Kenyon, Minnesota · Boulevard of Roses
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Rose FestAugust 19 to 23, 2026
Five days, the third weekend of August, in a town that has grown roses in the middle of its highway since 1962.
Five days, the third weekend of August, in a town that has grown roses in the middle of its highway since 1962.
In 1962 Lloyd Jystad, who worked for the town, asked if he could plant ten tree roses to dress up the boulevard that had just been paved. Permission granted.
He looked after them himself. Tree roses in Minnesota have to be buried in the ground before winter and dug out again in spring, and he did that every year. Ten became a hundred. The Boulevard of Roses was dedicated in June 1968, and the bushes are still buried and unburied by hand each year along Gunderson Boulevard, which is also State Highway 60, on the west side of downtown.
The rose became the town's mark. It is on the welcome signs, the water tower, the bank, the plaque on the library, the liquor store, the thrift shop window. And it became the name of the festival, which the town holds every August when the boulevard is in full bloom. Heather Kerr and Missy Sviggum have each given more than twenty-five years to the committee that runs it, and most of what children remember about Rose Fest, the Regatta, the magic show, the laser tag, arrived on their watch.
Everything below is from the 2026 posters and schedules. Free unless a price is shown.
The depot is the festival's children's hall for a day. Caricaturists set up on the platform, face painters under the shelters, the magic show inside with the doors open, laser tag across the grass toward killer hill. At two everybody walks fifty yards to the pool for the Regatta.
The depot the other 364 daysDepot Park is two blocks north of the route at Washington and 1st. Watch from the 2nd Street stretch and walk over after.
No single organization runs Rose Fest. The week is a relay between the town's clubs, churches and departments, plus the community garden, whose plot fees sponsor Rose Fest events.
Family bingo, Saturday 5 to 7 at the VFW.
Pancake breakfast Saturday 7 to 10 at the Muni.
Bike rodeo, Thursday afternoon in the department lot.
Book sale, Friday and Saturday.Wednesday, August 19 through Sunday, August 23, 2026. It is always the third weekend of August, so 2027 falls on August 18 to 22.
Sunday at 1 pm. Lines up on 6th and Spring, starts at 5th and Spring, runs east on 5th, north on Forest, west on 3rd, north on State, then east down 2nd Street through the Boulevard of Roses to Langford Avenue.
Saturday is Day at Depot Park: caricature artists 10 to 2 ($10), free face painting 11 to 1, a free magic show in the depot at 11:30, laser tag 1 to 7, and the Regatta at 2 in the pool next door. Parking at 304 1st Street.
For the Boulevard of Roses on Gunderson Boulevard, planted from ten tree roses in 1962 by town employee Lloyd Jystad, grown to about a hundred bushes and dedicated in June 1968. The bushes are buried each fall and dug out each spring.
Almost nothing. Parade, car show, Field of Flags, face painting, magic show, Regatta, movie and Town Cruise are free. In 2026 the hog roast was $15, the street dance $10 at the gate, caricatures $10, and a flag in the Field of Flags $20.
Car show: off 2nd Street on Forest Street by the VFW. Depot Park: the pool lot at 304 1st Street. Parade day: stay off the route and the marked no-parking sides of Forest, 3rd and State.
Only if it is cardboard and duct tape. Nothing else floats in the pool. Oars are provided. Any age can enter.
Sources: 2026 Rose Fest schedule and posters (VFW, Kenyon Park & Rec, First Lutheran, VFW Color Guard), the July 2026 Kenyon Chronicle, and Minnesota Prairie Roots, "Stop and smell the roses in small towns like Kenyon," July 8, 2024. Boulevard photographs and the plaque by Audrey Kletscher Helbling, Minnesota Prairie Roots, used with credit. Hero petals by chuttersnap, CC0. Parade map by Kenyon Rose Fest.