Fremont Solstice Parade 2025

Party at the center of the universe 🌐

📸: Getty Images

📆 Saturday, June 21 at 1 p.m.

Each June, something magical and a little off-the-wall happens in the streets of Fremont: the city collectively lets its hair down (or paints it blue or covers it in glitter) and welcomes summer with the Fremont Solstice Parade. Since 1989, this people-powered spectacle has become a beloved Seattle tradition — part street theater, part costume party, part communal fever dream — and it’s back again for its 34th lap around the sun on Saturday, June 21, starting at 1 p.m.

This is not your average parade. There are no corporate floats, no cars (except maybe an art car or two) and no chill. Instead, expect 60+ ensembles of stilt walkers, dancers, giant puppets, musicians and bare-as-you-dare cyclists spinning past you in a kaleidoscope of handmade chaos. The parade starts at 3rd and Leary, cruises along 36th Street, turns right on N. 35th St. and wraps near the Fremont Rocket — aka the center of the universe.

And when the parade’s done? The party’s just getting started. The Fremont Fair takes over six city blocks with two music stages, 300+ indie craft vendors, beer gardens, food trucks, a Kids Zone and something called a “plant-based block party.” Whether you’re hunting for handmade earrings, vibing to local bands or just basking in the beautiful weirdness, it’s a full-day immersion into art, joy and creativity, Fremont-style.

Powered by the Fremont Arts Council, the Solstice Parade is free and open to everyone — because in Fremont, anyone can be an artist, and everyone is invited to get a little weird.

💡Top tips:

⏰Get there early for the best spot (crowds fill up fast)
📌The fair takes place one block over from the parade route
🚘Don’t miss the 75+ decorated cars near the parade’s end at the Seattle Art Car Blow Out
🐶Sunday, June 22 at 2 p.m. the pooches take over in the dog parade!

Author

Author Bess Lovejoy

Bess Lovejoy

Bess Lovejoy is the author of Northwest Know-How: Haunts from Sasquatch Books. She also wrote Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses, and she’s worked at Mental Floss, SmithsonianMag.com, and The Stranger.