Tuacahn Changes Its Whole Lineup Before Christmas. Here's What's On Each Week in Ivins.

Tuacahn Amphitheatre goes through three different seasons in about five weeks this fall. All summer, the stage has run three long musicals that you could see any week you liked. Those shows close on three nights in a row starting October 22. After that come a Halloween dance production, a stretch of concerts that each play only once, and a holiday program that fills the plaza every evening into late December. If you live in Ivins and think of Tuacahn as your local theater, the way to plan the rest of 2026 is to know which of those three venues it is in a given week.

The summer shows close three nights in a row

All three outdoor musicals end in the same week.

• Grease runs July 10 through October 22, 2026.
• Les Misérables runs through October 23, 2026.
• Disney & Pixar's Finding Nemo: A Family Musical runs through October 24, 2026. Tuacahn calls it a regional premiere.

Since the summer, any of these shows has been an easy choice for an open evening, because if one week didn't work, the next one would. That flexibility ends on Thursday, October 22, and the whole set is gone by Saturday, October 24. If you've been saving Nemo for the grandkids or Les Mis for a cooler night, you have this week and next week left.

Halloween week belongs to Thriller

Four days after Nemo closes, the outdoor stage hosts Odyssey Dance Theatre's Thriller, October 28 through 31 at 7:30 p.m. It's a short run of four nights, and it ends on Halloween. It's the last multi-night run on the outdoor stage until the holiday program begins.

Eleven days, eight acts, one night each

From November 4 to 14, Tuacahn is in its concert format. Tuacahn's official concert list shows eight acts in that window, and each plays the Outdoor Amphitheatre once at 7 p.m.

Planning works differently in this stretch. With the summer musicals, a missed evening was easy to make up later. In concert season, a missed date means you miss that act entirely. The schedule comes in two clusters, Wednesday through Saturday in each of two weeks, with Sunday through Tuesday dark in between. Couples who split on Beatles or Bee Gees tributes, Billy Joel or Rodney Atkins, have eight separate evenings to choose from, but none of them repeats.

November 14 opens with the park road closed and ends with the Navy band

The last concert night also has the busiest morning of the fall on the Snow Canyon side of Ivins.

The Snow Canyon Half Marathon and 10K, presented by St. George Races, runs Saturday, November 14, 2026, with a 5K and Fun Run the same day. The half marathon and 10K both start at 9 a.m. Utah State Parks says Snow Canyon Drive will close through the park from 8 a.m. to noon that day, and the paved Whiptail Trail will close too. If your Saturday routine is a morning walk or ride on Whiptail, plan for the afternoon or another route that week.

Runners don't drive themselves to the start. According to the St. George City race FAQ, half-marathon buses load from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m., and 10K buses load from 7:30 to 8 a.m. Both leave from the back lot of Snow Canyon High School at 1385 N 2400 W in St. George, and personal drop-offs at the start lines are not allowed. Packet pickup is Friday, November 13. The official race page still links course maps labeled 2025, so don't treat those maps as the 2026 route.

By noon the park road reopens. At 7 p.m., the U.S. Navy Band Commodores close out Tuacahn's concert run. That leaves about seven hours between the park road reopening and the concert.

There's a smaller version of the same closure much sooner. On Wednesday, October 14, the Huntsman Senior Games 10K runs through the park. The park stays open, but Snow Canyon Drive closes from Upper Galoot to Hidden Pinyon from about 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., and Whiptail stays closed until about 10:30 a.m. Our guide to the Senior Games covers the rest of that two-week schedule.

One item in the park needs a check before you go. Johnson Canyon closes every year from March 15 through September 14, except for ranger-guided hikes. Going by that schedule, it should be open now. The park's current-conditions page, however, still says the seasonal closure "is currently in effect." Until the two pages agree, call the park or check at the entrance before you plan a Johnson Canyon outing. All other trails are listed as open, and the park's daily hours are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Then the theater moves indoors and the plaza takes over

The third season starts the week before Thanksgiving. Holiday Inn opens in the indoor Hafen Theatre on November 20 and runs through December 22, 2026. Tuacahn lists it for ages 5 and up. The main musical of the season is now indoors, and the outdoor space becomes the holiday plaza.

Christmas in the Canyon is listed on Tuacahn's concert page from November 28 through December 23, 2026, in the Outdoor Amphitheatre. Tuacahn's own pages don't agree on the dates. One event listing shows November 27 from 6 to 9 p.m., and the series page lists only December 3 through 5. If you're aiming for opening night or a particular December evening, confirm with Tuacahn first.

Tuacahn's 2026 Christmas in the Canyon page lists what a holiday evening includes:

1. Live Nativity in the Outdoor Amphitheatre, about 20 minutes long, with live camels, donkeys and sheep. Shows are at 7 and 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
2. Snow on the plaza every 15 minutes through the evening.
3. Santa Claus, Monday through Saturday, 6 to 9 p.m.
4. The Tuacahn Express, a train ride of about seven minutes through the lit canyon. It runs most nights from 6 to 9 p.m., costs $3 per person and boards first-come, first-served, with no reserved time slots.

The schedule is built so you can do both programs in one evening. The 7 p.m. Nativity is followed by Holiday Inn in the Hafen Theatre at 7:45 p.m. Last year that 7:45 slot went to Elf the Musical.

The plaza snow is still fairly new. In a December 2025 press release, Tuacahn said it was adding snowfall to the plaza that season, using the snow machines from its 2024 production of Frozen. This year's page lists the snow as a regular feature, every 15 minutes.

Tuacahn's 2026 page links to Nativity tickets but doesn't list a price. It also doesn't say whether walking the lit plaza is free. Check ticketing before you promise visiting family a free evening.

The season at a glance

The evenings in Ivins have a different rhythm in summer, when Snow Canyon cuts back its evening activity in the heat and the Kayenta Art Village calendar fills those hours. From mid-October to Christmas, the Tuacahn schedule above sets the pace, and on the mornings of October 14 and November 14 the park road closures do too. Our Ivins neighborhood page covers the rest of the area around Padre Canyon.

If you're thinking about a home near Tuacahn or Snow Canyon, or you have family coming for the holidays who want to look at Ivins in person, Holly Gardner can plan showings around Nativity nights and race-morning road closures. She also offers virtual tours if you're looking from out of town. Schedule a free consultation, and she'll help you see the area during the season you'd actually be living in it.