Last year, Waterfront Park introduced itself to Seattle. This summer, we at Friends are inviting everyone to settle in and make it a season to remember.
After welcoming more than 3.4 million people during its landmark 2025 Grand Opening Season, Friends of Waterfront Park announces its 2026 Programming Season—a bold, community-centered calendar of free events, cultural festivals, public art and new creative residencies running May through September across all 20 acres. Anchored by signature events like the Waterfront Block Party, Indigiqueer Festival and Salmon Homecoming, the season also brings a robust weekly rhythm of wellness, markets and performances, alongside new investments in community-led placemaking and storytelling. Additional programming—including FIFA World Cup activations and major partnership announcements—will be shared in the coming weeks.
The 2026 season reflects a deliberate evolution: from introduction to belonging. If 2025 introduced Waterfront Park to Seattle, this summer invites our city to return—to build rituals, deepen connections and see itself reflected across the waterfront.
“Waterfront Park was always envisioned as a place where Seattle comes together — not just for major moments, but in ways that reflect the everyday life, culture and creativity of this city,” said Hewan Teshome, Board co-chair of Friends of Waterfront Park. “What you see in this season is the result of years of partnership-building and community leadership. It’s a park shaped by many voices, and a season that truly belongs to Seattle.”
Highlighted Events of the 2026 Season
This season is packed with moments worth marking on your calendar. Here are three signature events that capture everything we love about what Waterfront Park can be.
Now in its fifth year, the Indigiqueer Festival—co-presented with Gathered in the Place—returns during Pride Weekend for a joyful, unapologetic celebration of Two-Spirit, Queer and Trans Indigenous artistry, believed to be the largest in the country. The festival features performances from Aiyana Reid, Kitty Keene and Cherri Bepsi, a Two-Spirit Indigenous drag performer, alongside an artist market and workshops with Indigiqueer creatives from across the Pacific Northwest.
Marking one year since the Grand Opening Celebration of Waterfront Park, this season’s largest gathering, Waterfront Block Party, returns for its fifth year, activating the full park across three distinct zones. A main stage at Pier 62 features local reggae icon Clinton Fearon and the Boogie Brown Band, Indigenous funk band Khu.éex’, synth-pop rock band RUB, Latin jazz ensemble Todo Es and a beer garden. Salish Steps hosts participatory workshops including Hustle and Soul with Rhythm for the People, Bollywood Dance with Rhythms of India and a Movement Workshop with AIM (Accessible & Inclusive Movement). Pier 58 features cultural dance and performance programming including Khmer Community of King County, Sunshine from Polynesia and ACES DJs all day. Partners include the Seattle Art Museum, Downtown Seattle Association and the Seattle Historical Waterfront Association. Friends anticipates 15,000–18,000 attendees.
Friends is honored to partner with the Salmon Homecoming Alliance for the 34th annual Salmon Homecoming, one of the Pacific Northwest’s most enduring celebrations of Indigenous culture, environmental stewardship and the relationship between Coast Salish peoples and the return of salmon to these waters. The 2026 event expands into the newly rebuilt spaces at Pier 58 and Pier 62, offering more room for vendors, canoe families and community.
Our Favorite Free Concert Series is back, Spotlight at Waterfront Park
Now in its sixth year, our Spotlight at Waterfront Park series returns for free Thursday evening performances at Pier 58 and the Salish Steps amphitheater. This year’s lineup spans Seattle Theatre Group, Theatre Off Jackson, Layali Al-Tarab, Seattle Jazz Fellowship, Seattle Qabila Project, 206 Zulu’s 15th Annual Beat Masters Competition, Daybreak Star Radio, W.O.W. Women on the Waterfront, La Quemada: Noche de Cultura featuring Aurelio Valdez and Northwest Folklife closing the series in September. Every performance is free and open to the public.
New This Season: Community-Led Placemaking, Art and Storytelling
This summer, Friends launches a new Writer in Residence program with Owen Oliver (Quinault/Isleta Pueblo), whose work focuses on witnessing the Salish Sea through potlatch culture. The year-long residency (May 2026 – May 2027) includes community writing workshops for Indigenous participants and a public program in 2027.
Also new this season, a series of community-led placemaking activations—developed in partnership with our Community Partnership Committees and supported by Architects Without Borders and Uncommon Bridges—transform key social intersections along the park into spaces for reflection, interaction and belonging. Artists Jackie Crane, Melvin Freeman and E.T. Russian bring these concepts to life through accessible, interactive design.
Opening May 9 at Pier 62, Currents of Connection is a new public art installation by Taylor Cameron (Snoqualmie), drawing from Coast Salish design principles to evoke salmon returning upstream, canoe paddles and welcoming figures in regalia, honoring Coast Salish presence and inviting visitors into the waterfront with a sense of arrival. On view through the season and beyond.
A Season Built With Community
Every program and activation in this season has been shaped with community at the center. More than 80% of this season’s programming has been developed in collaboration with Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities—guided by Friends’ Cultural Master Plan. That commitment extends to the waterfront’s economic ecosystem: in 2026, 81.8% of Friends’ regular vendors are BIPOC-owned, 59% are woman-owned and 20.5% are LGBTQ+ owned. Beginning May 20, more than two dozen local food trucks rotate through Pier 58 Plaza daily alongside artisan kiosk vendors, snack carts and umbrella vendors keeping the promenade lively from open to close.
Accessibility is a core design principle of every event this season. All signature events offer courtesy wheelchairs and sensory kits on-site, while major events additionally provide ASL interpreters, closed captioning, assisted listening devices, sensory tents, nursing tents, reserved priority seating and wheelchair charging stations. Check out our full list of resources.
For accommodation inquiries, reach out to [email protected].
Waterfront Park as a Seattle Fan Celebration Zone For FIFA World Cup 2026™
This summer, Waterfront Park joins Seattle’s distributed network of free FIFA World Cup 2026™ Seattle fan celebration locations—a partnership announced in February alongside the City of Seattle, Seattle Center, SeattleFWC26 Local Organizing Committee, and additional civic partners. As part of the city’s Unity Loop and fan celebration zone, Waterfront Park will host activities and programs during the tournament, which runs from June 11 through July 6. Full programming details are coming soon at https://waterfrontparkseattle.org/world-cup/.
Additional Programming Highlights
The full season also includes free Movement, Wellness & Play classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Pier 62 starting July 21; free marine education pop-ups with the Seattle Aquarium June through September; monthly history tours with naturalist David B. Williams and HistoryLink historian Jennifer Ott (fourth Thursdays, July 23 – October 10); and curated community markets including Free Flo Fit Melanin Summer (June 20), the 2026 WABA Korean Expo & Festival (August 14–16), Encanto Arts Festival (August 22) and Souk Seattle (August 23).
The season also includes Pier Party—Friends’ summer fundraiser returning Thursday, July 17 at Pier 62 (21+ only)—with live music, immersive art, local food and drinks and a sunset disco on the pier. Additional events include the Seafair Summer Kickoff (June 1), Seattle Fleet Week (July 21), the Seafair Torchlight Run & Parade (July 25), The Pinky Party (September 7) and book sale pop-ups with Friends of the Seattle Public Library (May 24 & September 6).
The full season is yours to explore. Check out the complete calendar and start planning your summer at Waterfront Park.