By Scott Buehler, Moving UtahThe Ogden Marathon
Finishes downtown Free to watch A Saturday in mid May Directions
The Ogden Marathon is the one event that reliably books a spring Saturday, and it is run by the GOAL Foundation, an Ogden nonprofit that grew out of the 2002 Winter Games. The course starts up in the Ogden Valley above the canyon, runs down through Ogden Canyon, and finishes in downtown Ogden, which is the part that makes it a city event rather than a mountain one. In 2026 race day was Saturday, May 16.
It is really six races, not one. The organizer runs a full marathon at 26.2 miles that is a Boston qualifier, a half at 13.1, an 8.2 mile, a 5K, a relay for teams of two to five, and a Kids K for the under twelves. The two nobody expects are the 8.2 mile and the relay, which make it an easy event to enter without training for a marathon.
Registration opens each October, months ahead of the race, and the popular distances have sold out early in recent years, so it is worth diarising the October opening rather than waiting for spring. On race morning the canyon closes for several hours; anyone living up the valley should plan around that. The canyon closure and the drive itself belong to the Ogden Canyon page.
The details
Getting there
The downtown finish is where a spectator wants to be, and most downtown parking works if you arrive before the leaders. On race day the canyon closes for the morning, so anyone driving in from the valley should read the organizer's own closure notice rather than assume a normal drive.
Before you go
- Registration opens in October, and the popular distances fill early.
- Six races, including an 8.2 mile and a relay for teams of two to five.
- The canyon closes on race morning; check the organizer's route before driving up.
- The finish downtown is the best spectator spot, and it is free to watch.
Late May at Fort Buenaventura
Fort Buenaventura Ticketed and free Around Memorial Day weekend Directions
Two of the year's events land out at the county fort in the river bottomland west of the rail yards, both around Memorial Day weekend. That late May stretch is the one busy fortnight in a park that is otherwise very quiet, and the only time an Ogden calendar has to look west of the tracks.
The Ogden Music Festival is the bigger of the two. It is run by OFOAM, the Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music, and it is a weekend of bluegrass, folk and Americana on the fort's grounds, with on site camping and late night jams for the people who stay. Tickets are sold through the organizer. The 2026 edition was the eighteenth and ran the last weekend of May.
The other is the Fort Buenaventura Mountain Man Rendezvous, a fur trade living history gathering run by the Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men club together with Weber County. It fills the same Memorial Day window with black powder and archery shoots, knife and hawk throws, a Dutch oven cook off, children's games and roughly a hundred period traders, and it is free to walk in. The park itself, its disc golf course and its fishery are on the Fort Buenaventura page.
The details
Getting there
Both use the same county grounds and the same lot at the end of A Avenue, south off 24th Street west of the rail yards. OFOAM sells music festival tickets on its own site, and the Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men publish the rendezvous schedule on theirs.
Before you go
- Two events in one late May fortnight: a bluegrass festival and a fur trade rendezvous.
- The music festival is ticketed through OFOAM; the rendezvous is free to walk in.
- Camping on the grounds is part of the music festival experience.
- The rest of the park is quiet the other fifty weeks of the year.
The Utah Juneteenth Freedom Festival
Ogden City Amphitheater Free Mid June Directions
The Utah Juneteenth Freedom Festival has been held in Ogden since 1989, which makes it the longest running Juneteenth celebration in the state and older than several better known events on this list. It is presented by the Project Success Coalition and held at the Ogden City Amphitheater, at the top of 25th Street, around the June 19 holiday.
It runs as a community gathering with live performances, food, a vendor market and family programming through the afternoon and into the evening, and it is free to attend. Ogden City carries it on its own calendar, so the city's calendar is the place to check the date.
The amphitheatre itself, its summer concert season and the Christmas lights that fill the gardens beside it belong to the Historic 25th Street page. This entry is about the festival that uses it.
The details
Getting there
The amphitheatre sits at the top of 25th Street beside the Municipal Building. Free parking at Union Station or The Junction and a walk up the street is the usual approach on any event day.
Before you go
- Held in Ogden since 1989, the longest running Juneteenth celebration in Utah.
- Free to attend, at the amphitheatre at the top of 25th Street.
- Ogden City lists it on its own calendar, so the venue and date are easy to confirm.
- The amphitheatre's concert season is on the Historic 25th Street page.
The Ogden Arts Festival
Ogden Union Station Low or free gate A July weekend Directions
The Ogden Arts Festival is run by the Ogden Downtown Alliance and held at Ogden Union Station, indoors and out, at the foot of 25th Street on Wall Avenue. It runs a weekend in mid July, usually Saturday and Sunday, and brings more than a hundred local and regional artists together with live music and food.
In 2026 general admission was $5 ahead or $10 at the gate, which is worth confirming on the organizer's page for the year you plan to go. The one durable thing to know is that it is an indoor and outdoor event: a festival with an air conditioned half has an answer for a hot or wet July afternoon that a street closure does not.
The Alliance runs three downtown festivals across the year, and this is the one that uses the station rather than the street. The building holds four museums and two galleries the rest of the time, all on the Museums at Union Station page.
The details
Getting there
Same address and same free lot as the museums, at the foot of 25th Street on Wall Avenue. The organizer's own festival page is the place to confirm the weekend and the gate price for the year you plan to go.
Before you go
- Indoor and outdoor, which is the practical edge over the street festivals in the same month.
- More than a hundred local and regional artists.
- The 2026 gate was $5 ahead or $10 at the door; confirm before you go.
- The same building holds the museums and galleries all year.
Ogden Pioneer Days
Washington Blvd and 668 17th St Parades free, rodeo ticketed The week of July 24 Directions
Nothing else Ogden stages comes close to Pioneer Days. It has run since 1934, it is built around the July 24 Pioneer Day holiday, and it takes over the whole city for the last week of July. The rodeo is a PRCA event that runs for several nights and is one of the reasons the celebration draws the crowds it does.
The single most useful thing to know is that there are two parades on one morning. The Horse and Hitch Parade and the Grande Parade go back to back on the same line, up Washington Boulevard from 31st Street to 20th, so one position on the boulevard sees both and the whole spine of the city closes for the morning. The rodeo runs at the Spencer Fox Eccles Pioneer Stadium at 668 17th Street, renamed in recent years, so older listings may use the previous name for the same building.
The parades are free to watch, and the organizer reports close to 50,000 rodeo fans and spectators across the run. Unusually for an event this size, the organizer publishes its own parking plan, with reserved and overflow lots and a free shuttle from north of the Ogden temple on 21st Street. The stadium shares its block with the outdoor pool and the botanical gardens, which is worth picturing before you drive in.
The details
Getting there
The parades run north up Washington Boulevard through the middle of the city, so most downtown parking works if you arrive early. For the rodeo, the organizer's own stadium page carries the reserved lots and the free overflow shuttle from 21st Street.
Before you go
- Two parades back to back on the same route. One position sees both.
- Running since 1934, built around the July 24 holiday.
- The rodeo stadium was renamed; older listings may use the old name for 668 17th St.
- The organizer publishes reserved and overflow parking with a free shuttle.
The Harvest Moon Celebration
Historic 25th Street Free A Saturday in September Directions
The Harvest Moon Celebration is the Ogden Downtown Alliance's end of summer street party, held on a Saturday in September across the three blocks of Historic 25th Street. It is free, it runs from mid morning into the night, and it draws tens of thousands of people onto a street that closes to traffic for the day.
It is an all ages, all day thing: live music and dance, a kids zone with pumpkin crafts in the Municipal Park, art displays, roughly a hundred vendors down the length of the street, and a beer garden for the adults. If you are in Ogden in September, this is the Saturday to be downtown for.
The rest of the street's calendar, the farmers market season and the Christmas lights included, lives on the Historic 25th Street page. The one practical note for a resident is the same as for every street festival: the closures fill the free lots at Union Station and The Junction early, so park at the station or walk.
The details
Getting there
On the three blocks of 25th Street, which close to traffic for the day. Park at Union Station or The Junction and walk up the street, and check the organizer's page for the year's Saturday.
Before you go
- Free, all day, and one of the biggest crowds of Ogden's year.
- Roughly a hundred vendors, a kids zone in the park, and a beer garden.
- The street closes to traffic, so downtown errands change for the day.
- The free lots fill early; park at the station or walk.
Witchstock
Ogden City Amphitheater Mostly free Late October Directions
Witchstock is the Ogden Downtown Alliance's Halloween festival, held at the Ogden City Amphitheater in late October. It comes with an Ogden Zombie Crawl and a Junior League witches tea, and it is a costume friendly evening of live music, vendors and seasonal activities at the top of 25th Street.
Most of it, including the zombie crawl, is free and open to the community. The witches tea is a separate ticketed event run by the Junior League. It is the smallest of the Alliance's three downtown festivals, and the one whose exact date moves most from year to year, so check the organizer close to Halloween.
If a late October family plan is what you are after and Witchstock's date has not landed yet, the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park runs its own well established Halloween programming that same month. That park and its hours are on the Dinosaur Park page.
The details
Getting there
At the amphitheatre at the top of 25th Street, with the zombie crawl on the street and the witches tea attached. The Ogden Downtown Alliance's own page is the source for the year's date.
Before you go
- A Halloween festival with a zombie crawl and a witches tea attached.
- Most of it is free; the witches tea is a separate ticketed event.
- The date moves; check the organizer close to Halloween.
- The Dinosaur Park's Halloween programming is the reliable October family plan.
The Holiday Electric Light Parade
Washington Boulevard Free Thanksgiving weekend Directions
Ogden City runs the Holiday Electric Light Parade on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, and it opens the city's holiday season. The parade runs down Washington Boulevard through the middle of downtown, roughly from 22nd Street to 27th, with a Santa Run before it and the switching on of Christmas Village lights and fireworks after. Opening night drew close to 20,000 people, and it is free to watch.
Registration for floats and volunteers opens every year on October 1 through the city's special events team, so a household or a community group can plan an entry well ahead. The parade itself is a late November evening; dress for it.
Christmas Village, the display of lights that fills Municipal Gardens beside the amphitheatre after the parade, is an Ogden City production with its own run of dates, and it lives on the Historic 25th Street page with the rest of the downtown holiday calendar. Between this parade in November and the Pioneer Days parades in July, Washington Boulevard belongs to everybody twice a year.
The details
Getting there
On Washington Boulevard downtown, with the Santa Run and the parade in the late afternoon and the Christmas Village lighting after. Float and volunteer registration opens every October 1 through Ogden City's special events team.
Before you go
- The Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, free to watch.
- A Santa Run comes first, then the parade, then the Christmas Village lights and fireworks.
- Float and volunteer registration opens every October 1.
- Christmas Village and the rest of the holiday calendar are on the 25th Street page.
The Ogden Valley Balloon Festival
Eden, up the canyon Free to attend Summer Directions
One more belongs on any Ogden calendar, mostly so you place it correctly: the Ogden Valley Balloon and Artist Festival, formerly the Eden Balloon and Arts Fest. Despite the name, it is not in the city. It is up in the Ogden Valley in Eden, a canyon drive above town, and it is a valley event rather than an Ogden one.
It is a warm season festival built around morning and evening hot air balloon launches over Eden Park, with hundreds of vendors, local artists and live music on the ground, and it is free to attend. Eden sits up in the Ogden Valley above the canyon, so allow for the drive each way.
If a valley day is what you want, the resorts and the water are the durable draws up there. The resorts page and the reservoirs page are the places to plan one from, in any season.
The details
Getting there
Up Ogden Canyon on SR-39 into the valley and on to Eden, roughly a half hour drive from downtown. Balloon launches are early in the morning and again in the evening, which is when the calm air is best.
Before you go
- It is an Ogden Valley event in Eden, not an Ogden city one.
- Balloon launches are best early morning and evening, when the air is calm.
- Free to attend, in Eden Park, with vendors and live music on the ground.
- Plan a wider valley day from the resorts and reservoirs pages.
The shape of the year
Two big weeks, and a quiet winter in between
Ogden's year has an easy shape once you see it. Late May carries two festivals at Fort Buenaventura in one Memorial Day fortnight, and the marathon a week or two before it. Mid July carries the arts festival at the station. The last week of July carries the whole city: two parades up Washington Boulevard on one morning and the rodeo for several nights. September carries the free all day Harvest Moon street party, October carries Witchstock, and late November carries the light parade and the switching on of the Christmas lights. Then, from December into spring, the town itself goes quiet.
That quiet is worth planning around rather than being surprised by. What fills an Ogden winter is not in town, it is up the canyon: the three ski resorts above the valley, the reservoirs, and the canyon drive itself. The Local covers those on region pages that serve all fourteen Weber and Morgan towns, so the winter section of an Ogden calendar is really a pointer up the hill. Start with the Snowbasin and Powder Mountain page, then the Ogden Canyon page and the Pineview and Causey page for the water.
For a resident, the two days that matter most are the two Washington Boulevard closures. The July Pioneer Days morning shuts the boulevard from 31st to 20th, and the November light parade shuts a stretch of it again for the evening. If you are weighing an address on or near that boulevard, those are the two mornings and evenings a year the street belongs to the whole city, and for most people they are a reason to be there rather than a cost. The venues these events use, from the amphitheatre to Union Station, are gathered on the downtown venues page.