Cherry Parade and Festival

On the first Saturday in June, the parade comes down the road toward the Leona Valley Community Building at 8367 Elizabeth Lake Road. It sets off at 10 in the morning and arrives about noon. It brings floats carrying the community Queens, riders on horseback, antique cars, and, in the words of the Leona Valley Improvement Association, “anything else our residents come up with to get them on the road.” Most years the association also gathers restored cars from different eras for a show. Some belong to local residents and some are driven in from neighboring communities. In 2026 there was no separate car show. The cars rode in the parade instead, and the association’s advice was to “enjoy them as they are driving down the road.”

Each year carries a theme and a T-shirt to match. The 2026 festival, the 53rd, was held June 6 under the theme “Stars & Stripes & Cherry Delights.” Madeline Copeland made the shirt design. The shirts were sold at the Post Office in Rancher’s Market for $20, a price the association called reduced.

Cherry burritos and a slice of pie

At the Community Building the parade gives way to the festival. Vendor booths sell goods that are mostly handmade. Food vendors offer a range of cuisines, and the dish the association names is its “famous deep fried cherry burritos with whip cream!” Staff of the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning kept an information booth at one festival. Afterward one of them wrote of sampling “the famous and fabulous cherry burritos.” A live band, the Boomers, plays through the day.

The pie-eating contest is open to young and old. Whoever finishes a slice of pie fastest wins. Some years the prize is a ribbon or a trophy, and other years it is a whole cherry pie. The contest is run by the LV Community Queens, which the association describes as new.

Grand marshals from Rancher’s Market

Residents nominate the grand marshals. For 2026 they were Chris and Terry Benjamin, long-time residents who have served on the Town Council, worked as school librarian, and clerked at Rancher’s Market. Their daughters represented the valley as Leona Valley Queens, and their son owns a local cattle business.

The same market holds the Post Office. It also keeps extra copies of Cherry Chapters, the monthly newsletter the association sends to each home on the valley’s rural routes.

Orchards and an association from 1951

The cherries come from the valley’s orchards. David McDonald of Regional Planning wrote on the county planning blog that Leona Valley has been known for more than 50 years for orchards where people come from miles around to pick their own sweet and sour cherries. He wrote that most orchards in town are pesticide-free and some are certified organic.

The Leona Valley Improvement Association is a nonprofit formed in 1951 to encourage individual and family activities in rural Leona Valley. It has no paid employees and runs entirely on volunteers. It owns and operates the Community Building, which serves as home base for other community groups, and the grounds have added amenities over the years. The Lee Rackett Horse arena is named for the longtime 4-H leader Mrs. Letha Rackett and holds a Gymkhana Play Day almost every month. A Heritage Park honoring past 4-H members and leaders contains a museum and a one-room schoolhouse from 1915.

The association started the Cherry Parade in 1972, and by its account the parade ran every year without interruption until 2020. McDonald attended with his colleague Susie Tae and wrote of the day: “It was small town fun at its best!”