Cherry Parade & Festival

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!  We will have a live band, the Boomers, who are always popular.

Every year we have a different theme suggested by one of our elementary school kids.  This year's theme is 5 - 0, Cherry Oh!, submitted by Natalie Nicole, who will ride in the Cherry Parade as Junior Grand Marshal.  Shirts will be for sale on May 23 at the Post Office in Rancher's Market for $20.

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 will be 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 2023 Grand Marshals will be Frank and Susan Cosola, long time residents who have made numerous contributions to our community over the years.  Our Grand Marshal is nominated by the residents to best represent the spirit of Leona Valley and this couple really exemplifies that tradition.