Festivals in Washington State
Washington throws a party in every season. From tulip fields and lavender farms to Bavarian beer halls and a citywide celebration with the Blue Angels overhead, the state’s festivals are some of the best reasons to plan a trip around the calendar. This is our curated guide to the celebrations worth building a weekend around, organized by season so you can find what is happening whenever you visit.
We keep this guide evergreen, so we list the recurring season for each event rather than a single date that shifts every year. Always confirm exact dates and tickets on a festival’s official site before you go.
Washington Festivals by Month
Planning around a specific month? Here are the headliners at a glance. Tap any festival to jump to its full write up below, or tap a linked month for our full guide to that month in Washington.
Spring Festivals in Washington State
Spring in Washington is bloom season, and the festivals follow the flowers.
Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival runs the entire month of April across the farm fields around Mount Vernon, where millions of tulips bloom in display gardens like RoozenGaarde and Tulip Town. It is the signature spring event in the state and a self guided drive you take at your own pace.
Washington State Apple Blossom Festival
One of the oldest festivals in the country, the Apple Blossom Festival fills Wenatchee with parades, a carnival, and a royalty program in late April and early May, when the orchards of the Wenatchee Valley burst into bloom.
Daffodil Festival
The Daffodil Festival’s Grand Floral Parade is a Pierce County tradition more than ninety years old. On one April day, flower covered floats roll through Tacoma, Puyallup, Sumner, and Orting.
U District Cherry Blossom Festival
When the Yoshino cherry trees in the University of Washington Quad reach peak bloom in March, the U District celebrates with a neighborhood festival and evening Night Blossoms lighting.
Sakura-Con
Held at the Seattle Convention Center each April, Sakura-Con is the oldest and largest anime convention in the Pacific Northwest, drawing tens of thousands of fans in costume.
Sequim Irrigation Festival
The Sequim Irrigation Festival is the longest continuously running festival in Washington. Every May it celebrates the canals that made the Dungeness Valley bloom, with a grand parade, a carnival, and a logging show.
Port Townsend Rhododendron Festival
The Rhododendron Festival has welcomed spring to the Victorian seaport of Port Townsend for generations, with a pet parade, a kiddie parade, a grand parade, and the Rhody Run in mid May.
Penn Cove MusselFest
The historic waterfront town of Coupeville on Whidbey Island celebrates its famous Penn Cove mussels each March with a chowder competition, tasting tents, and boat tours of the working mussel farms.
Ocean Shores Razor Clam and Seafood Festival
Timed to the spring razor clam dig, this March festival in Ocean Shores serves chowder, fresh seafood, and cooking demonstrations, and is widely called the best seafood festival on the Washington coast.
Spokane Lilac Festival
Spokane’s signature spring celebration has run for more than eighty years, timed to the lilacs that bloom across the city in May. Its centerpiece is the Armed Forces Torchlight Parade, one of the largest nighttime parades in the country.
Bloomsday
One of the largest timed road races in the United States, Bloomsday sends around fifty thousand runners and walkers through the streets of Spokane on the first Sunday of May, a rite of spring in the Inland Northwest since 1977.
Walla Walla Balloon Stampede
For one weekend each May, dozens of hot air balloons lift off over the Walla Walla Valley at sunrise, with an evening Night Glow lighting up the field. Admission is free and the wine country setting makes it an easy spring getaway.
Ski to Sea
Bellingham’s iconic multisport relay runs seven legs from the slopes of Mount Baker down to Bellingham Bay, covering skiing, running, cycling, canoeing, and kayaking. Held on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, it is the biggest single day event in Whatcom County.
Northwest Folklife Festival
A free Memorial Day weekend institution at Seattle Center since 1972, Northwest Folklife draws hundreds of thousands of people for global music, dance, food, and craft that reflect the many cultures of the Pacific Northwest.
Winthrop 49er Days
The Old West town of Winthrop leans into its frontier character each May with 49er Days, a heritage weekend of parades, a cowboy breakfast, and packer competitions in the heart of the Methow Valley.
Taste Washington
The largest single region wine and food event in the country takes over Seattle for a weekend each March, pouring more than 200 Washington wineries alongside dozens of the state’s best restaurants. It is the one weekend to taste the whole of Washington wine country without leaving the city.
Seattle International Film Festival
One of the largest film festivals in the country runs for most of May, filling Seattle theaters with new independent and international films. Directors show up in person and the lineup runs into the hundreds of screenings.
Emerald City Comic Con
Seattle’s pop culture convention draws around 90,000 fans over four days in early March, with major celebrity guests, artists, and some of the most ambitious cosplay in the country. It is one of the largest ticketed events in the state.
Norwescon
The longest running science fiction and fantasy convention in the Pacific Northwest gathers writers, artists, and fans near SeaTac over Easter weekend in early April. It has been a fixture for more than four decades.
Poulsbo Viking Fest
The Norse heritage town on the Kitsap Peninsula throws a parade, a carnival, and a street fair over the third weekend of May. Lutefisk and a Viking themed run are part of the tradition.
Olympia Procession of the Species
One of the most creative community events in the state, a handmade costume and puppet parade celebrating the natural world winds through downtown Olympia in late April. No motors, no words, and no logos allowed.
Yakima Valley Spring Barrel Tasting
More than thirty wineries across the Yakima Valley open their barrels the last weekend of April, pouring brand new vintages straight from the cellar. It is the valley’s biggest wine weekend.
Lake Chelan Wine and Jazz Festival
Nine wineries and a handful of downtown venues host jazz, funk, and blues over four days in mid May at the head of Lake Chelan. Wine country and live music in one lakeside weekend.
Penn Cove Water Festival
A Coupeville tradition dating to 1930, this Whidbey Island festival centers Native canoe races in Penn Cove alongside tribal storytelling, dance, and art. It lands the second Saturday of May.
Holland Happening
Oak Harbor leans into its Dutch roots with a street festival, a parade, wooden shoe races, and tulips in late April. It has run for more than half a century on Whidbey Island.
Long Beach Razor Clam and Shellfish Festival
The Long Beach Peninsula pairs clam digging lessons with chowder tastings, live music, and food trucks in mid April. A different coast from the Ocean Shores clam festival and a good excuse for a spring beach weekend.
Summer Festivals in Washington State
Summer is the busy season, when Washington’s biggest celebrations take over city waterfronts, farm fields, and the Cascade foothills.
Fremont Solstice Parade and Fair
Seattle’s most freewheeling celebration, the Fremont Solstice Parade is famous for its art cars and painted cyclists, paired with the Fremont Fair street market around the summer solstice in late June.
Sequim Lavender Weekend
Sequim is the lavender capital of North America, and Lavender Weekend in mid July fills the farms with rows open for cutting, artisan vendors, and a festival in the park. Plan your visit with our Sequim lavender guide.
Bite of Seattle
Bite of Seattle gathers dozens of regional restaurants, food trucks, and chefs at Seattle Center in late July for one of the largest food festivals on the West Coast.
Pacific Northwest Scottish Highland Games
Held at the Enumclaw Expo Center in late July, the Highland Games bring caber tossing, bagpipes, drumming, and a clan gathering to the foothills of Mount Rainier.
Seafair
Seafair is Seattle’s signature summer celebration, a weeks long run of neighborhood events that builds to the Blue Angels roaring over Lake Washington and hydroplanes racing on the water in early August.
Tribal Canoe Journey
The Tribal Canoe Journey is an intertribal gathering where dozens of canoe families paddle traditional saltwater routes to a host nation for days of song, protocol, and ceremony. The host community changes each year.
Capitol Hill Block Party
Capitol Hill Block Party takes over several Seattle blocks for a weekend in early August, with live music across multiple stages plus food and art in one of the city’s liveliest neighborhoods.
Fourth of July Celebrations
The Fourth of July lights up the whole state, from small town parades to waterfront fireworks over Puget Sound. See our guide to the Fourth of July in Washington.
County and State Fairs
Fair season runs all summer and peaks with the Washington State Fair in Puyallup each September, the biggest single event in the state. Find them all in our Washington fairs guide.
Spokane Hoopfest
Hoopfest is the largest three on three outdoor basketball tournament in the world, taking over more than forty blocks of downtown Spokane on the last weekend of June with thousands of teams and around a quarter million spectators.
Recycled Arts Festival
Held in Vancouver’s Esther Short Park each June, the Recycled Arts Festival gathers well over a hundred artists who work almost entirely in reclaimed and repurposed materials, a genuinely distinctive summer market.
Tri-City Water Follies
Each July the Columbia River at Kennewick and Pasco roars to life with the Columbia Cup unlimited hydroplane races and an over the river air show, a Tri-Cities tradition since the 1960s.
Winthrop Rhythm and Blues Festival
Washington’s longest running blues festival sets up on a riverside meadow outside Winthrop each July, an intimate weekend of national and regional acts in the Methow Valley.
Capital Lakefair
Olympia’s hometown summer festival has gathered around Capitol Lake since 1957, with a carnival, a grand parade, live music, and fireworks over the water beneath the State Capitol dome.
Omak Stampede
The Omak Stampede brings a top professional rodeo to the Okanogan each August, followed by the famous and much debated Suicide Race down a steep bluff and across the Okanogan River.
Washington State International Kite Festival
For a full week each August the wide beach at Long Beach fills with kites of every size flown by pilots from around the world, one of the premier kite festivals anywhere and a defining event of the Washington coast.
Vancouver Wine and Jazz Festival
The largest festival of its kind in the Northwest, this late August gathering in Vancouver pairs national jazz headliners with dozens of regional wineries in Esther Short Park.
Anacortes Arts Festival
For more than sixty years the gateway town to the San Juans has thrown a fine art festival on the first weekend of August, drawing hundreds of artists and tens of thousands of visitors to downtown Anacortes.
Pride Celebrations in Washington
Pride season in Washington runs from early June into September, from Seattle’s giant downtown parade to celebrations in Spokane, Olympia, Tacoma, Wenatchee, Walla Walla, Port Townsend, and dozens of smaller towns. See our full guide to pride events in Washington.
Makah Days
The Makah Tribe celebrates its heritage at Neah Bay over the last weekend of August with war canoe races, traditional dancing, a salmon bake, and fireworks. It happens at the northwesternmost point of the lower forty eight.
Chief Seattle Days
Suquamish honors Chief Seattle in mid August with a salmon bake, canoe races, hoop dancers, and tribal songs on the Kitsap Peninsula. The public celebration has run since 1911.
Lummi Stommish Water Festival
The Lummi Nation near Bellingham holds war canoe races, a salmon barbecue, and stick games in June, a celebration of Lummi veterans and culture going back to 1946.
Lind Combine Demolition Derby
Farmers smash retired combine harvesters into each other in the wheat town of Lind the second weekend of June. There is nothing else quite like it, plus a parade and a small town feed.
Vashon Island Strawberry Festival
A century old island tradition takes over Vashon in mid July with a parade, a classic car show, and a street fair. The ferry ride is half the fun.
Loggerodeo
Sedro Woolley runs one of the state’s longest standing Fourth of July celebrations, pairing a PRCA rodeo and a chainsaw carving competition with a grand parade and fireworks. Skagit Valley logging heritage on full display.
Bellevue Arts Museum ARTSfair
One of the oldest juried art fairs in the Northwest fills downtown Bellevue the last weekend of July, drawing collectors and artists from across the region. Three days of fine art and craft.
Edmonds Arts Festival
The Edmonds waterfront hosts a juried art show, a student gallery, and a weekend of makers each June. It has run for decades and draws tens of thousands.
Kirkland Uncorked
Kirkland’s lakefront fills with wine, food, a grill off, and a boat show in mid July at Marina Park. A summer weekend on Lake Washington.
Maritime Gig Festival
Gig Harbor celebrates its fishing village roots in early June with a waterfront parade, a blessing of the fleet, and a classic car show. The harbor is the whole point.
Sorticulture
Everett’s garden and art festival brings about 150 vendors to the waterfront over a weekend in mid June. Part plant sale, part art fair.
Georgetown Carnival
Seattle’s oldest neighborhood throws an artist driven street carnival in mid June, with bands, art cars, games, and a general air of good weirdness. Free and unpolished in the best way.
National Lentil Festival
Pullman celebrates the crop that built the Palouse with the world’s largest bowl of lentil chili, a parade, and live music in late August. Yes, it is a festival about lentils, and yes, it is a good time.
Slug Fest
Northwest Trek near Eatonville throws a summer party for the banana slug, with costumed slug races down a slime track, live animal talks, and crafts. Aimed at families, in late June.
Northwest Raspberry Festival
Lynden’s biggest free event celebrates the raspberry harvest in mid July with a car show, live music, and a basketball tournament. Whatcom County farm country at its most festive.
Deming Logging Show
A working logging heritage competition near Bellingham puts axe throwing, spar tree climbing, and log rolling on display the second weekend of June. It has run since 1963.
Camas Days
The mill town of Camas closes its main street the fourth weekend of July for two parades, a beer and wine garden, live music, and its famous bathtub races. Small town summer, Southwest Washington style.
Sandsations Sand Sculpture Festival
Master carvers turn the wide Long Beach shore into an open air sand gallery over five days in mid July, with free lessons and an amateur contest. The canvas is the whole beach.
Westport Seafood Festival
The working waterfront at Westport serves fresh caught fish and oysters, live music, and local crafts over Labor Day weekend. A coast town feast right at the harbor.
Renton River Days
Renton throws a multi day community festival in late July with a parade, a carnival, and events along the Cedar River. A well loved celebration that draws from across South King County.
Redmond Derby Days
Redmond’s classic summer festival pairs a bike race and a parade with a street fair and a drone light show in mid to late July. It has been going for more than eighty years.
Cheney Rodeo
The small town of Cheney near Spokane runs a long standing PRCA rodeo and a downtown parade in mid July. An easy Inland Northwest rodeo weekend.
Toppenish Rodeo
The Yakima Valley town of Toppenish pairs two nights of PRCA rodeo with a Wild West parade and a pancake breakfast over the Fourth of July. A tradition since the 1940s under the town’s famous murals.
Moses Lake Airshow
Aerobatic pilots and a general aviation fly in take over Grant County International Airport in mid June. A distinctive Columbia Basin draw.
Crave NW
A chef driven food and drink festival brings three days of tastings, cooking demos, and live music to Spokane’s Riverfront Park in mid July. Spokane’s leading summer food event.
Fall Festivals in Washington State
Fall is harvest season in Washington, when the wineries crush grapes, the orchards fill with apples, and the Bavarian village of Leavenworth tips into Oktoberfest.
Bumbershoot
Bumbershoot is Seattle’s flagship arts and music festival, held at Seattle Center over Labor Day weekend with big musical acts alongside comedy, visual art, and film.
Leavenworth Oktoberfest
Leavenworth leans into its Bavarian theme with an Oktoberfest across three weekends in October, run by the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce, complete with beer halls, oompah bands, and a ceremonial keg tapping.
Issaquah Salmon Days
Salmon Days celebrates the salmon returning to spawn in Issaquah Creek with a parade, a street fair, and plenty of food, drawing big crowds the first weekend of October.
Catch the Crush and Wine Harvest
Harvest is the best time to visit Washington wine country. During Catch the Crush, wineries across the Yakima Valley open for grape stomping, barrel tastings, and crush season fun. Explore our Yakima Valley wineries guide.
Walla Walla Fall Release
Walla Walla’s wineries pour their newest vintages during Fall Release Weekend, one of the valley’s signature harvest season events.
OysterFest
OysterFest in Shelton hosts the West Coast Oyster Shucking Championships each October, with tastings, seafood, and beer and wine gardens on the shores of South Puget Sound.
Auburn Veterans Day Parade
Auburn hosts one of the largest Veterans Day observances on the West Coast, a parade and ceremony that has honored service members since 1965.
Pumpkin Patches and Corn Mazes
Come October, farms across the state open pumpkin patches, corn mazes, and cider stands, a family friendly fall tradition from the Snohomish valley to Eastern Washington.
Ellensburg Rodeo
One of the top professional rodeos in the country, the Ellensburg Rodeo has run every Labor Day weekend since 1923 and is the definitive end of summer tradition in Central Washington.
Great Prosser Balloon Rally
Wine country and hot air balloons meet in Prosser each September, when sunrise mass ascensions and an evening Night Glow lift off over the vineyards of the Yakima Valley.
Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival
The largest wooden boat festival in North America fills the Port Townsend waterfront each September with hundreds of classic vessels, on the water demonstrations, and more than a hundred talks and workshops.
Forever Twilight in Forks
The logging town that inspired the Twilight novels leans all the way in each September, when fans from around the world gather in Forks for a weekend of themed events near the date of Bella’s birthday.
DjangoFest Northwest
The village of Langley on Whidbey Island hosts one of the country’s best known gypsy jazz festivals each September, drawing Django Reinhardt style guitarists and their fans to the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts.
Fresh Hop Ale Festival
Held in the heart of the nation’s hop country at the peak of harvest, Yakima’s Fresh Hop Ale Festival pours beers made with just picked hops from more than sixty breweries and cideries each October.
Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival
On the Port Angeles waterfront at the edge of Olympic National Park, this October festival celebrates the Dungeness crab with a chowder cook off, a crab derby, and fresh seafood by the water.
Leavenworth Autumn Leaf Festival
The Bavarian village celebrates the turn of the season the last full weekend of September, with a grand parade, live music, and the first fall color in the hills. One of the best fall weekends in the Cascades.
Spokane County Interstate Fair
The Inland Northwest’s biggest fair runs ten days in mid September, with livestock barns, carnival rides, headliner concerts, and fair food. The Eastern Washington counterpart to the Puyallup.
Central Washington State Fair
Yakima hosts one of the state’s largest fairs over ten days from late September into October, with a rodeo, concerts, and agricultural exhibits in the heart of wine country. A harvest season tradition.
Palouse Empire Fair
The wheat country seat of Colfax throws a classic county fair with a PRCA rodeo, livestock shows, and a carnival in mid September. Small town Palouse at its best.
Fremont Oktoberfest
Seattle’s largest and longest running Oktoberfest fills the Fremont neighborhood with beer, brats, and music the third weekend of September. Regularly ranked among the country’s best.
Bellingham SeaFeast
Bellingham celebrates its working waterfront and Pacific Northwest seafood in late September, with an oyster expo, a Lummi Nation salmon bake, live music, and hands on exhibits at Squalicum Harbor. Free and right on the water.
Port Townsend Film Festival
An intimate film festival takes over the historic seaport in late September, screening independent films across downtown venues with the filmmakers in attendance. It regularly sells out the town.
Tacoma Film Festival
Tacoma’s nonprofit art house cinema runs a cozy indie film showcase over several days in October. A good rainy season pairing with a Tacoma weekend.
Local Sightings Film Festival
Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum spotlights homegrown Pacific Northwest independent film over ten days in September. The best place to see what regional filmmakers are making.
La Conner Art’s Alive
The Skagit River town of La Conner fills historic Maple Hall with a juried fine art show in late October, a four decade tradition. Pacific Northwest artists and a walkable riverfront town.
Ridgefield BirdFest and Bluegrass
Ridgefield pairs guided bird walks at its national wildlife refuge with bluegrass and a downtown market the first weekend of October. Birding and banjos in one Southwest Washington weekend.
PAX West
One of the largest gaming conventions in the country brings more than 100,000 players to downtown Seattle over Labor Day weekend, with hands on demos and studio panels. It fills the convention center and the hotels around it.
Winter Festivals in Washington State
Winter brings lights, markets, and cozy celebrations, with Leavenworth at the center of it all.
Leavenworth Village of Lights: Christmastown
Leavenworth glows with more than half a million lights during Village of Lights: Christmastown, a season long display that runs nightly from Thanksgiving into late winter rather than a single lighting weekend. Plan your trip with our Leavenworth guide.
Seattle Center Winterfest
Winterfest fills Seattle Center with seasonal decor, an ice rink, a winter train village, and weekend entertainment from late November through New Year’s Eve.
Seattle Holiday Markets
European style Christmas markets pop up around Seattle through the holidays, with craft vendors, warm drinks, and handmade gifts.
Leavenworth Bavarian IceFest
After the holidays, Leavenworth keeps winter going with the Bavarian IceFest over the January holiday weekend, featuring ice carving, fireworks, and frosty games.
Lunar New Year
Seattle’s Chinatown International District rings in the Lunar New Year with lion and dragon dances, a food walk, and performances. The date moves each year with the lunar calendar, falling in late January or February.
Red Wine and Chocolate
Over Presidents Day weekend in February, wineries across the Yakima Valley pair their reds with chocolate for one of the most popular winter events in Washington wine country.
Lake Chelan Winterfest
For two weekends each January the resort town of Chelan warms up the off season with Winterfest, featuring ice sculptures, an ice bar and a fire bar, a wine walk, and fireworks over the edge of the lake.
Westport Storms and Seafood Festival
The coast town of Westport turns storm watching season into a passport style eat around town in late January, with crab cracking, oyster shucking, and fisher poet readings. A reason to hit the coast in winter.
Music Festivals in Washington State
Washington has a deep live music tradition, anchored by a few marquee events and one of the most scenic concert venues in the country. Bumbershoot at Seattle Center and Capitol Hill Block Party are the two big urban festivals, each returning every year with stacked lineups. Out in the high desert, the Gorge Amphitheatre in George hosts a rotating slate of touring concerts and festivals all summer, with the Columbia River canyon as a backdrop. Watershed, the Gorge’s big country music festival, is on hiatus, so check ahead before planning a trip around it.
Beyond Wonderland at the Gorge
Three stages of electronic music take over the Gorge Amphitheatre in late June, turning the canyon views over the Columbia into an all night dance floor. One of the biggest EDM weekends in the Northwest.
Timber! Outdoor Music Festival
An Indigenous owned festival pairs live music with swimming, hiking, and stargazing at Tolt MacDonald Park in Carnation in late July. A laid back weekend close to Seattle.
Wenatchee River Bluegrass Festival
The longest running bluegrass festival in Eastern Washington brings national touring bands, camping, and workshops to Cashmere in mid June. Two decades and counting on the Wenatchee River.
Wintergrass
A four day bluegrass and Americana gathering fills a Bellevue hotel with pickers, jams, and headline sets in late February. A rare winter reason to come indoors for live music.
Imagine Music and Arts Festival
The intimate successor to the long running Doe Bay Fest gathers at Doe Bay Resort on Orcas Island in mid September, September 11 to 13 in 2026. Camping, soaking pools, and a small waterfront setting make it feel like nothing else on the festival calendar.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the biggest festival in Washington State?
The Washington State Fair in Puyallup is the largest single event, drawing more than a million visitors over its September run. For a citywide celebration, Seafair in Seattle is the summer’s biggest, headlined by the Blue Angels and hydroplane races.
What festivals happen in Washington in the summer?
Summer brings Seafair, the Fremont Solstice Parade, Bite of Seattle, Sequim Lavender Weekend, Capitol Hill Block Party, and Fourth of July celebrations statewide, plus the start of fair season.
What is there to do in Washington in the fall?
Fall is harvest and festival season: Bumbershoot over Labor Day, Leavenworth Oktoberfest across October, Issaquah Salmon Days, wine harvest events like Catch the Crush in the Yakima Valley, and pumpkin patches statewide.
When is the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival?
The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival runs the entire month of April around Mount Vernon, though peak bloom shifts a little each year with the weather. Check the festival’s bloom map before you drive up.
What is the best winter festival in Washington?
Leavenworth’s Village of Lights: Christmastown is the standout, with the Bavarian village lit by more than half a million lights nightly from Thanksgiving into late winter.
Is the Sasquatch Music Festival still happening?
No. The Sasquatch! Music Festival at the Gorge ended after 2018. The Gorge Amphitheatre still hosts major concerts and festivals every summer.
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Explore Washington State has been covering the real Washington for more than a decade. State parks, small towns, back roads, rest stops, and the people who make this place worth exploring. What started as a hyperlocal project covering individual communities grew into a full media project with more than 340 podcast episodes, a weekly newsletter with over 4,800 subscribers, and coverage of all 146 Washington State Parks. The content here comes from people who have actually been to these places: locals, regulars, and lifelong Washington residents who care more about getting it right than getting clicks.
