City guide · Clovis

Clovis gateway to the Sierras

Clovis is a city of about 129,000 people on Fresno's northeast edge, and it is still adding homes, with Loma Vista past 70% built and Heritage Grove opening next. Its restored Old Town draws the city's biggest crowds for Big Hat Days, the Clovis Rodeo, ClovisFest and the farmers markets.

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Pollasky Avenue in Old Town Clovis, lined with trees and storefronts
Pollasky Avenue in Old Town Clovis, 2026.
At a glance
Where
At the foot of the Sierra Nevada, about 6.5 miles northeast of downtown Fresno
City or county
City of Clovis, Fresno County. Incorporated in 1912.
ZIP codes
93611, 93612, 93613, 93619
Size
120,124 residents at the 2020 Census; about 129,000 estimated in 2025
HOA
Varies by tract. Some planned areas, such as Harlan Ranch, have one. Check each listing.
School district
Mostly Clovis Unified, with small areas in Fresno Unified and Sanger Unified. Confirm attendance boundaries with the district.
Today

Clovis today

Clovis had an estimated 129,121 residents in 2025, and new homes are still going up at its edges. Loma Vista, the 3,300-acre planned area in the southeast, has passed the 70% buildout the city requires, so the city is finishing it while it opens Heritage Grove in the northwest.

Heritage Grove covers about 900 acres. More than 5,000 homes are planned there, and the draft plan adds shops, offices and a 150-room hotel. The specific plan is targeted for early 2027, and a citywide General Plan update covering the next 25 years is due by the end of 2027.

Clovis Unified opened the Terry P. Bradley Educational Center at Clinton and Highland avenues in 2025 and is adding to it through 2028. Recent votes affect costs: Measure Y, a 1-cent city sales tax, took effect in April 2025, water rates are set to rise 60% over 3 years, and county voters decide Measure S, a half-cent transportation tax, on November 3, 2026.

Incorporated
February 27, 1912
Motto
"Gateway to the Sierras"
Newest trail
Letterman Trail, opened September 2026
Most visited

Old Town Clovis and its big weekends

Old Town, the restored center along Clovis and Pollasky avenues, hosts most of the city's largest events, which makes it the biggest draw in Clovis. Its older storefronts were restored, and newer buildings were given early-1900s fronts to match.

Big Hat Days, a free 2-day festival run by the Clovis Chamber of Commerce, fills about 15 blocks in early April; the next one is April 3–4, 2027. Organizers counted more than 150,000 visitors in 2024. Later that month the Clovis Rodeo runs at the Rodeo Grounds behind Clark Intermediate School. The 2026 rodeo ran 5 days, sold out its Friday-to-Sunday performances, and expected about 50,000 people.

ClovisFest and the Hot Air Balloon Fun Fly take over Pollasky Avenue on the last weekend of September, with balloons launching from the Rodeo Grounds around dawn. The Friday Night Farmers Market runs from May through September, and a Saturday morning market runs all year.

Where
Clovis and Pollasky avenues, centered near 4th and 5th streets
Big Hat Days
Early April (April 3–4, 2027)
Clovis Rodeo
Late April, 748 Rodeo Drive
Friday market
May to September, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Saturday market
Year-round, 9 to 11:30 a.m.
ClovisFest
Last weekend of September
Around the city

Where people go in Clovis

  • Clovis Old Town Trail

    Willow Ave south to near Shields Ave

    A 5.9-mile paved rail-trail. City counters logged about 4,679 uses a week on it and 6,003 on the connecting Dry Creek Trail, and it meets Fresno's Sugar Pine Trail at Willow.

  • Old Town shops and restaurants

    Pollasky Ave and 4th St

    Shops and antique stores, plus restaurants such as House of JuJu (565 Pollasky), The Local (401 Clovis Ave) and Papa's Place (453 Pollasky).

  • Sierra Vista Mall

    1050 Shaw Ave

    About 500,000 square feet of indoor and open-air shopping with Target, Kohl's and a cinema. It is also the shuttle lot for the rodeo.

  • Clovis Botanical Garden

    945 N Clovis Ave, in Dry Creek Park

    A free 4-acre garden of water-wise plants, open Wednesday to Sunday, with a visitor center that opened in October 2025.

  • Tarpey Depot and Clovis–Big Dry Creek Museum

    399 Clovis Ave; 401 Pollasky Ave

    The 1892 depot is the last surviving building of the San Joaquin Valley Railroad. The free museum nearby shows a piece of the old lumber flume.

  • California 9/11 Memorial

    3485 Never Forget Ln

    A 110-foot flagpole, one foot for each World Trade Center story, with replicas of the towers and the Pentagon.

Homes

What the homes are like

Old Town

The oldest houses, built from the early 1900s through the 1920s, are near Old Town on streets such as Woodworth, DeWitt, Pollasky, 3rd and 4th.

Planned areas

Loma Vista, a planned area approved in 2003, was laid out for 10,000 to 11,000 homes, with a 6.2-acre village green. Harlan Ranch, south of Shepherd Ave and east of Temperance Ave, has more than 1,500 homes. See our guides to Loma Vista, Harlan Ranch and Polo Ranch.

Builders

Heritage Grove has approved tracts from Lennar (600 units), Wilson Homes (385) and Bonadelle (162), in Spanish and Mediterranean styles. In southeast Clovis, Lennar lists its Corinthalyn community at Highland and Ashlan as sold out, with new homesites coming soon.

HOA and taxes

HOA dues and Mello-Roos or other special-district (CFD) taxes vary by tract, so check each listing.

City or county

Clovis annexes land in stages, and nearby areas such as Tarpey Village are unincorporated county land. Check whether a listing is inside city limits.

Location

Getting around, and schools

Freeways

SR 168 crosses Clovis and has bypassed Old Town since 1999–2001. It continues as the Sierra Heritage Scenic Byway, about 70 miles past Shaver Lake to the Kaiser Wilderness.

Distances

Fresno Yosemite International Airport is about 3.5 miles in a straight line from the city center. Yosemite Valley is 94 miles from Fresno on SR 41, about 2 hours 15 minutes.

Transit

Clovis Transit runs Stageline routes and Round Up dial-a-ride, with transfers to Fresno's FAX buses at Sierra Vista Mall, Shaw and Cedar, and Willow and Herndon.

Shopping

Sierra Vista Mall and Colton's Social House on Shaw Ave, Old Town on Pollasky Ave, and 13 Prime Steak and Willow Osteria on Willow Ave.

Schools

Most of Clovis is in Clovis Unified. Small areas are in Fresno Unified (near Peach and Ashlan) and Sanger Unified. Clovis Unified high schools in the city are Clovis High, Buchanan and Clovis East, plus Gateway, an alternative school; the new Clovis South is just outside the city to the southeast. Colleges include Clovis Community College, San Joaquin College of Law and California Health Sciences University. Check an address on the district's boundary map. Boundaries change, so confirm any address with the district.

Map of Clovis, California, outlining the area this guide covers Clovis Shaw Ave Herndon Ave Clovis Ave SR 168 1Old Town Clovis 2Sierra Vista Mall 3Dry Creek Trailhead
  1. 1Old Town Clovis
  2. 2Sierra Vista Mall
  3. 3Dry Creek Trailhead
Gold outline: Clovis city limits. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors; boundary from the U.S. Census Bureau. Open in Google Maps
History

Named for the Wheat King, built on lumber and rail

The city is named for Clovis M. Cole, who arrived in 1872 and later farmed about 50,000 acres of grain as "The Wheat King." The San Joaquin Valley Railroad, organized in 1890, named its station for him, and the townsite took the name. Cole reportedly sold the railroad 1 acre for the depot for $4,000 in gold coin.

Lumber built the early town. A V-shaped flume more than 40 miles long carried rough lumber down from Shaver Lake to a Clovis mill, where up to 400 men worked at its peak. A snowstorm later wrecked about 2 miles of the flume, and it was never rebuilt.

  1. 1872Clovis Cole joins his father on a 320-acre homestead in the Red Bank district.
  2. 1890The San Joaquin Valley Railroad is organized. Its station is named for Cole.
  3. 1892Regular train service begins, and the Tarpey Depot is built.
  4. 1912Clovis incorporates on February 27.
  5. 1913The Fifth Street water tower goes up. It is still in service.
  6. 1914The Clovis Women's Club holds the first Clovis Festival, the start of the rodeo.
  7. 1959Voters merge 6 school districts into Clovis Unified.
  8. 1999The Tarpey Depot is moved into Old Town and restored.
  9. 2014The Clovis Rodeo marks 100 years and enters the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
Crowds and trails

Clovis, by the numbers

150,000+visitors to Big Hat Days in 2024, by organizers' count
50,000people expected over the 5-day 2026 Clovis Rodeo
$30 millionthe city's estimate of the 2024 rodeo's economic impact
3 million+estimated uses of city trails in 2020
Worth knowing

Stories from Clovis

  • Riding the flume

    Some flume workers rode boards down the water channel from Shaver Lake to Clovis. The trip took about 6 hours.

  • A rodeo in the Hall of Fame

    The Clovis Rodeo was the second California rodeo to reach 100 years, after Salinas. A statue at the entrance shows Lane Frost on the bull Red Rock; the 2 met at Clovis in 1988.

  • A school site for $1

    In 1937 the rodeo association bought the old flume and mill land. A year later it sold part of it to the high school district for $1, and Clark Intermediate School stands there now.

  • Vineyard roots

    M. F. Tarpey's La Paloma Winery opened in 1895, and his 1910–11 winery was the only reinforced-concrete wine facility in the San Joaquin Valley.

FAQ

Clovis questions

How did Clovis get its name?

From farmer Clovis M. Cole, "The Wheat King." The San Joaquin Valley Railroad, organized in 1890, named its station after him, and the town took the station's name.

When are Big Hat Days and the Clovis Rodeo?

Big Hat Days is a free festival in Old Town in early April; the 2027 dates are April 3–4. The Clovis Rodeo follows in late April; the 2026 rodeo ran April 22 to 26.

What ZIP codes cover Clovis?

93611, 93612, 93613 and 93619.

Which school district serves Clovis homes?

Most of Clovis is in Clovis Unified. Small areas are in Fresno Unified and Sanger Unified. Boundaries change, so confirm any address with the district.

Where is Clovis still growing?

Loma Vista in the southeast is past 70% buildout, and Heritage Grove in the northwest is next, with more than 5,000 homes planned.

How far is Clovis from Yosemite and Shaver Lake?

SR 168 runs from Clovis about 70 miles past Shaver Lake to the Kaiser Wilderness. Yosemite Valley is 94 miles from Fresno on SR 41, about 2 hours 15 minutes.

Buying or selling here

Thinking about Clovis?

Baylen and Chris work across Clovis, from the older streets near Old Town to the newest tracts in Loma Vista and Heritage Grove. Ask us to compare areas, check a home's school district, or price your home for sale.

See homes for sale in ClovisSee sold homes in ClovisWhat's my home worth?Call or text 559-213-7734

Trafton Home Team, brokered by Real (DRE #02022092). Baylen Trafton, DRE #02026482.

Sources and photo credits