Festival City Farmers Market
A free Saturday market in historic downtown Cedar City at 100 W Center St, continuing through Dec. 19, 2026.
Cedar City Events
Upcoming events in Southern Utah
Cedar City Events
Cedar City calls itself Festival City, and the calendar backs it up: a Tony Award-winning theatre season that runs most of the summer, Utah’s state games, a Renaissance faire in the city park, two rodeo arenas, and a sheep parade down Main Street in October. Everything below happens in Cedar City itself or in Iron County just north of it. The inn sits 30 miles up UT-14 from town — about 45 minutes — so a Cedar City evening and a Duck Creek night work as one plan.
Utah Shakespeare Festival
The Utah Shakespeare Festival's 2026 season starts June 18 and runs into October.
Final Friday Art Walk
Monthly downtown Cedar City art walk on final Fridays from June through September, with artists, music, and galleries near Center Street and SUMA.
Cedar Breaks Night Sky Tours
Free ranger-led night-sky tours continue Friday and Saturday evenings through Sep. 26, beginning around sunset and ending about 10:30 p.m.
Oktoberfest Live Music Series
Brian Head Oktoberfest runs Sep. 5-6, 12-13, and 19-20; Saturdays are 1:30-5 p.m. and Sundays 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Red Rock Film Festival
Red Rock Film Festival is provisionally listed for Sep. 16-19 in Cedar City; screening times remain unpublished.
SUU Homecoming
SUU Homecoming runs Sep. 21-26 in Cedar City; individual activity times vary by the official schedule.
Shakespeare Competition
The Shakespeare Competition runs Oct. 1-3 at Southern Utah University, with schedules varying by school and division.
Cedar City Pumpkin Festival
Cedar City Pumpkin Festival is set for Oct. 10 at Diamond Z Arena; the organizer has not published final hours.
Parowan Fall Fest
Parowan Fall Fest is a free Fall Fest in the Park and Car Show at Parowan Main Street Park.
Cedar Livestock and Heritage Festival
Cedar Livestock and Heritage Festival runs Oct. 23-25 across Cross Hollows and Cedar City; activity times vary.
Sheep Parade
Cedar City Sheep Parade begins Oct. 24 at 10 a.m. and travels Main Street from 200 South to 400 North.
Cedar City's 175th Birthday Celebration
Cedar City marks its 175th birthday with an evening celebration on Nov. 11; final program times are still forthcoming.
Iron Mission Days and Old Town Market
Living-history demonstrations and an Old Town Market run Nov. 13-14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Frontier Homestead.
Brian Head Holiday Lighting Extravaganza
Brian Head lights the holidays Nov. 25 from 5 to 6 p.m. with Santa, cocoa, cookies, and s'mores at the pavilion.
Parowan: Christmas in the Country
Parowan Christmas in the Country spans Nov. 27-28, from Friday bazaar shopping to Saturday parades, lighting, and an evening holiday show.
Festival City Christmas Market
Cedar City's holiday market runs Thursdays through Saturdays, Nov. 28 - Dec. 19, 2026, noon to 8 p.m.
CC: Downtown Lighting Ceremony
Cedar City holiday programming runs Nov. 28 from noon to 9 p.m., with downtown lighting and fireworks at 6 p.m.
Holiday Tree Jubilee
Holiday Tree Jubilee is open Nov. 28 from 3-8 p.m. and Nov. 30-Dec. 1 from 5-8 p.m. in Cedar City.
Parowan Winter Wonderland Chamber Nights
Free Winter Wonderland chamber nights run Dec. 5, 12, and 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Parowan Main Street Park.
OSU: Messiah
Orchestra of Southern Utah performs Messiah Dec. 13-14 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in Cedar City.
Utah Shakespeare Festival 2027
Utah Shakespeare Festival returns June 21-Oct. 2, 2027, with nine productions across Cedar City venues.
Upcoming ranger programs — Cedar Breaks National Monument
- Sep 15
Ranger Talk NPS
- Sep 18
Night Sky Tour NPS
The annual events Cedar City is known for
These come back every year. Dates shift, so we give the usual window and send you to the organizer for the current schedule.
-
Utah Shakespeare Festival
Typically Late June through early October
The reason many people first drive to Cedar City. Eight or so productions rotate in three theatres — the open-air Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre, the indoor Randall L. Jones Theatre, and the Anes Studio Theatre — inside the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts on the Southern Utah University campus. The 65th anniversary season plays June 18 through October 3, 2026.
-
Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games
Typically June, opening ceremony on the first Friday
Utah’s state games, hosted by Southern Utah University: thousands of amateur athletes across dozens of sports, most of them packed into the first half of June. The 40th-anniversary calendar spreads a few events from March to August, but June is when the town fills up.
-
Utah Midsummer Renaissance Faire
Typically Mid-July, four days
Forty-plus years of jousting, cast in costume, and food stalls in Main Street Park at 200 N Main. Free to walk in and the easiest event here to bring kids to. The 2026 faire runs July 15–18.
-
Great American Stampede Rodeo
Typically September, two nights
Two evenings of rodeo under the lights at the Cross Hollow Events Center’s Iron Rangers outdoor arena, west of town. Tickets are cheap, the grandstands are close, and it is over early enough to drive back up the canyon.
-
Iron County Fair, Parowan
Typically Labor Day weekend
The county fair happens in Parowan, the small town just north of Cedar City, at the Iron County Fairgrounds: parade, carnival, car show, rodeo, and a demolition derby in one weekend.
-
Cedar City Half Marathon & Adventure 5K
Typically September
A downhill race on the road you drive: runners are bused up Cedar Canyon and released to drop from 8,408 feet to about 5,600 feet at the finish in town. Expect rolling closures on UT-14 on race morning.
-
Cedar Livestock & Heritage Festival
Typically Last weekend of October
Sheep walk down Main Street on their way to winter range — that is the actual parade — and the rest of the weekend runs at Cross Hollow with tractor pulls, a rodeo, and working-ranch demonstrations.
Cedar City month by month
What the year actually looks like, so you can pick the trip rather than the date.
- January
- Quietest month in town. University concerts and touring shows at the Heritage Center Theater carry the calendar.
- February
- Still an indoor month: SUU performances, community concerts, and the Final Friday Art Walk downtown.
- March
- The Utah Summer Games open their earliest brackets — wrestling and indoor sports — months before the main event.
- April
- Spring semester performances at SUU wind down. Snow is off the valley floor; UT-14 above town can still be winter.
- May
- Spring Fiesta brings food and music to historic downtown, and the outdoor season starts.
- June
- The busiest month: Utah Summer Games through the first half, then the Utah Shakespeare Festival opens mid-to-late month.
- July
- The Renaissance Faire mid-month, Pioneer Day on the 24th, Festival matinees and evenings six days a week, and wildflowers up at Cedar Breaks.
- August
- Festival season at full stretch, the Moonwalk & 5K after dark, and the farmers market every Saturday.
- September
- The fullest weekends of the year: Iron County Fair over Labor Day, the half marathon down Cedar Canyon, the Stampede Rodeo, and SUU Homecoming.
- October
- The Festival closes in the first week, the SUU Shakespeare Competition fills campus, and the livestock festival closes the month.
- November
- Holiday season opens at the end of the month with the downtown lighting ceremony and the Holiday Tree Jubilee.
- December
- Choral and orchestra concerts, including the Orchestra of Southern Utah’s Messiah, plus holiday markets downtown.
Where Cedar City events happen
Four addresses cover most of the calendar. Knowing which one you are driving to decides your parking and your timing.
Southern Utah University
The campus hosts the Utah Summer Games and, in the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts, all three Utah Shakespeare Festival theatres plus the Southern Utah Museum of Art. The Randall L. Jones Theatre doubles as SUU’s performance space during the academic year, so there is theatre here long after the Festival closes.
Heritage Center Theater
The city-owned house at 105 N 100 East, seating close to a thousand, with Festival Hall next door at 96 N Main. It is a rental venue rather than a producing company, so its calendar is local troupes, choirs, orchestras, and touring shows.
Cross Hollow Events Center
Rodeo ground at 11 N Cross Hollow Road, west of town: the indoor Diamond Z Arena and the outdoor Iron Rangers Arena. PRCA rodeo, bull riding, the Great American Stampede, Summer Games equestrian events, and the October livestock festival all run here.
Main Street Park and historic downtown
The park at 200 N Main is where the Renaissance Faire pitches its tents and where summer street events land. Downtown itself hosts the Final Friday Art Walk, the Saturday farmers market, and the November lighting ceremony.
Stay in Duck Creek, drive down for the evening
Cedar City is 30 miles from the inn on UT-14, about 45 minutes, and the whole drive is the descent through Cedar Canyon — you leave the porch at 8,400 feet and park downtown near 5,600. In July that is the difference between an evening you need a jacket for and one you do not.
It works best for evening events. Curtain at the Festival, a rodeo at Cross Hollow, a concert at the Heritage Center: go down for the show, come back up to a cool room and a quiet night instead of a valley hotel in the heat. Watch for deer on the canyon road after dark, and give yourself the full 45 minutes rather than the map’s optimistic guess.
Winter is the honest caveat. UT-14 climbs past 9,000 feet and is the road that closes or turns to packed snow when a storm comes through, so a December theatre night needs a look at conditions before you commit — not after.
Before you drive
Turn an event day into a better stay
Use Duck Creek as your reset between festival days, theater nights, park events, and scenic drives. Compare rooms, cabins, and road conditions before you build the weekend.
May 2026
Check current regional conditions
These landing pages highlight active upcoming events, but the best trip plans still depend on weather, road access, and seasonal park conditions. Use the official resources below for your final pre-drive check.
Cedar City events: quick answers
The questions guests ask us on the phone before they book a Cedar City evening.
What events happen in Cedar City?
The Utah Shakespeare Festival runs from late June into early October, the Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games fill June, the Utah Midsummer Renaissance Faire takes over Main Street Park in mid-July, and autumn brings the Great American Stampede Rodeo, the Cedar City Half Marathon, and the Cedar Livestock & Heritage Festival on the last weekend of October. The Iron County Fair runs over Labor Day weekend in nearby Parowan.
When is the Utah Shakespeare Festival?
Late June through early October. The 65th anniversary season plays June 18 through October 3, 2026, in three theatres at the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts on the Southern Utah University campus. Check bard.org for the current performance calendar before you book a night.
What’s on in Cedar City this weekend?
The listings at the top of this page are the active upcoming Cedar City events, nearest date first, so the first few cards are usually this weekend. For everything happening across the region — Duck Creek, Bryce Canyon country, and the Zion corridor as well as Cedar City — see Southern Utah events this weekend.
How far is Cedar City from Duck Creek Village?
About 30 miles and 45 minutes on UT-14, dropping from 8,400 feet at the inn to roughly 5,600 feet in town. Summer nights are an easy drive; in winter UT-14 crosses 9,000 feet and can close in a storm, so check road conditions before an evening show.
Staying near these events?
Duck Creek Village Inn is about 45 min from most of these events and makes a great base for Southern Utah getaways.
Duck Creek Village Inn is a mountain base with rooms and cabins, ideal for event weekends and exploring Southern Utah.
Book a room or cabin for the weekend and enjoy complimentary breakfast, free parking, and a cooler mountain stay between event days.