Grand Old Fourth of July

The pancake breakfast opens the day at seven in the morning and runs until eleven. By nine on the Fourth in downtown Winslow, classic cars are parked for the car show, presented by Fieldstone, and the T&C Main Stage is under way. DJ Brandon has played since seven, and Ranger & The Re-Arrangers follow at nine. The Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce produces the Grand Old Fourth of July, which it calls the island’s largest single-day community event. The island lies a 35-minute ferry ride from Seattle.

A day on Winslow Way

The 2026 festival was part of the nationwide America 250 celebration. At 10:30 that morning the main stage gave half an hour to a reading of the Declaration of Independence, and the program invited the crowd to read along. The Hometown Band played from eleven to half past noon. Then came the National Anthem and a Color Guard presentation by Stephanie Reese and Scout Troop 1565, leading into the parade at one.

Away from the stage, the street fair and Family Fun Zone ran from ten until five, presented by the Troy & Baden Biddle Foundation. The Bainbridge Island Photo Club hung an exhibit at the Senior & Community Center. Wyatt House, at 186 Wyatt Way NW, handed out free hot dogs from eleven to three. A beer, wine, and cider garden opened at Waterfront Park and the B.I. Rowing Center. After the parade the main stage held a pie-eating contest from three to four, and DJ Brandon closed out the last hour.

There are no consumer fireworks. In the 2026 parade notes, the Bainbridge Island Fire Department asked visitors to follow outdoor burning rules during wildfire season and to support the island’s ban on them.

The parade down Winslow Way

The parade runs from one to three, and in 2026 it was livestreamed. The chamber printed a numbered catalog of entries. Police Chief Joe Clark and the island’s fire chief led at No. 1, with firefighters walking beside the department’s newest engine. American Legion Colin Hyde Post 172, in its 85th year on the island, followed the chamber’s entry. The post has provided the parade’s Color Guard for decades.

The 2026 Grand Marshal was Gary “Samurai” Satoshi Sakuma. He was born February 28, 1944, at Minidoka Internment Camp, Idaho. In 1947 he came back to Bainbridge Island with his father, Tadashi, his mother, Fujiko, and his brother, David, after the family’s internment. He graduated from Bainbridge High School in 1962 and from Washington State University in 1966, then entered the Air Force through AFROTC. He reached the rank of lieutenant colonel and flew the EB-57C, F-4D, A-10, and F-16, logging more than 3,800 hours as pilot in command. Later he flew for United Airlines until he retired at 60. He joined Post 172 in 2013 and commanded it for 11 years.

Behind him came:

• The City Council and the interim city manager, on the Proudly Bainbridge float, with Groundwater Resources Specialist Christian Berg at the wheel.
• Island Health & Fitness, carrying the giant American flag for the 23rd consecutive year.
• A volunteer summer band from the high school.
• Spartronics, the island’s FIRST robotics team, fresh from the World Championships.
• The West Sound Chorus, singing four-part barbershop harmony as it has around Kitsap County since 1978.
• Assistance Dogs Northwest.
• Bainbridge Island Rowing, whose athletes range from 13 to 91.
• The Bainbridge High School varsity baseball team, after its second straight state 2A title.

The Kiwanis Club’s 2026 Educator of the Year, Woodward Middle School STEM teacher Tim Harris, rode on the back of a 1936 Boattail Auburn Speedster replica driven by Rich Kucera and Alice Reasoner.

Around twice

The chamber was founded in 1927 and has produced the celebration since 1967. By its own account, the Grand Old Fourth began as a modest local gathering, “a parade and a handful of community activities.” The early parade was small. Mickey Molnaire, the chamber’s director of marketing and tourism, told the Bainbridge Island Review that Vicki Rauh, who worked at the chamber for 33 years, recalled that in the late ‘70s the parade was so short it went around twice.

The festival moved in the early 1990s. After the City of Bainbridge Island was formed, its new police department had concerns about safety, and the street fair was moved down to Bjune and Brien. The pancake breakfast and the car show were added over the decades. The chamber now counts the attendance in the thousands each year and says many islanders who came as children now bring their children and grandchildren.

Grays and Reds

In 2003, Jeff Giblin and Kevin Lynch, a local sports promoter, added a baseball game to the holiday. It revived two island teams from the 1920s, the Winslow Grays and the Island Reds. Former prep players and baseball enthusiasts filled the rosters in wool uniforms and knee-high socks, and base runners went without helmets. The game raised money for the Bainbridge Historical Society. “We felt that the whole aspect of the Grand Old Fourth celebration could use something like this,” Giblin, the Grays’ manager, told the Review.

The second annual game was played at the high school field on Sunday, July 4, 2004. Reid Hansen, captain of the 1947 Bainbridge High School baseball team, threw a ceremonial first pitch, as did Erika Varga, curator of the Historical Society. Dick Brakefield umpired. The Grays had won the 2003 game 16-5.

The Reds struck first. Lynch, who also managed the team, and Pedro Corpuz scored on Grays pitcher Larry Gonwick in the first inning, “before the hot dogs even began to sizzle,” the Review reported. The Grays answered with three runs on singles by Gonwick, Randy Kok, and Jamie Hawkins. Hawkins, a University of Washington pitcher, later took over on the mound and held the Reds with what the paper called “heat and occasional chin music.”

The Grays broke the game open in the bottom of the seventh with a five-run, two-out rally, including back-to-back doubles by Andrew Rimkus and Kyle Arbour. In the ninth, Lynch walked and David Walker was hit by a pitch. Tim Carlson drove both home with a line drive to right, but the Grays won 11-6. “We played hard and had fun,” Lynch said, “and we’re narrowing the gap – last year we lost by a lot more.”

While the game went on, children chased foul balls and Historical Society volunteers cooked hot dogs. The game was expected to net nearly $5,000, up from $1,500 the year before. The money was going toward the museum’s move to 215 Erickson Avenue. “This has definitely grown,” Varga said, “and I think it will be as big as the Rotary Auction someday.”