Our 51st Cherry Parade & Festival was a big success with more parade entries than ever! The Grand Marshal for our 51st Parade on June 8 was George Maida, the owner of Rancher's Market for over 30 years. George has always helped out our local organizations and businesses, as well as providing a location for our Post Office. Our local market is the headquarters of our community where one can always find a friendly face and keep up on community happenings. Plan to join us next year on June 7, 2025!
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, did a great job, as always, and everyone enjoyed it!
Every year we have a different theme suggested by one of our elementary school kids. This year's theme is Cherry Pies 'n Blue Skies!, Shirts are available for sale at the Post Office in Rancher's Market for $25.
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 wasl 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 2024 Grand Marshal is George Maida, owner of Rancher's market, who has 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 George certainly qualifies.