Sanger

Sanger calls itself the Nation's Christmas Tree City, a title it earned in 1926 when the U.S. Department of the Interior dedicated the General Grant Tree in nearby Kings Canyon National Park as the country's official Christmas tree, after a local tradition of holding a Christmas program beside it. The town still holds a trek to the tree every December.

Sanger sits directly on the Blossom Trail, a 60-mile signed loop through Fresno County orchard country that peaks with bloom season each spring, and its downtown along Academy Avenue and Jensen Avenue carries a genuine small-city feel with its own restaurants, parks, and a depot museum recreating the original downtown storefronts.

The town also sits close to the Kings River and serves as one of the real approach routes toward Kings Canyon National Park, though the park itself is a longer drive rather than a same-day add-on.