Hurricane Peach Days is back and bigger than ever

In this 2017 file photo, vendor booths and crowds line Hurricane's 100 West between its Community Center and Fine Arts Buildings during "Peach Days," Hurricane, Utah, Aug. 31, 2017 | Photo by Reuben Wadsworth, St. George News

HURRICANE – After a year-long hiatus due to the pandemic, Hurricane City’s annual Peach Days celebration is roaring back bigger and better this year. In fact, this year it is being called “Peach Week” because it will feature events beginning Monday and running through Saturday instead of the traditional Thursday through Saturday schedule. 

The added events have been deemed as “a 2021 COVID relief party from the city,” the event’s organizers said in this year’s Peach Days program. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will feature free concerts, free food, and free tournaments to start the fun-filled week.

Peach Days executive board member Jarolyn Stout is excited about this year’s event.

¨As you participate in Peach Days, the committee hopes you will feel some nostalgia from the past, relish the heritage of the Hurricane area, and make many new memories and traditions for the years to come.¨ 

Monday will kick off in a big way with a free David Archuleta concert at the Hurricane High School football stadium with a free barbecue dinner of hamburgers and hotdogs to the first 3,000 in the stadium at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m. there will be a pre-show followed by Archuleta taking the stage at 8 p.m.

Tuesday night will be the Heritage Concert with local musical artists John Houston, Nic Chamberlain, and Luke Randall, as well as free Peach Cobbler to go with it. Wednesday will bring free swimming at the city pool as well as free golf, corn hole and pickleball tournaments.

Wednesday is also the day to enter items into the displays, including home arts, fine arts, garden and bottled and baked goods. This year ribbon winners will receive cash prizes. A seed display will also be part of Peach Days this year since the Washington County Fair discontinued theirs.

The traditional Peach Days events begin Thursday at 5 p.m. when the displays, quilt show, food trucks, homemade sale booths, carnival and continuous entertainment in the Hurricane Community Center and adjacent begin. It will include three stages of entertainment as it always has. The event will close at 10 p.m. each night.

Friday’s festivities will begin at 10 a.m. with the Peach Days Rodeo at 7 p.m., a Foam Dance at 8 p.m., and the movie in the park, “Raya and the Last Dragon,” at dusk.

Guests at the 2016 “Peach Days” learn about pioneer crafts, Hurricane, Utah, August 2016 | Photo courtesy of Jarolyn Stout, St. George News

Saturday brings more special events. First up is the Fun Run starting in the community center parking lot at 6:15 a.m. and the Hurricane Canal treks. There will be three levels of guided canal hikes, a 5.7-mile exploration of most of the old canal within the canyon beginning at 6:25 a.m., a less-strenuous 4.5-mile hike that will explore both the canal and stop viewpoints along the Hurricane Hill trail at 6:30 a.m. which will meet in the Hurricane Valley Heritage Park and a short half-mile guided hike that will explore the canal above the town from the canal monument at 200 East 200 North beginning at 6:55 a.m.

The Peach Days Parade follows at 9 a.m. For safety during the parade, clear boundary lines are painted for children to stay behind. Those on floats can still throw candy but children must stay behind the lines safely away from moving vehicles.  

After the parade everything will open back up, including a Hurricane High School all class reunion, Home Depot activity, and the Pioneer Corner, which displays skills essential for the town’s early pioneers. Saturday evening features the peach cook-off at 5 p.m. and another foam dance at 8 p.m. A fireworks display at the HHS baseball fields will round out the activities at 9 p.m.

Ultimately, Peach Days is an annual reunion and a celebration of Hurricane heritage

¨Peach Days has become a treasured celebration for our community and surrounding areas and is an integral part of our history,” Stout said. “Every year thousands join us from places all over the world to take part in the small-town celebration we all enjoy.¨

For more information on Peach Days, visit its website or pick up a Peach Days program at the Hurricane Community Center and other businesses around town.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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