As the part of the 10th Annual Cedar Livestock & Heritage Festival that many people consider the highlight, the annual Sheep Parade will turn Cedar City’s tranquil downtown area into something a little more wild and wooly. On Saturday, Oct. 24, at 10 a.m., Main Street will close down for the event. Considered one of the most unique parades in the country, 1,200 sheep follow the historic Cedar Livestock Trail from Cedar Mountain to their winter home in the Cedar Valley. In addition to the culminating event of the sheep procession, attendees to the parade will also see horses, wagons, antique tractors, stock dogs, and historic and modern sheep camps. The Cedar Livestock & Heritage Festival is an annual celebration of southern Utah’s agricultural traditions and lifestyle.
“The first sheep were herded from Cedar Mountain in 1870, and have been every year since,” said festival chairman Chad Reid. “The sight of a herd of sheep trailing down Main Street through historic Downtown is an exciting glimpse of our livestock heritage and truly a spectacle not to be missed. You never know if the sheep are going to behave or not.”
The parade route is along Main Street from 200 South to 400 North. After the parade, the tractors and sheep camps are on display the remainder of the day at the Cross Hollows Events Center, located at 11 North Cross Hollows Dr., during the Cedar Livestock & Heritage Festival.
The 10th Annual Cedar Livestock & Heritage Festival celebrates Iron County’s unique livestock and agricultural heritage from Oct. 22-25 with a variety of events, including cowboy poetry, a Dutch oven cooking contest, a draft horse and antique tractor pull, a stock dog demo, a sheep camp display, a quilt show, a vintage auto display, a ranch rodeo, and of course the Sheep Parade. For more information on festival activities, visit cedarlivestockfest.com or call (435) 586-8132.
