Fourth of July Celebration

The Fourth begins at Haller Park, two and a half acres on the bank of the Stillaguamish River, where on other days people come to watch eagles or fish from the riverbank. On the morning of July 4, 2026, Stilly Valley Youth Dynamics served a pancake breakfast there from 8:00 to 11:00. A plate cost $8, two cost $15, four cost $25, and five or more cost $35. The money went to the group’s drop-in events for young people in the Stilly Valley. The Kids’ Kloset silent auction ran beside the griddles until 11:00. At 10:00 the Freedom 5k Color Run, sponsored by the Arlington Runners Club, started from the same park.

The city calls the event its Fourth of July Celebration. The Lynnwood Times, covering it in 2023, called it the Arlington Hometown Celebration, and the city’s visitor site lists it as 4th of July Frontier Days. In 2026 it ran over two days and several parks. On July 3 the Stilly Beer & Wine Garden opened at Haller Park at 2:00 p.m., and the Stilly River Lockdown band began playing at 5:30. At Smokey Point Park the South Fork Country Kickers led line dancing at 6:00.

The garden reopened on the Fourth from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The Island Comfort Band played classic rock until 1:00, and the One-Hit Wonders followed from 2:00 to 4:30. Downtown in Legion Park, Arlington Lifeway ran its Hometown Carnival from noon to 4:00, with bouncy houses, face painting, balloon animals, giant bubbles, ring toss, lawn bowling, fishbowl toss and lawn games. The Lynnwood Times reported thousands in attendance in 2023, on a sunny day. Many came dressed in red, white and blue, waving the flag or wearing it, and split the afternoon between downtown and the river.

Olympic Avenue at five o’clock

The children go first. The Kiddies Parade steps off at 4:30 on Olympic Avenue under the Stilly Valley Chamber of Commerce. In 2023 the children walked or bicycled the route in Independence Day dress between lines of watchers. That year the Most Creative award went to a motorized cart towing a string of smaller carts, hitched together centipede-style. Each car was hung with Fourth of July bunting and carried a child. Other ribbons went for Most Patriotic, Best Costumes and Best Wheels.

The Grand Parade follows at 5:00. The 2026 parade marked the nation’s 250th birthday under the theme “Red, White, and Blue Through The Years: Arlington Celebrates 250 Years.” Its awards bore names to match:

• Liberty Lane: Then and Now
• Spirit of 1776
• Stars and Stripes Showstopper
• Arlington’s Historical Heritage Award
• Red, White, and Blue Brilliance, for best use of color
• From Sea to Shining Sea
• Voices of Freedom

The standing Spirit of Stilly and Fan Favorite awards were also given.

The 2023 parade opened with a police escort and a mixed military honor guard. A run of fire vehicles came next, with Sparky the Fire Dog and Smokey Bear. Then came Mayor Barb Tolbert, the Boy Scouts, and the service clubs. The Arlington Arts Council marched for its 20th year. Its entry carried a display of art honoring the late Sarah Arney, the council’s president and a local reporter who had covered art extensively. Members walking the route wore berets, which Arney often wore.

The paper reported that the crowd waved and cheered for nearly every entry. When Arlington Pride passed, with alpacas, a costumed unicorn and marchers carrying multicolored flags, there were scattered boos from pockets of the crowd and repeated shouts of “Leave our kids alone” and “Get out of here.” The marchers kept smiling. The parade’s rear belonged to tractors, classic and new, and the low throb of their engines closed the march. Floats, marching bands, and first-responder and historic vehicles filled the line between.

Ducks off Lincoln Bridge

During the parade the Rotarians work the route. In 2023 the Great Stilly Duck Dash wagon swung through the line of march, with members on foot selling last-minute tickets. Children got duck callers shaped like bills and hung on necklaces. Doug Buell of the Lynnwood Times compared the noise of them all to the drone of vuvuzelas.

Each ticket matches one of thousands of yellow rubber ducks. At about 7:00 p.m. on the Fourth the ducks go into the Stillaguamish at Lincoln Bridge. In 2023 a front-end loader dumped them from the top of the bridge into the south fork, while ticket holders lined the rail. The ducks floated down toward Haller Park, where Rotarians waited with nets and the winners were announced. In 2023 the club streamed the finish live. First place that year paid $4,000, to Khristy Sikorski. The prizes posted for 2025 ran from $5,000 for first down to $1,000 for fifth. From 6:00 to 8:00 the park holds cornhole games and the Stilly River Lockdown Band.

The race began with a building. In 1987 the Rotary Club of Arlington, then called the North Snohomish County Rotary, pledged $10,000 toward constructing the Arlington Boys and Girls Club, and the club needed a new way to raise it. The Great Stilly Duck Dash came out of that need. The club says it has held the race every Fourth of July since 1989 and has raised more than $3 million through ticket sales. The money has gone to the food bank, the Boys & Girls Club, the Stilly Valley Center, Kids Kloset, the Arlington Education Foundation’s Dolly Parton Imagination Library, local playground equipment, college scholarships, and water and garden projects overseas.

Fireworks on the Boys & Girls Club lawn

The Boys & Girls Club is where the day ends. At 10:00 p.m. the City of Arlington sponsors fireworks over Quake Park. The show, by Western Fireworks Display, runs about 20 minutes. Spectators sit on the club’s lawn and buy concessions from its back window. Cars fill the lots at the club, at Evans Park, at Quake Park, and at the Airport Office.

Different hands have run the day over the years. In a city flyer for the summer of 2012, Mayor Tolbert wrote that the Fourth of July Celebration and Grand Parade had “been part of our community for 120 years.” That summer Cascade Valley Hospital organized the parade. The Arlington Rural Fire Department hosted the pancake breakfast, and the Rotary and the Arlington Chamber of Commerce provided the fireworks. The Kiwanis held their auctions, as they still do; the Times reported in 2023 that the Kiwanis auction supports local youth scholarships. Racers ran the Pedal, Paddle, Puff Triathlon, which was still on the program in 2023. Also in 2012, the city chose Kody Cunningham as Chief for a Day and planned to honor him as Grand Marshal of the parade.

Eleven years after that flyer, Tolbert was still in the line of march. She appeared near the front of the 2023 Grand Parade, just behind the fire trucks and Smokey Bear.