Easy Street Records owner Matt Vaughan will serve as grand marshal of the 92nd annual West Seattle Grand Parade on Saturday, July 18, riding down California Avenue SW past the same Junction storefronts where he opened his record shop in 1987.
Vaughan's Easy Street Records won the Music Business Association's Indie Retailer of the Year award in May 2026 and is a founding member of Record Store Day.
The store has hosted more than 2,500 in-store performances over its 36-year run, including a surprise Pearl Jam show in 2005 that helped spark the national Record Store Day movement.
What to know before you go
California Avenue SW closes to traffic at 8 a.m. and stays closed until 2 p.m. Tow trucks enforce no-parking restrictions early, so check posted signs Friday night. Parade coordinator Michelle Edwards said 42nd Avenue SW, on the east side of California, will remain open in both directions as a detour route.
The Float Dodger 5K, a fundraiser for the West Seattle Food Bank organized by West Seattle Runner, starts at 9:30 a.m. on the same California Avenue route. A free kids' dash kicks off at 8:45 a.m. Registration is at runsignup.com/Race/WA/Seattle/FloatDodger5K.
The SPD Motorcycle Drill Team is expected around 10:45 a.m., just ahead of the official 11 a.m. start.
New this year
For the first time, four announcing stands will line the route: at California and Alaska (the main stand), at the West Seattle Eagles north of SW Oregon, at California and Charlestown with the Kiwanis Club, and near the start between Lander and Stevens with the Admiral Neighborhood Association.
The parade is presented by the West Seattle Rotary Service Foundation and costs roughly $11,000 to stage each year, funded by sponsors led by STS Construction. Community entries are free; only commercial and political participants pay a nominal fee.
Who's in the lineup
About 85 entries are registered, according to the West Seattle Blog. The Seattle Chinese Community Girls' Drill Team returns this year.
The Seattle Schools All-City Marching Band, celebrating its 75th anniversary, will march. Seafair Clowns, Seattle Art Cars, the Orca Network Parade Pod, and the Seafair Pirates aboard the Moby Duck round out the field.
Denis Sapiro, president of the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle and a 56-year Kiwanian, will receive the Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community.
The trophy is named for the man who founded the parade in 1934 as commander of American Legion Post 160. It has been awarded annually since 1984.
The parade runs southbound from SW Lander Street in the Admiral District to SW Edmunds Street at the Junction.
"On the east side of California Ave SW, 42nd Ave SW will be open for traffic in both directions and used to detour around the closure of California Ave from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.," Edwards wrote in a July 14 comment on the West Seattle Blog.
