About the Palisade Peach Festival
Celebrating the Peach Capital of Colorado!
The Palisade Peach Festival is a vibrant celebration of Palisade’s world-famous peaches and the town’s rich history as the Peach Capital of Colorado! Held annually in the heart of Colorado’s Grand Valley, this beloved festival showcases Palisade’s agricultural heritage with fresh peaches, local food vendors, live music, and family-friendly activities!


Meet the Artist Behind the 2025 Peach Festival Art
This year’s Palisade Peach Festival Art Contest winner was Maggie Malloy with her piece “The Rise of Peach Season.” The piece features a peach rising over Mount Garfield as a farmer in his peach orchard admires it.
About Maggie
Maggie graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 2012. She recently moved to the Grand Valley and is enjoying the active lifestyle it has to offer. She and her partner have 3 fur babies, which her life revolves around. She has spent over 10 years working as a graphic designer for nonprofits and currently works for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.
History of the Palisade Peach Festival

Stilt Walkers Posing for a Picture
Celebrating delicious Palisade peaches with a summer festival, usually held the 3rd weekend in August, has been a long-time tradition in Colorado. “Peach Day” celebrations started in the 1890s, including a number of events that were held in Grand Junction. The first “Peach Festival” held in Palisade was on September 16th, 1930. It was sponsored by the East Orchard Mesa Women’s Club. It included displays of fruit, vegetables, peaches, flowers, and farm products of the Western Slope. There was a “delicious chicken dinner” served at noon, two bands, and a dance in the evening on the United Fruit Growers’ Association platform. Peaches were distributed to as many as 3,000 people, and prizes were awarded for the best entries in over three dozen categories, including various varieties of peaches, grapes, and even walnuts
In 1938, Palisade’s Dorothy Tharp was crowned Peach Queen at what was touted as the “Second Annual Peach Festival” at lakeside Park in Denver. It was sponsored by the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad at the beginning of Colorado Peach Week from August 27 to September 3, as proclaimed by Governor Teller Ammons.
No festivals were held in the 1950s or 1960s, although in 1954, The Palisade Tribune sponsored a Peach Recipe Contest with prizes, including tickets to the Elberta Theater for the best recipes each week.
In the mid-20th Century, most everyone in Palisade was needed to work during harvest, and few would have extra time to plan and execute a festival. Also, the devastating winter kill of 1962-63 which destroyed peach trees and many orchards—and other freezes in the next few years drastically reduced the size of our peach crops—likely contributed to the lack of formal peach festival celebrations. During that time however, the Town and the Palisade Lions Club consistently held July 4th events with a parade, booths, races, the traditional Firemen’s water fight, and other activities before the three-week Standard Elberta peach harvest began in August.
After years of intermittent celebrations, the Peach Festival was revived in 1975. It was sponsored by the Palisade Chamber of Commerce and held in Palisade Park. Jacque Gerhard was the Peach Queen and Kitty Hines was the 1976 Peach Festival Queen. There were no festivals held in 1977, 1978, or 1979. In 1980, the festival resumed and was called “Palisade Days” with a peach recipe contest, bake sales, artists, clowns, and sidewalk sales.
The August 16, 1984 event was described as the 10th Peach Festival – “Peach of the West,” though no peach festival was held in 1974. Dixie Burmeister revived the peach recipe contest in 1984 and has helped give the Peach Festival much-appreciated momentum for nearly 40 years.
Palisade has been the Peach Capital of Colorado for more than 130 years, and we will be celebrating the 57th Peach Festival in 2025! Courtesy of the Palisade Chamber of Commerce with supporting information from the Palisade Historical Society. Click below to learn about the Faces of the Harvest and the many workers that make their way to Palisade from Mexico legally through H-2A visas.