Home Care In Kanab, UT

Annual Balloons and Tunes Roundup Soars Over Kanab, Utah

February 16, 17, and 18.

Look to the skies as Kanab’s 10th annual Balloons and Tunes Roundup flies across the beautiful landscape of Southern Utah. Witness 40 hot air balloons floating overhead, explore the countryside, venture through the vendor fair, listen to live music, and more.

With this event falling shortly after Valentine’s Day, you’re sure to fall in love with the event and area so much that you’ll want to stay a little longer. Kanab is located in the heart of the Grand Circle and centrally located to many natural scenic wonders. Explore three national parks, two state parks, many national monuments, and much more.

“We’re so excited to continue this great tradition that has become a mainstay in Kanab, our theme for 2024: Life is a Beautiful Ride. The event helps to boost the economy in our typically slow season,” said Janette Peatross of the Kane County Office of Tourism. “We have seen growth each year, and pilots from all over the country want to come. We’re expecting a great turnout again this year,” she added.

The hot air balloons will launch each morning just after sunrise (weather permitting) at 7:30 AM. The colorful balloons will fly with a beautiful backdrop of the red rock Vermilion Cliffs, located near the scenic Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, with the added beauty of early morning light. The balloons can be seen from all over Kanab. After enjoying the balloons, don’t forget to check out the street fair, located at 100 E., for a variety of vendors selling food, art, and one-of-a-kind crafts throughout the weekend. The street fair will be on Feb. 16 & 17 from 11 AM to 7 PM.

The “Tunes” in Balloons and Tunes will be provided by numerous local and regional acts, including Juniper City, Runaway Fire, The Birdwatchers, Senxao, Rachel Rivers, Annabella Torres, Stone Company, and the Wayne Hoskins Band. They will perform on the stage located at the street fair from 3 PM to 6 PM on Friday and 11 AM to 6 PM on Saturday.

For an amazing evening, Friday the 16, there will be a lantern launch behind the Kanab Event Center located near the street fair at 7 PM. Bring a friend or family, launch your lantern, and watch the lanterns fill the night sky. Lanterns will be available for purchase at the street fair.

Saturday night, the fun will continue with the balloon glow at 7 PM. The pilots will line Center Street and light up their colorful balloons for all to enjoy. With so many great activities, you’ll want to stay the whole weekend, so book a room today!

Sunday morning, the colorful balloons will have their final launch with the backdrop of majestic red rock to be seen by all in Kanab. Life Is A Beautiful Ride!

Visit balloonsandtunesroundup.com for more information about the Kanab Balloons and Tunes Roundup or lodging in Kanab.

SALT LAKE CITY — The federal government is giving Utah big money to build wildlife crossings above or below busy and deadly interstates.

The Utah Department of Transportation will receive a nearly $5.5 million grant to build three wildlife underpasses near Kanab as part of the US-89 Safety Corridor Project.

The area has seen 72 wildlife-vehicle collisions in the last 5 ½ years, including one fatality, UDOT reports.

In December 2018, UDOT unveiled the largest wildlife overpass in Utah. Spanning 320-by-50 feet, the bridge towers over all six lanes of I-80 in Summit County. It allows moose, elk, raccoons, and deer to migrate safely across.

Do wildlife bridges work as intended?

Matt Howard, UDOT’s natural resources manager, told KSL NewsRadio that his department places video cameras on both sides of a proposed crossing and waits for wildlife.

“If they decide to cross, we call that a success,” he said, “and if they approach it and, for whatever reason, they decide it doesn’t look safe enough or it scares them, and they decide not to use that, we call that a failure.”

Howard added UDOT’s success-vs.-failure ratio for wildlife crossings is about 90%.

How to train wildlife to use crossings

Fencing is used to funnel wildlife toward crossings, Howard said.

“Over time they will start to train their young. And so then we’ll notice a multi-generational effect where the animals just go straight to the crossing,” he said. “They don’t have to find it anymore [and] becomes part of their regular-movement patterns and just part of their commute.”

Vehicle-wildlife collisions

Howard said UDOT employs contractors to travel freeways and highways to remove the carcasses of dead animals. The contractor marks the location where the collision occurred; that information is entered into a state database.

“It helps us identify areas where there are hotspots with collisions,” he said.

Drive safely at dawn and dusk

Most collisions between vehicles and deer occur during their mating season or rut in October and November.

“They’re not paying much attention to anything else. Dawn and dusk are really the scariest times to be driving because that’s when wildlife is the most active, and it’s when humans have the least visibility,” Howard said.

In the United States, there are more than 1 million automobile accidents per year involving wildlife, racking up more than $8 billion in medical costs and vehicle repairs, as reported by the National Geographic.

Automobile collisions kill more than a million animals every day, making them the leading cause of death for many vertebrate species, according to some estimates.”

Dave & Dujanovic can be heard weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon. on KSL NewsRadio. Users can find the show on the KSL NewsRadio website and app, as well as Apple Podcasts and Google Play.

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Kanab is one of the best-kept secrets anywhere in the West.

This quaint small town (population 4,692) and seat of surrounding Kane County feels like a Utah version of Mayberry, the fictional setting of “The Andy Griffith Show.”

Center Street, which serves as Kanab’s main street, is lined with the kind of locally owned shops and galleries that have all but disappeared in similarly sized towns and cities with the development of hideous strip malls and big-box stores. There’s even a drug store with an old-school soda fountain.

On each side of the street are commemorative markers featuring the names and photos of stars from the golden age of Hollywood, when dozens of Western films were produced in and around this part of southern Utah. And this being the Beehive State, the local church belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as Mormons prefer to call themselves, occupies a prominent spot that elsewhere might be the location of the county courthouse or a post office built during the New Deal era.

As charming as Kanab is, I imagine the vast majority of visitors come for adventure and discovery in the landscape of high desert and mountains.

Three of the country’s most-visited national parks — Bryce Canyon, Zion and Grand Canyon — are within a hundred miles. The gigantic man-made Lake Powell within Glen Canyon on the Colorado River is an hour away. Closer to Kanab are four national monuments, two state parks and endless stretches of public land with vistas rivaling what can be seen in the ridiculously overcrowded national parks. Put another away, you won’t run out of room to roam.

Dominating much of those vistas are odd and colorful rock formations that look almost too beautiful to be real.

The most spectacular is probably White Pocket.

Located just across Utah’s border with Arizona in Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, the formation features a highly photogenic terrain that admittedly looks otherworldly. While getting there is hardly easy, those who make the long trek into the basically unpopulated wilderness can have it to themselves as the number of visitors seldom gets above low double-digits.

If you go

Visiting Kanab requires a car, as the closest major airport is about three hours away in Las Vegas.

While a high-clearance SUV with four-wheel drive is needed for anything involving sand or trails, the major rental car companies almost always limit driving to marked and maintained roadways. Instead of risking an expensive off-road recovery, book a tour with an experienced guide.

I recommend the Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon and Great Chamber half-day tour from Roam Outdoor and Dreamland’s all-day White Pocket excursion. Roam also offers off-road Jeep rentals starting at $299 for 10 hours.

Beyond all things outdoors, visitors with an interest in Kanab’s local history, dating back to Latter-day Saint pioneers in the 1800s, should check out the Heritage House Museum and Kanab Museum.

The Holiday Inn Express & Suites has a great location within walking distance of everything downtown. For a non-chain experience, I recommend the Canyons Boutique Hotel.

Eat at Rocking V Cafe, Sego Restaurant and Wild Thyme Cafe.

Dennis Lennox writes a travel column for The Christian Post.

Dennis Lennox writes about travel, politics and religious affairs. He has been published in the Financial Times, Independent, The Detroit News, Toronto Sun and other publications. Follow @dennislennox on Twitter.

There are so many fantastic things to do in, Kanab, Utah, from grand national parks to isolated hidden gems, that visiting should be at the top of every traveler’s agenda. Kanab is a small town known for being one of the best spots to explore Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, and the Grand Canyon National Park. If you are planning a journey through the state and national parks, you should consider stopping here for convenience and the area’s wonderful natural features.

To properly begin to appreciate the splendor of southern Utah, you will need to schedule a week or more in the region due to the vast area ripe for exploration. Its stunning terrain has served as the setting for hundreds of Western films over the years, earning the community the nickname “Little Hollywood of Utah.”

What To Do In Kanab, Utah

The breathtaking national, state, and local parks and canyons in the vicinity are one of Kanab, Utah’s main attractions. With the opportunity to hike through slot canyons and sand caves and view some memorable rock formations, it is a haven for nature enthusiasts. If you enjoy being outside, you will always have things to do in Kanab. Here are a couple of the top parks and canyons you will not want to miss:

Bryce Canyon National Park is about an hour and a half drive from Kanab. It is one of Utah’s Mighty Five National Parks. The hikes in the national park range from the easy Navajo Loop to the difficult Fairyland Loop. Sunset Point is a great place to enjoy views of Thor’s Hammer as well as Silent City.

Horseback riding, mountain biking, ATV excursions, and ranger-led activities like full moon hikes and astronomy programs are all available in and near the park.

Kanab, Utah, is the ideal area to base oneself for a visit to Zion National Park, one of the most well-known national parks in the United States and another of the Mighty Five. It is only 30 miles from Kanab to Zion National Park. Angel’s Landing and Echo Canyon are two of the park’s most popular attractions. The Zion Canyon Scenic Drive is also available for people who want to see the sights without hiking.

Imagine discovering an oasis amid a vast desert. That is precisely what happened between Arizona’s Grand Canyon and the Vermillion Cliffs. For ages, hunter-gatherers, Spanish explorers, and Mormon immigrants running from persecution congregated at Pipe Spring National Park. From Kanab, the park is just 20 minutes away.

You will come across traditional kahns built from juniper branches and brush that formerly offered shelter for the Kaibab Paiute as you explore the area. There is also the remarkable “Winsor Castle” ranch home, which housed the Mormon pioneers. If you are feeling adventurous, take a walk down the Ridge Trail.

The Wave is arguably one of the most famous online photographs in the last 20 years. This otherworldly rock structure on the Arizona and Utah border is famous worldwide. People worldwide recognize the renowned image used to promote the 2002 Olympics in Utah and Microsoft’s Windows 7 release.

However, seeing The Wave in person takes a lot of work. The federal government restricts visitors to only 64 per day. You will face a challenging hike if you are fortunate enough to obtain a permit.

White Pocket is sometimes called the “lesser Wave,” although it is incredibly unique in its own way. Various Wave-like formations can be found throughout the site. While the Wave is a small sight, White Pocket is a large rock formation that can be explored for days. White Pocket does not require as much trekking as the Wave, but driving there is much more difficult. The 44-mile road trip, on the other hand, is all part of the adventure. Tours are available if you are uncomfortable driving yourself or want to avoid that excitement.

Kanab, Utah, is a lovely spot for those who want to explore the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, as it is only a 2-hour drive away. The short Bright Angel Point Hike from the Grand Canyon Lodge and a picturesque drive are two of the most popular things to do on the Grand Canyon North Rim.

The Coral Pink Sand Dunes, located just north of Kanab, is a state park with almost 300 acres of pink and red sand. These dunes are suitable for deep sand off-roading with ATVs or dune buggies. Because of the park’s dark sky, Coral Pink Sand Dunes is ideal for photography and astrophotography.

Page, Arizona, is about a 75-minute drive from Kanab and serves as the entry point to Lake Powell and the Navajo Nation Tribal Lands. Most people, however, come to see the Horseshoe curve, a renowned curve in the Colorado River. The parking lot and trailhead are around 3 miles outside of town, and you should expect the area to be completely crowded. However, views are unrivaled.

Stay A While And Take It All In

Some of Utah’s most unusual desert scenery may be found on the top walks around Kanab, including undulating dunes, red-rock caverns, slot canyons, hoodoos, rivers, and magnificent slick rock formations. Kanab boasts a variety of lodging alternatives that serve as a good base camp for exploring the surrounding area. The only problem is that a weekend will not suffice! Many hotels, cottages, and boutique alternatives in Kanab offer extended stays.

Hiking

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25th Annual Western Legends Heritage and Music Festival in Kanab, Utah!

Kanab, Utah – Y’all are invited to the 25th annual Western Legends Heritage and Music Festival! August 24th to 26th, 2023.

Grab your boots and saddles, folks, because the Western Legends Heritage and Music Festival is back for its 25th sensational year! From August 24th to the 26th, 2023, in Kanab, Utah. Join us as we stomp the grounds for an unforgettable celebration of the Wild West.

We’ve got some extra-special surprises in store to commemorate this milestone year.

First, you can join us on Thursday night for “Dinner with the Stars.” Then Mosey on over and “Circle the Wagons” for Cowboy Poetry and Music around the campfire, where heartfelt verses will flow alongside the twinkling stars. And that ain’t all, partner! This year, we’re bringin’ back authentic Cowboy Poetry right here in Kanab, with poets sharin’ their soul-stirrin’ tales side by side with the very stars who made the West famous.

Hold on to your hats, ’cause there’s more! Fans of Classic Western Movies, this is your chance to shine. Get up close and personal with your favorite stars. Get tickets now for “Dinner and/or Breakfast with the Stars,” where you’ll rub shoulders with these iconic figures and hear stories that’ll make your heart skip a beat.

But the excitement doesn’t stop there, no sir! Prepare for a heart-pounding experience at the Western Legends rodeo on Friday night. Witness world-famous bull and bronc riders showin’ their grit and determination, all fightin’ for the title of Champion and the braggin’ rights that come with it. Watch in awe as the ropers and barrel racers showcase their speed and agility, guided by their trusty horse companions. It’s a showdown you won’t soon forget!

And we’ve got a real treat in store for all you country music lovers out there. The Battle of the Bands is bringin’ you the finest up-and-coming country bands in the country, strummin’ for the chance to win a grand prize of $10,000 – winner takes it all! Each band will perform once on Friday and again on Saturday, and the ultimate victor will dazzle y’all at the crowd-favorite street dance on 100 East, right in front of the Kanab Center. Get your boots ready for some two-steppin’!

While yer enjoyin’ those sweet country tunes, don’t forget to explore the street fair filled with western arts and craft vendors. You’ll find one-of-a-kind treasures that’ll make perfect keepsakes to remember this unforgettable event. And when your belly starts a-rumblin’, fret not! Our food vendors will be servin’ up some mighty tasty grub to keep y’all fueled up for the festivities.

Attention, cowboys and cowgirls! Just a quick reminder: you’ll need tickets only for the Dinner and/or Breakfast with the Stars as well as the Rodeo – everything else can be enjoyed for free. For all the latest updates, tickets, and more, simply head on over to our trusty website: www.WesternLegendsRoundup.com. Yeehaw!

So grab yer hat, yer spurs, and get ready for an incredible adventure at the 25th annual Western Legends Heritage and Music Festival.

Let’s make some memories that’ll last a lifetime! Yeehaw!