Colony Days returns with memorial parade
By Atascadero News · Thu Oct 15 2026
Annual Atascadero celebration honors founder Maggie Rice Vandergon; downtown street closures and parking restrictions begin ahead of festivities
A longtime community tradition returns to its October roots this weekend as Colony Days brings its annual parade to downtown Atascadero, joining a three-day Fall Fest celebration in and around the Sunken Gardens. The Colony Days parade is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, with this year’s procession honoring founder and first Grand Marshal Maggie Rice Vandergon. Fall Fest runs Friday through Sunday, Oct. 16–18, offering vendors, food and entertainment from 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more than five decades, Colony Days has celebrated Atascadero’s history, traditions and the people who have helped shape the community. The celebration began in 1973, followed by the first parade in 1974.
After decades of taking place on either the first or third Saturday in October, Colony Days moved to November in 2025 to partner with Atascadero Fall Fest. This year, the events will again share a weekend, with Colony Days returning to its traditional month. The volunteer-run Atascadero Colony Days Committee, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, organizes the annual celebration with support from residents, businesses, sponsors and community partners.
This year’s “Maggie Rice Vandergon Memorial Parade” will recognize the woman whose community service helped establish the tradition. Vandergon died in January at age 98.
Born in Paso Robles in 1927, she graduated from Paso Robles High School in 1945 and attended Mercy College in San Diego to pursue nursing. She returned to the area, working as a surgical nurse while raising her family. After the death ofher husband, Dr. Chet Rice, she remained in Atascadero and later married Jack Vandergon.
Her decades of service included positions on the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, as chair of the Twin Cities Hospital Board of Directors and on the County Grand Jury. She also chaired the Pioneer Days parade committee, ran the California Mid-State Fair’s first-aid tent for 11 years and organized quarterly blood drives at the Elks Lodge for 20 years.
Vandergon received Citizen of the Year honors from both Atascadero and Paso Robles, along with recognition from the Elks.
Saturday’s activities begin with breakfast available from 9 to 11 a.m. at participating downtown businesses and vendors around the Sunken Gardens. The parade will begin behind the Administration Building on Lewis Avenue, cross the Arch Bridge and follow Lewis as it becomes Capistrano Avenue. The procession will continue toward Highway 41, turn onto El Camino Real and then onto Entrada Avenue, ending at Entrada and Lewis avenues.
Parade awards are expected around noon to 12:30 p.m., as Fall Fest’s Saturday activities get underway.
An earlier opportunity to celebrate comes Thursday, Oct. 15, with the Colony Days Mixer from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. during the Atascadero Chamber’s Oktoberfest at Atascadero Lake Park, inside the Zoo Gardens at the Central Coast Zoo.
Street closures and parking restrictions
Drivers should plan for downtown closures throughout the week as crews prepare for the parade and festival.
The City Hall parking lot is closed from 6 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, through 6 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19. Palma Avenue closes at noon Wednesday, Oct. 14, between East and West Mall and between West Mall and the alley toward Entrada, reopening at noon Monday.
East and West Mall, between El Camino Real and Lewis Avenue, will close from 10 a.m. Thursday through noon Monday.
On parade day, staging closures run from 7 to 11:30 a.m. on West Mall between Lewis Avenue and the Atascadero Creek bridge, and on Olmeda Avenue between West Mall and Traffic Way.
Parade-route closures are scheduled from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, with a hard closure beginning at 8:30 a.m. Affected roads include Lewis Avenue along the parade route and between West Mall and Traffic Way; both lanes of Highway 41 between Lewis Avenue/Santa Ysabel Avenue and El Camino Real; both lanes of El Camino Real between Highway 41 and Entrada; and Entrada between El Camino Real and Lewis.
Parking and unloading restrictions also apply. Along Lewis Avenue beside City Hall, between East and West Mall, restrictions run from 6 a.m. Thursday through 4 p.m. Saturday. On Saturday, restrictions apply to both sides of Entrada between El Camino Real and Lewis from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., and to the middle school side of Lewis between East and West Mall from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For Fall Fest, parking and unloading restrictions along El Camino Real in front of the Sunken Gardens, between East and West Mall, run from 10 a.m. Thursday through noon Monday.
For more information about Colony Days, visit colonydays.org.
COLONY DAY SCHEDULE
Colony Days Mixer
Thursday, October 15 | 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Central Coast Zoo
9100 Morro Rd
Atascadero Fall Festival
October 16–18
Friday | 4–10 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday | Noon–10 p.m.
Sunken Gardens
6505 El Camino Real
Colony Day Events & Parade
Saturday, October 17
9–11 a.m.
Breakfast at local businesses and vendors throughout downtown Atascadero and around the Sunken Gardens.
10 a.m.
Colony Days Parade
Noon or 12:30 p.m.
Colony Days Parade awards
After the parade–10 p.m.
Vendors, entertainment and food in and around downtown Atascadero and the Sunken Gardens.