong. If you live on or just off Washington Boulevard, expect road closures the morning of the parade, and check the city's current schedule rather than assuming last year's plan holds.
Before you go
- Check the current dates and the parade route with North Ogden City; the schedule is set fresh each year.
- The rodeo is the free headline. Confirm this year's lineup, times and any other event fees with the city.
- To ride in a parade or take a market booth, apply in the spring; entries close well before the festival.
- The events spread across Washington Boulevard and the city parks, North Ogden Park above all.
The rest of the year
Cherry Days is the big one, but the city keeps a calendar around it
Cherry Days is the headline, but it is not the only thing North Ogden puts on. The city runs an Easter egg hunt and a children's entrepreneur market at North Ogden Park, a Movies in the Park series on summer evenings that it shares with the parks in Pleasant View and Harrisville, a Trunk or Treat at the aquatic center for Halloween, a tree lighting it calls The North Pole at Barker Park, and a Veterans Day devotional at the Barker Park amphitheater. Most of them are free, and most happen in a park or a lot the city owns.
What that calendar tells you about the town is more useful than any single date on it. Three addresses carry most of the year's gatherings, Washington Boulevard, Barker Park on Fruitland Drive, and North Ogden Park on 500 East, so where a home sits relative to those is worth a thought, both for the walk and for the parking. The parks and the pool page lays out all of those spaces, and Barker Park and the amphitheater covers the venue at the center of both the festival and the winter events.
Scott Buehler
Moving Utah About Scott
Quick answers
Cherry Days, answered
Cherry Days runs around the Fourth of July, which is why it doubles as North Ogden's Independence Day. The city sets the exact dates each year and posts the schedule close to the date, so the surest way to plan is to check the current year with North Ogden City rather than an outside listing. The 5K on the morning of the Fourth is the event most reliably tied to a fixed day.
North Ogden City. The festival sits under the city's parks and recreation department, the events are held on the city's own boulevard and in its parks, and the city publishes the schedule and takes the entries. If you have a question about a specific event, a booth or the parade, the city is the body to call.
Yes. The rodeo is one of the events the city runs free, which is unusual enough for a summer festival to be worth saying plainly. Times and the lineup are set each year, so confirm the current details with the city, but the price of admission to the rodeo has been nothing.
The anchors are a parade down Washington Boulevard, a free rodeo, and a 5K on the morning of the Fourth. Around them the week carries a separate children's parade, a car show, a vendor market and a children's market, a luau, an evening at the North Shore Aquatic Center, a pickleball tournament, a four on four volleyball tournament at North Ogden Park, a concert lineup, and fireworks to close it out. The exact slate shifts year to year, so confirm the current program with the city.
Down Washington Boulevard through the center of North Ogden, with the rest of the festival spread across the city parks, including North Ogden Park, Barker Park and Equestrian Park for the rodeo. The city sets the route and the road closures fresh each year and does not always post them far ahead, so if you live near the boulevard or need to drive through that morning, confirm the route and timing with North Ogden City.
It is named for the fruit this bench above Ogden was once known for. North Ogden was farming country from its first settlement in 1850, and the orchard heritage is still visible in the street names, including Fruitland Drive, where the city's largest park sits. The orchards have mostly given way to houses, and Cherry Days is one of the threads back to that older North Ogden.
Fireworks are part of the celebration and close it out. The city does not always publish a set time and place far in advance, and dates you find on outside listings can be wrong, so confirm the current details with North Ogden City. The show usually starts about 10 p.m. on the Fourth, and the city sets the launch site, so check it before you choose a viewing spot.
The festival spreads across the boulevard and the city parks: Washington Boulevard for the parade, North Ogden Park at 2750 North 500 East for the tournaments and much of the celebration, Equestrian Park at 2675 North Mountain Road for the rodeo, and Barker Park at 2375 Fruitland Drive for some events, with the aquatic center on 200 East for the pool night. Park near the boulevard for the parade and expect closures around it the morning of the event, and confirm the current arrangements with the city.
Beyond Cherry Days, the city runs an Easter egg hunt and a children's entrepreneur market at North Ogden Park, a Movies in the Park series on summer evenings shared with Pleasant View and Harrisville, a Trunk or Treat at the aquatic center, a tree lighting it calls The North Pole at Barker Park, and a Veterans Day devotional at the Barker Park amphitheater. Most are free and most happen in a city park or lot.
Thinking about a home near the Cherry Days boulevard?
A festival week says a lot about a town, but not the part that decides a move: which streets sit near the parade and the parks, how three city lines braid together under one North Ogden postal address, and what homes on the bench are asking now. Tell me what you are weighing and I will introduce you to a Weber and Morgan partner agent who knows this bench, and stay on the file for the research and the financing side.
Or call Scott: (435) 357-4345or send Scott a message
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