In 1957, there were about 2,000 people living in the greater Elk Grove/Wilton/Franklin area.

The Elk Grove Elementary School Mothers’ Club needed to raise funds to assist their children and their school. To do so, they organized the first Western Festival. The committee chose the first weekend in May to celebrate the beginning of Summer.

During the week prior to the festival, weeds were pulled in the cemetery, the trees lining Elk Grove Boulevard were whitewashed, western apparel was sold in local stores, and businesses encouraged their employees to dress in western attire. The festival parade had 60 entries. Anyone could enter and there were lots of students riding bicycles they had decorated. After the parade, all the festival activities were held in the high school cafeteria, now Kerr Middle School’s multi-purpose room.

The event was a great success. After paying festival expenses, the club was able to buy glasses, give medical assistance to needy students, purchase record players, records, rainy day games for the classrooms, and new furniture for the teacher’s room.

Today there are approximately 200,000 people living in the greater Elk Grove/Wilton/Franklin area. The festival is a two-day event and is held in beautiful Elk Grove Regional Park. The parade has over 150 entries consisting of floats, bands, color guards, drill teams, classic and historial vehicles and equestrian units. The parade is still open to everyone. The event has become a major happening in Sacramento and the surrounding counties with visitors coming from Sacramento, Stockton, Roseville, Folsom and surrounding towns.

It has been 68 years since the first parade, but after a hiatus that started with the Covid 19 shutdown, there were several attempts to get back in the saddle with Elk Grove’s 61th Annual Western Festival. For various reasons, we were not able to regain the momentum to bring back our beloved Western Festival.

It finally got to the point in late 2024 to early 2025 when again we were not able to obtain the liability insurance to meet the current requirements that we were advised by experts in the field that the insurance companies would not insure an event that had a major board of directors change and one that had not been active for several years that the decision was to change the name and start over with a new name and a program that would keep as much of the original Western Festival as possible but one that would have a chance to get the needed permits and insurance to re-opoen in the spring of 2026.

We have spent the past year working toward creating the Elk Grove Spring Palooza to have it’s grand opening on May 1st, 2026.

Wish us well, come support us as a volunteer or a sponsor, and welcome us back next spring.