Tehachapi Mountain Festival

Philip Marx Central Park covers five acres of mature trees and grass beside Wells Elementary School, just east of downtown Tehachapi. A gazebo stands at its center. On the third weekend of August the shade covers rows of booths. For the 63rd festival, August 15 and 16, 2026, the Greater Tehachapi Chamber of Commerce counted more than 80 vendors; its own schedule page said nearly 100. Artisans come from around California with woodworking, candles, soaps, baskets, jams and metalwork. The 2026 roster included Dented Earth Pottery, Hell on Wheels Pottery, Larry’s Works of Wood, Mountain Dog Millworks, Lots of Knots, Hillbilly Flannel and Moon & Sun Mexican Silver.

The food trucks parked among them included Sausage King, Semper Fries, Tacos Chewi, Frenchies Mini Donuts, SeaSunny Squeezed Lemonade and an old-fashioned soda wagon run by WG Concessions. A beer garden served local and classic brews, and children had a zone of bounce houses. Family Life Pregnancy Center kept a private booth where parents could feed and change their babies. Blue Mountain Tribe headlined the music on Saturday, and Ivy Moss opened Sunday at 10:30 a.m. The 2024 lineup had also included Metalshop, Flashback, Lazy Dog Mountain Band and the Bear Mountain Boys, along with line dancing on Saturday and the Black Gold Cloggers and Aerial Garden on Sunday.

Each festival carries a theme. The 2026 theme marked the nation’s 250th anniversary: “American Pies and Small Town Ties,” submitted by Krista Kenehan, according to chamber executive director Clare Scotti. The chamber chose Chelsea Aamold’s artwork from 14 submissions to interpret it, and her design went onto the T-shirts and Good Times badges sold for the weekend.

A parade from Pauley Street

Saturday starts at 7 a.m. The Tehachapi Valley Recreation and Park District runs the Mountain Gallop from the Aspen Builders Inc. Activity Center on West D Street. The festival schedule lists both a 5K and a 10K, and a Kids Half Miler for ages 4 to 10 was new in 2026. Finishers receive medals. In the same hour, Christian Life Assembly serves all-you-can-eat pancakes, sausage, orange juice and coffee at American Legion Post 221 until 9:30.

Spectators set up chairs along F Street in downtown Tehachapi for the parade. The festival’s schedule page starts it at 9 a.m. at F Street and Pauley. The chamber’s 2026 announcement, carried by the Tehachapi News and AntelopeValley.com, put it at 10. The chamber lists government officials, local celebrities, painted horses, marching bands, classic cars, dance teams and dozens of floats among the entries.

The starting corner carries an older name. According to local historian Pat Gracey’s 1987 chronology, Anton Pauley moved to Tehachapi in 1869 for his health, farmed and ran a butcher business, and later donated the land for the first St. Malachy Church on F Street. Pauley Street is named for him.

Rodeo grounds and Green Street

The rodeo runs on the two nights around the parade, at the Tehachapi Event Center and Rodeo Grounds. In 2026 it began at 7 p.m. on Friday, August 14, and at 6 p.m. on Saturday, August 15, when a concert opened the evening. A Friday ticket cost $30, and the band after Friday’s performance was free with it. The Tehachapi Mountain Rodeo Association says the rodeo began as a youth rodeo and grew into an adult amateur event. In 1985 the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association sanctioned it. It was run for years under the Mountain Festival Committee until 1997, when a dozen members formed the association, which remains entirely volunteer-run. Its website banner reads “62 Years and Bucking Strong.”

On Saturday evening, downtown, the City of Tehachapi stages the Green Street Get Down, a free concert. In 2026 it ran from 6 to 10 p.m., with local breweries pouring and people dancing under lights strung over Green Street. The 2024 edition stood in front of Centennial Plaza. The Tehachapi News traces it to a 1915 street dance held in the same area to celebrate the installation of electric lights and power to all homes. A mural of that dance is among the historical markers downtown.

Other groups fill the rest of the weekend. The VFW holds a dinner and dance, and the Tehachapi Valley Arts Association sets up a Maker’s Market in Railroad Park. In 2024 the Tehachapi Valley Gem & Mineral Society held its annual show at the Senior Center on East F Street.

On Sunday at 9 a.m., before the booths open, Christian Life Assembly leads a service in Central Park. The chamber describes it as “prayer and song under 100 year old trees.” The church brings donuts and coffee, and everyone is invited.

Cow chips and a Ferris wheel

The chamber has produced the festival on the third weekend of August since 1963. The Tehachapi News calls it the largest of a growing list of special events on the mountain. In 2016 the Loop newspaper described it as a weekend that kicked off the school year.

That same year Carl Gehricke, who had started the Tehachapi Bible Bookstore 36 years earlier, recalled the festival of the 1980s for the Loop. Arts and crafts were already in Central Park then, but Friday night belonged to the south end of town. “Back in the eighties, Mountain Festival on Friday night used to be in Old Towne, down south. The parade? That was down South Street,” Gehricke said. “And then we had the cow chip throwing contest after that. And then we had the fiddler’s contest, and that was done by the Old Towne committee.” The dance was held in the C&P grocery parking lot, later the Moose Lodge. The sportsmen’s club sold liquor and beer, and tickets cost five dollars. “It was the dance,” he said.

Gehricke also brought the carnival, which he dated to about 18 years before 2016. He took the idea to the city council. At the sheriff’s request, everyone working the carnival had to be fingerprinted and have a background check. Gehricke was a correctional officer at the time and certified to run such checks. He answered, “Fine. We’ll go do it.” According to the Loop, the same people with the same company returned every year after that with the Ferris wheel, rides and games. He also said the Saturday of the festival had become a time for Tehachapi High School graduates to gather: “We get a lot of that on Saturday, the kids coming back for reunions.”

One year the festival moved to the Tehachapi High School football field. “We did that one year when we got kicked out of the park because of too many people,” Gehricke said. “And that had no shade. Why do we stay at City Park? Trees!”