Buhl Sagebrush Days

On the morning of July 4, 2026, an honor guard raised the flag at Main and Broadway in Buhl, and at ten o’clock the Sagebrush Days parade stepped off down Main Street. More than 90 groups had signed up, and at least one entry alone counted 21 vehicles. The grand marshals were six service members representing each branch of the military, two of them Marines. At 10:50 a flight of A-10 Warthogs out of Gowen Field was scheduled to pass overhead. Spectators could vote for a favorite entry at the Chamber of Commerce booth. Roads into town had closed at nine, beginning a mile outside, so those who came by car had arrived early.

KMVT describes Sagebrush Days as Buhl’s largest annual celebration and the biggest Fourth of July event in Twin Falls County. The Buhl Chamber of Commerce runs it. The 2026 program centered on Friday, July 3, and Saturday, July 4, and the Chamber listed events from July 1 through July 5. That year’s theme was “250 Years of Freedom, 120 Years of Community.” It tied the nation’s 250th anniversary to Buhl’s 120th. The town was founded April 17, 1906, and named for Frank H. Buhl of Sharon, Pennsylvania, an investor in the Carey Act irrigation of the Twin Falls South Side project. The theme appeared on banners and on a raffle rifle. Sarah Neyhart, the Chamber’s executive director, said preparation had begun the previous August, and she credited volunteers, local businesses, and donors, some of them from as far away as Colorado.

Fish fry, fire hoses and pancakes

The celebration opened Friday evening with a fish fry, using fish donated by Riverence. At 6 p.m. the Buhl Fire Department met the Police Department in a contest billed as Guns vs. Hoses. The police were raising money that weekend for Buhl youth sports.

Saturday began before the parade. A pancake breakfast ran from 7 to 9:30 a.m. at the Hotel Buhl. Registration for the fun run opened at 7, and the runners started at 8 from the furniture store location on Main.

Eastman Park after the parade

When the last float passed, vendors set up in Eastman Park. Music came from the Old Pavilion: JJQ played from 12:30 to 2 p.m., and Shenanigans played from 3 to 7. The Twin Falls Zoo brought tortoises, snakes, and an alligator. Tubsberry Farms ran a cow train and kept a farm area where children could pet and feed the animals. The city pool was open free from 1 to 4 p.m., and America Trivia was held at 2 near the Chamber booth.

The stick horse races ran as four heats of 12 riders. A first-place finish won a kids’ meal from Arctic Circle, and second place won an ice cream cone. KMVT’s report put the races at 10 a.m., while the Chamber’s posted schedule gave 1 p.m. Across from the park, more than 300 flags stood on the grounds of the elementary school.

The Chamber raffled a rifle etched with the America 250th design and the Sagebrush Days name, and the winner’s family name was to be engraved on it as well. Farmers Bank donated uncirculated $2 bills, along with commemorative coins for the winners of the coloring contest. The fireworks began at dusk Saturday and ran about 25 minutes. The city’s own page says the City and donations pay for the show.

The upper floors of Hotel Buhl

During the 2026 festival, paranormal investigator Melanie Rediker led history and ghost tours through the upper floors of the Hotel Buhl. The Buhl Senior Center hosted the tours, and the proceeds went to Meals on Wheels. Chuck Van Vooren had started them and died in January 2026. Rediker said he began the history tours because “you can’t be thankful for your independence in your country if you don’t know the history of it.”

“When we lost him in January, I stepped in with my team to continue his legacy,” Rediker said.

Visitors could handle paranormal investigation equipment and look into a room restored to its mid-20th-century appearance. The tour also displayed the “Punkin’ Holler” figures. Three Buhl women made these decorative characters, and they have appeared in Fourth of July floats and storefronts throughout the city’s history.

Jaycees, a newspaperman and a pandemic summer

The pages do not give a founding year for Sagebrush Days. They do name some of the men who shaped it. John “Jack” Stanley Fields grew up in Castleford and went to work as a mechanic at Spradlings Texaco in Buhl after he graduated from high school in 1951. He joined the Moose and then the Jaycees, serving at both the local and state levels. His obituary says that during his years with the club, “Buhl Sagebrush Days evolved into the 4th of July celebration it is today.” Robert Edward Bailey came to Buhl in 1947 to work at the Buhl Herald, which his father-in-law owned. He was its editor and publisher from 1949 until he retired in 1986. Bailey served as president of both the Buhl Jaycees and the Buhl Chamber of Commerce, and in 1993 he was grand marshal of the Sagebrush Days parade.

The parade fell on Monday, July 4, in 2016. The Red Hat Society waved from the route, the Farmers National Bank float went by, and an El Korah Shriners Ambassador drove past. A Times-News photographer caught four-year-old Norah Hawkins watching the floats. Heather Kennison’s account in the Times-News opened: “Parades: One of the few times when it’s still OK for kids to take candy from strangers, horses march down Main Street and friends and family gather to watch people watch other people.”

In 2020, with COVID-19 in the news, the city went ahead with the festival. A city press release said that anyone “not comfortable attending the event then you should find another way to celebrate.” The city lengthened the parade route and asked spectators to spread out instead of crowding the main intersection. The grand marshals that year were the 2020 seniors from Buhl and Castleford. The flyover was billed as the “Buhl Airforce,” and Hope Hale was scheduled to sing the national anthem. Magic Valley Brewing ran a beer and wine garden, firefighters held a fire hose competition at McClusky Park, and an anvil firing at dusk preceded fireworks at North Park. The city promised the largest display in Buhl’s history. The 2020 schedule also listed a community Easter egg hunt on July 2 at the football field. “It’s a big draw for this community, and it’s a big day for the local businesses here, which we support heavily,” said Todd Fahner, co-owner of the Oregon Trail Inn. Reba Puente, a longtime resident, told KMVT that people come even from out of town.

A float in 2021, a candy cannon in 2023

On May 24, 2021, Police Chief Jeremy Engbaum represented the Chamber board before the city council and presented a parade route that matched previous years. Floats able to make the corners would loop up around the Desert View Care Center, and the rest would continue down Burley Avenue and return to the start. Regie Finney of Public Works said he would work with the contractor on a grant project then under way on Burley Avenue so the parade could get through. Pam McClain moved to approve the city’s co-sponsorship, Sue Gabardi seconded, and the motion passed.

The parade went down Main on July 3 that year with nearly 100 entries. One of them was a Proud Boys float. The men walking with it wore black and yellow polo shirts and carried an American flag and a black flag lettered “P.B.” The Times-News noted that the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League label the group a hate group. Caitlin Patten, who had lived in Buhl for six years, said she was “very concerned that a group that (is) nationally known as a hate group was allowed into a small town family-friendly parade.” Councilmember Michael Higbee said, “I was surprised as anyone else to see that particular float go by.” The Chamber stated that the parade “saw 90 plus entries who celebrated in a courteous and civil manner,” and later said its board was addressing how parade entries are reviewed: “We are reviewing the planning process and procedures.”

In 2023, the festival held its first day of events on July 1 and its second on July 4. A fishing derby ran from 9 to 11 at Balanced Rock Park. Clear Springs Trout supplied an all-you-can-eat trout feed at the West End Senior Center, and Visit Southern Idaho called the company the largest rainbow trout-production facility in North America, “if not the world.” That page gives Buhl’s title as “Trout Capital of the World,” while the city’s own page says “Trout Capital of America.” On the Fourth, the Kiwanis served pancakes, the fun run raised money for the Buhl High School Key Club, Smoke and Thunder played, and firefighters met in the hose competition at 2 p.m. “It’s kind of like your 1950s or 1960s small town 4th of July celebration — just good old-fashioned fun,” said Steve Kaatz of the Buhl Economic Council. That night the Candy Cannon was set to fire at Poppelwell Elementary at 9:30, with the fireworks right after, at dusk.