List of traditional festivals in Utah, including those celebrating history, sports and the Arts!
Most visitors know Utah as the state of beautiful nature, but Utah also hosts many nationally known festivals.
Utah has the scenic Lake George and Rainbow Arches, but it also has a reputation for well-known festivals in music, stage, art and film, in addition to sports celebrations.
Music
The Moab Music Festival is in its 14 season with the theme, "Music in Concert with the Landscape." The September outdoor fest is held in a relaxed atmosphere and has a composer in residence, and featured artists playing bass, cello, piano, violin, doublebass, flute, oboe, trumpet, French horn, percussion and string instruments. Male and female soloists are also featured each year. Other artists include authors and narrators. The festival box office is located on South Main Street in Moab where tickets can be purchased for any of the performances over the two week celebration.
The Founder's Title Company sponsors the Folk and Bluegrass Festival in conjunction with the Intermountain Music Association. The musical performances have been held over the past 17 years at the Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort over a weekend in July. Tickets are sold for one or two days of music with free parking in Little Cottonwood Canyon, six miles east of Salt Lake City. Attend the International Jazz Festival is held each August in Park City, Utah to hear the famous and the up and coming jazzers.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Day Celebration is held each June in Salt Lake City. The choir also hosts the annual Christmas Concert celebration each December.
Stage, Art and Film
The Utah Arts Festival is held over three days each June in Salt Lake City, Utah. Films, culinary arts, performing arts and artists are all featured.
The Utah Shakespearean Festival is the main event each year in Cedar City, Utah. The festival was founded in 1961, but didn't present a season until 1962. Cedar City is a small college town and the classes and guest actors perform three stages. One of the theaters is the Randall L. Jones Theatre which opened in 1989. Guests can walk the Renaissance townscape before the performances or during the intermissions. Childcare is available for younger children.
Probably the best known festival in Utah is the Sundance Film Festival held each January in Park City, Utah. Book your room early for this star party!
Sports
The skiing is powder perfect in Utah. Catch Park City for a Ski Jumping Festival in February each year. Bryce Canyon holds a Winter Festival in that same month and hosts the Ruby's Inn Bryce Canyon Country Rodeo every May. Cedar City is the host of the Utah Summer Games Extreme Sports Weekend in June. August is rodeo month in the state of Utah. Visitors will find rodeo events throughout the state.
Two well-known contest festivals are held in June with the Brian Header, Intermountain Cup Mountain Bike Race in Brian Head, Utah and the Bonneville Salt Flats Annual Land Speed Opener, also each June. The finals for the Bonneville Salt Flats for the World's Land Speed Finals are always held in October.
The Ski Season is opened officially each November and winter ski festivals can be found throughout the state of Utah.
History
The theme of railroading is a popular one in Utah with the Ogden Railroad Festival held each March and the Golden Spike Reenactment Ceremony in Promontory, Utah in May. Outlaw Butch Cassidy is the hero of the May festival each June in Moab, while Vernal hosts the Butch Cassidy Outlaw Trail Ride later in the month of June.
The longest continually celebrated fest in Utah is the Peach Days Celebration held since 1904 in Brigham City. The entire city turns out to celebrate the peach harvest by viewing parades, motorcycle and car show, carnival rides and entertainment. Food booths and peaches are available over the three day celebration.
One of the ways Utah residents know spring is on the way is to watch for snow geese overhead. The Snow Goose Festival located in Delta, Utah and the Clearlife Wildlife Management Area at the Gunnison Bend Reservoir is held over the last weekend in February. Locals claim the Delta area has the largest concentration of Snow Geese in the United States.
Ogden, Utah hosts Ogden Pioneer Festival each July, which it has done from the last 72 years. The theme is "Something for Everyone" because the festival has equestrian events, cowboy poetry and music, not to mention fabulous food! Reserve rooms early for this festival as rooms book up early.
