Raspberry Days

Raspberry Days is a special weekend in August at Bear Lake, in Utah. It occurs once a year, and it only lasts for 3 days over the weekend. If you are a resident in Utah, everyone goes! It is a huge celebration of the blooming raspberries over the summer with lots of entertainment and fun things to do. Many people own cabins and boats who come up for the weekend to enjoy the famous raspberry smoothies as well as the lake.

Bear Lake sits on the border of Idaho and Utah, and as you can imagine, it is cold water! This is why its essential to go the Raspberry Days when its warmer weather outside. Raspberry Days includes festive activities such as boating, light shows, raspberry celebrations, and big sales on summer gear. Often times there are bands and concerts to attend as well.

I only stayed for one day as part of the Raspberry Days festival, but it was very fun. There were hamburger stands everywhere to feed people as we waited for the lights show to begin. The light show started at dusk, and boats were decorated from top to bottom, covered in lights as they traveled across the lake surface.

The entire show last for an hour as boats travel across the lake sometimes decorated as dragons, or sea monsters, and music plays the entire time. It gets very cold sitting outside in the colder air, but it is totally worth it! Be sure to bring blankets to sit on and to wrap up in because it gets so cold.

The boat show starts at 9pm and lasts for about 30 minutes. Sometimes it is 45, sometimes it is an hour. Most commonly it is 30 minutes. The lake is huge, but the show is at the main part of Bear Lake by the grand entrance of Garden City. If you find the free park and lake entrance that is open to public use, this sits front and center to the show. It is the only “public beach access” in Garden City meaning all other parts of the shore are owned by property owners. If you follow from the park down on the bridge, it will take you directly to where the boats light show will be. Afterwards, there is a huge fireworks show that lasts about 20 minutes. It isn’t as grand as the stadium of fire in provo, but it is still cool to watch.

Another cool thing about raspberry days are the raspberry shakes that you can enjoy. They are home made from fresh raspberries that grow all around the lake. They are absolutely divine, and everyone who goes to raspberry days gets a raspberry shake. Most of the local places nearby sell them. This event is super fun and i highly recommend for everyone. It is especially fun for families, but be sure to bring binoculars to see the boats better since it can be hard across the lake.