Memorial Day weekend 2026 brings a full slate of ways to spend the unofficial start of summer in metro Phoenix, from the Salt River to Chase Field and a new wave of movie options. Memorial Day fell on Monday, May 25, and the long weekend lined up with outdoor activities, sports, dining and films for people staying close to home.
At Salt River Tubing, 9200 N. Bush Highway in Mesa, tube rentals run $20-$30 plus online booking fees, with hours set at 9 a.m.-6 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. on weekends. The final tube rental is at 2 p.m., and the last shuttle pickup is at 6:30 p.m. For a different kind of water day, Revel Surf, which opened in 2025 at the larger Cannon Beach development, operates at 4503 South Power Road in Mesa from 10 a.m.-9 p.m. daily, with surfing sessions starting at $119.
Sports fans had a clear anchor for the holiday stretch: the Arizona Diamondbacks faced the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field, 401 E. Jefferson St. in Phoenix, on Friday, May 22 at 6:40 p.m., Saturday, May 23 at 7:10 p.m. and Sunday, May 24 at 1:10 p.m. Tickets ranged from $39.35 to $163.35. Memorial Day itself is observed on the last Monday in May and was created to honor military members who died in the line of duty, which gives the weekend its solemn edge even as it has become the season’s unofficial launch.
The mix of options says a lot about how metro Phoenix spends a holiday weekend now: one family can float the river, another can catch a game, and others can stay indoors for a movie. Among the films mentioned for the weekend are a new Devil Wears Prada film and a new Michael Jackson biopic. Bill Goodykoontz called The Sheep Detectives “just good, period, a perfectly pleasant way to spend a couple of hour,” a reminder that sometimes the best holiday plans are the simplest ones. For people looking for something to do without leaving the region, the answer this weekend was not a single event but a packed calendar that made staying in town feel like the main attraction.
