Hayden Days

For two days each July, the lawn beside Hayden City Hall at 8930 N. Government Way fills with vendor tents, bouncy houses, and children waiting for pony rides. This is Hayden Days, the annual celebration the City of Hayden stages in McIntire Family Park. The park holds a gazebo, a bandstand, a playground, a baseball field, and a basketball court. The 2026 festival ran Friday, July 24, and Saturday, July 25. The Thursday evening concerts that fill the same park through July and August skipped July 23 to make room for it.

Friday afternoon in McIntire Family Park

The city’s schedule opens the festival at 2:00 p.m. Friday with live music, dancing, food and craft vendors, and the Hayden Sr. Center Beer Garden. In 2026 Alison Joy Williams took the stage at 2:00, and the Kelly Hughes Band followed at 5:30. The same band held the same Friday slot in 2024, and the Rhythm Dawgs played Saturday at 5:30 both years. For 2026 the city announced that Brewscape Beer Co. would pour beer, wine, and cider in the garden for those 21 and over. The garden was open from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. Friday and from noon to 8:00 Saturday.

Hayden’s Got Talent, a community show whose winners are chosen by the judges and the audience, runs from 12:45 to 3:15 p.m. The Coeur d’Alene Press listed it for Friday in 2026. The city’s own schedule put it on Saturday afternoon, and in 2024 the Press placed it on Saturday, after the parade.

Among the booths in 2026 was one kept by the Hayden Historic Preservation Commission. It sold copies of Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives – Volume 1: A History of Hayden, Idaho, and the Surrounding Area for $24.00.

Pancakes, a flyover, and Government Way

Saturday begins at the Northern Lakes Fire Station. There the Northern Lakes Fire Protection District serves an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m., paid for by donations. In 2024 the suggested donation was $7, and breakfast was served until 9:30.

At 10 a.m. the parade sets off from Hayden Avenue and runs along Government Way to Honeysuckle Avenue, opening with a flyover by No Limits Aviation. Its grand marshal is the city’s Distinguished Veteran of the Year. Christopher Spatz, the 2023 honoree, rode in 2024, and Ross Welburn, the 2025 honoree, rode in 2026. Kristin Oestreicher, then the city’s Recreation and Events Director, said the 2024 parade would carry more dance routines than in past years. A Press photograph from 2023 shows Aidan Robinson of Spotlight Studios North Star, who “flew high” during that year’s parade.

In 2024 the Hayden Senior Center Line Dancers performed directly after the parade, and the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office gave a K-9 demonstration at noon. The car show fills Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The first 150 entries receive dash plaques, and the winners are named at 2.

Oestreicher’s advice to visitors in 2024: “bring your families for a fun few days at the park. Visit our local vendors and be sure to thank our sponsors if you see them.”

Ground given to a village, 1960

The park dates to 1960. It was laid out on part of the land donated to the Village of Hayden for a fire station, a city hall, a community center, and park facilities. For decades it was Hayden City Park. It holds many dedications and memorials, among them the Robert J. Gordon Veterans Memorial Plaza.

In January 2016 the city renamed it McIntire Family Park for former Mayor Ronald B. McIntire and his wife, Joanne. Ron McIntire served 16 years as mayor and nearly two decades on the Coeur d’Alene School District board of trustees. More than 45 years before the renaming, he opened his first supermarket at Hayden Avenue and Government Way, the intersection where the parade route now begins. In 2016 he was still active with many Super 1 Foods stores, and he had recently given more than $1 million to Kootenai Health.

In 2026 the city adopted a master plan to reconstruct the park, and design of the first phase is underway. On August 5, 2026, crews dug holes across parts of the grounds for soil testing.

Sun at the gazebo, July 2016

The dedication of the new name took place on a Friday afternoon in July 2016, and it served as the opening of that year’s Hayden Days. More than 50 people came, and in the rain they crowded into the gazebo. Ron McIntire gave a short thank-you, and as he finished the clouds broke. “Thank you again, and watch the sun come out now,” he said. “That’s a good sign.” A new stone monument bearing the park’s name was unveiled at the entrance.

“For 45 years, Hayden has benefited greatly from the generosity of these wonderful people,” said Mayor Steve Griffitts. City Councilman Richard Panabaker joked that McIntire’s service “was for the money. He never lets too much of it get that far away. We really had to borrow from him just to keep the city going.” Panabaker then spoke of Bob Croffoot, a longtime council member and the namesake of Croffoot Park. “We lost Bob a few days ago,” he said. McIntire answered, “I was the mayor when we made Croffoot Park for Bob.”

Joanne McIntire called the naming an honor. “We’ve raised a lot of kids, a lot of grandkids here. They love this area,” she said. “We love all of you.”

The festival went on the next morning with a pancake breakfast at the Northern Lakes Fire Station and a parade on Government Way, starting at Hayden Avenue at 10 a.m.