The Senior Games Take Over St. George for Two Weeks. Most of It Is Free to Watch.

"Year after year, our athletes tell us that they come for the competition, but they come back for the camaraderie and the community they find here, both with like-minded athletes but also with this wonderful location and the people who call it home." That's how Huntsman World Senior Games CEO Kyle Case put it to St. George News ahead of this year's Games.

The second half of that quote is easy to skip. The Games run October 5 through 17, 2026, and Case expects more than 12,000 competitors from more than 30 nations, with athletes as old as their 90s and two centenarians among them. They aren't playing in a sealed-off stadium. They're spread across neighborhood softball fields, the city's pickleball complexes, the Utah Tech pool and the road up Snow Canyon. The Games say visitors and spectators can watch every competition free of charge, and the same goes for the Opening Ceremonies and the Concert & Celebration.

That makes these two weeks less about the event downtown and more about which park near you turns into a venue, and when.

The schedule splits cleanly in two

The sport calendar has a clear shape. Week one goes out of town onto the roads and into the water. Week two comes back to the courts. Softball runs straight through both weeks.

Week one belongs to the north end of the county

Cycling opens the competition calendar, and it starts with the hardest event. The October 6 hill climb runs in Snow Canyon State Park on a course the Games describe as closed. If Snow Canyon is your Tuesday morning ride or walk, that's the day to check the course details first.

On October 7 the road race starts at the LDS church in Enterprise and uses public roads, and riders are told to keep right and share the road with traffic. The time trial follows on October 8 from Veyo Park. It runs under traffic control, with the left side of the road still open to cars. Drivers heading north toward Pine Valley or Enterprise midweek will share the road with masters cyclists racing the clock. On the other hand, a folding chair on the shoulder near Veyo is about as close to a time trial as anyone in Southern Utah will get this year.

Swimming is indoors and close to downtown. Races run October 7 through 9 at Utah Tech University's Human Performance Center. In Washington, the Washington City Community Center hosts men's 3-on-3 basketball October 8 through 10, then stays busy into week two as one of the venues for 5-on-5. Anyone who knows that building from the Washington side of the river has nine days of free basketball close to home, with only Sunday, Oct. 11 off between the two weeks.

Week two moves onto courts you already know

Pickleball gets the whole second week, from Monday, Oct. 12 through Saturday, Oct. 17. Play starts at 8 a.m. daily, with no make-up days. It's split between two complexes:

• Little Valley Pickleball Complex, at Horseman Park Drive and 2350 East
• SunRiver Pickleball Complex, 4275 S. Country Club Drive

The daily schedule lets you pick your matchups. Sunday, Oct. 11 is an open practice day. Monday is men's and women's skill-level doubles. Mixed doubles runs Thursday for the 50, 55 and 60 age groups and Friday for 65, 70, 75 and 80-plus. The week closes Saturday with men's and women's singles. The Games mark this schedule as preliminary, so check it before you drive over. If either complex is your usual court, plan for these six days to belong to the tournament.

Running happens on trails that locals use every week. The 5K on Monday, Oct. 12 is at Crosby Family Confluence Park on the Virgin River Trail. The 10K on Wednesday, Oct. 14 runs from Snow Canyon State Park down to Ivins City Heritage Park. That second course ends in the middle of Ivins, a short walk from where a lot of people do their morning coffee.

Softball doesn't take a break. Games run October 5 through 10 and October 12 through 17 at the Canyons, Bloomington, Gubler and Little Valley softball facilities. Little Valley is the busiest spot of the Games. Its ballfields are in use both weeks, and its pickleball courts take all of week two.

The evenings concentrate in two places

When the sports wind down for the day, the free public events gather at the Dixie Convention Center and at Utah Tech's Burns Arena.

The Cauldron Lighting Ceremony starts things off tonight, Sunday, Oct. 4, at 7:30 p.m. on the convention center's front lawn.

The Opening Ceremonies on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. in Burns Arena are the biggest night of the two weeks, and admission is free. Here's how the evening runs:

1. 5 p.m. A pre-ceremonies pizza party on the east side of Burns Arena, free for the first 800 people.
2. At the doors. The first 2,000 attendees get a Boomwhacker, a tuned percussion tube, so they can play along with Drum Cafe. The tubes are collected afterward and donated to the Washington County School District.
3. 6:30 p.m. Athletes line up on the south side of the arena for the Parade of Athletes, followed by the Flag Extravaganza.
4. All evening. DonnaJean Wilde attempts a Guinness World Record by holding a continuous plank for five hours.

Utah Tech has a clear-bag policy that limits bags to 12 by 12 by 6 inches, so leave the tote at home.

The second Tuesday brings the Concert & Celebration on October 13 at 7 p.m., also in Burns Arena, with Journey Unauthorized playing to this year's theme of "Don't Stop." Between those two nights, the Community Health Fair on October 10 is free to everyone.

Six nights on the convention center lawn

The Friendship Festival is where the Games most clearly invite the whole town. It runs Wednesday through Friday of each week, October 7 through 9 and October 14 through 16, from 4 to 8 p.m. outdoors on the Dixie Convention Center grounds, and it's free. The Games call it a gathering for athletes, their families and friends, and the general community, with music, games and food trucks.

Each night has a different lineup:

One vendor listing shows Papa's Got Jerk serving Jamaican food on October 7 and 8. The two Fridays feel the most like a neighborhood night out. Half Grassed Band and the Native American dancers close the first week, and Ballet Folklorico Quetzalcoatl and a Neil Diamond tribute close the second.

If you want to plan a full free day, the second Wednesday is a good one. The 10K finishes at Ivins City Heritage Park that morning, pickleball runs all day at Little Valley and SunRiver, and the Friendship Festival opens at 4 p.m. with magician Ryan Gray on the schedule. Since the Games note that individual sport schedules can change, a quick check of seniorgames.net the night before is the best way to make sure your matchup is still on.

At Holly Gardner, we keep track of which park, court and canyon road around St. George is doing what each season, because that's the kind of detail that shapes daily life here. If family or friends come for the Games and start wondering what it would be like to stay, we'd love to show them around. Schedule a free consultation and we'll start with the places they've already been cheering from.