MUSEUM ON MAIN TO HOST THE 86th  ANNUAL ROSE SHOW FOR FIRST TIME ON MAY 9TH

MUSEUM ON MAIN TO HOST THE 86th  ANNUAL ROSE SHOW FOR FIRST TIME ON MAY 9TH

April 1st, 2026- Pleasanton, CA – Join the Museum on Main on May 9th from 1 pm to 4 pm for the 86th annual Rose Show. This marks the first time that the museum will host and continue Pleasanton’s historic Rose Show tradition for the entire town to enjoy. 

Entering a rose to be judged will cost $5 per person. You can bring your rose(s) to Museum on Main on May 9th between 8:00 to 9:30am and pay to enter. No prior entry forms are needed. MoM will provide vases for single roses. 

Along with enjoying the show, attendees can listen to live music on MoM’s front lawn and purchase snacks from the Cub Scouts booth. Additionally, Western Garden Nursery will offer demonstrations on planting and caring for roses, so that everyone can become better gardeners! Attending the event is free and open to the public. 

Pleasanton has a long history of roses, starting in 1938 when Jackson and Perkins planted them on August Hagemann’s land west of Livermore. Jackson and Perkins would be responsible for two million rose bushes in those fields. The rose industry boomed, and by the mid-1950s, the valley included seven other rose growers, planting millions of rose plants. Pleasanton’s Rose Show officially began in 1938 by Harry J. Harding, President of the First National Bank of Pleasanton. In celebration of the bank’s 25th anniversary, Harding gifted his customers roses bushes as thanks in 1935.  In the following years, they would return with blooms from the bushes which he then displayed inside the bank. By 1938, the Rose Show was officially born and became a staple of Pleasanton traditions.  

***To include more information and context about the history of rose growing in Pleasanton, please see the source articles attached to this email.