2026 Cherry Parade & Festival Highlights

Our annual Cherry Parade started in 1972 and was uninterrupted until 2020.  It features lots of floats with community Queens, horses, antique cars and anything else our residents come up with to get them on the road.  The Parade starts at 10 am and ends about noon at the Leona Valley Community Building.

We feature many vendor booths with mostly hand crafted unique items for sale.   There are also several food vendors with a wide range of cuisines, including our famous deep fried cherry burritos with whip cream!  Our live band, the Boomers, always, does a great job and everyone enjoys it!

Every year we have a different theme and design.  This year's theme is "Stars & Stripes & Cherry Delights" and the design was created by Madeline Copeland,   T-shirts are now available for sale at the Post Office in Rancher's Market.  We are able to offer them at a reduced price of $20 this year.

Young and old alike take part in our very popular annual Pie Eating contest.  Whoever eats their slice of pie fastest wins the prize!  Sometimes it is a ribbon or trophy and other times it is a whole cherry pie.  The contest is run by our new LV Community Queens.

Almost every year we bring together lots of restored cars from different eras to have on display.  Many of our local residents enter their own cars and others come from nearby neighboring communities.  We will have cars in the Parade this year, but no separate Car Show.  Enjoy them as they are driving down the road.

Our 2026 Grand Marshals were Chris and Terry Benjamin, long time residents who have served on the Town Council, worked as school librarian, and clerked at Rancher's Market.  Their daughters represented our community as Leona Valley Queens and their son owns a local cattle business.  Our Grand Marshals are nominated by the residents to best represent the spirit of Leona Valley.