Festivals and Events

FEBRUARY

Bryce Canyon Winter Festival. This event at Ruby's Best Western Inn features cross-country ski races, snow-sculpting contests, and ski archery. 435/834-5341 or 866/866-6616. www.rubysinn.com.

JUNE

Panguitch Valley Balloon Rally. Watch two dozen or more colorful hot-air balloons rise into the air at Panguitch and float over canyon country the last weekend in June. 866/590-4134. www.panguitchvalleyballoonrally.com.

Quilt Walk Festival. During the bitter winter of 1864, Panguitch residents set out over the mountains to fetch provisions from the town of Parowan, 40 mi away. Legend says the men, frustrated and ready to turn back, laid a quilt on the snow and knelt to pray. Soon they realized the quilt had kept them from sinking into the snow. Spreading quilts before them as they walked, leapfrog style, the men traveled to Parowan and back. This three-day event in June commemorates the event with quilting classes, a tour of pioneer homes, and a dinner-theater production. 435/676-2651. www.quiltwalk.com. $10-$40 per event.

JUNE-OCTOBER

Utah Shakespearean Festival. For 50 years Cedar City has gone Bard-crazy each summer, staging productions of Shakespeare's plays in venues across town. There are seminars and backstage tours, along with jugglers, puppet shows, and folks dressed in Elizabethan costumes. 435/586-7878. www.bard.org.

JULY

Panguitch Pioneer Day Celebration. Panguitch celebrates Pioneer Day (officially July 24) with a rodeo, parade, carnival chuck-wagon breakfast, and other events celebrating Brigham Young's arrival in the Salt Lake area. 435/676-1160.