Islanders fill the streets to savor Strawberry Festival
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Antique tractors rumbled down Vashon Highway, dancers spilled through the open doors of Snapdragon, and members of Thriftway’s Shopping Cart Drill Team wheeled through town in tight formation, sunglasses on and faces resolutely straight.
By midmorning Saturday, Uptown Vashon had become a parade route, marketplace and dance floor as crowds packed the streets for the annual Strawberry Festival.
Children watched from shoulders and curbs while spectators stood several rows deep along the highway, raising their phones as floats, performers, community groups and island organizations passed.
The parade was one highlight of the three-day festival, which filled Uptown from July 17 through 19 with live music, food, art, political theater and family activities.
There may have been more strawberry costumes, hats and sunglasses than actual berries, but the fruit remained the symbol tying the weekend to Vashon’s agricultural past.
Other islanders began Saturday several hours before the parade at the 44th annual Bill Burby Fun Run, a 5K that starts and finishes at the VES Fields and raises money for island sports programs and scholarships.
Seventeen-year-old Josh Healey won the race in 16 minutes, 25 seconds, followed by his brother, Chris Healey, 15, in 17:45, and their father, Scott Healey, 51, in 17:52. Alana Bass was the top female finisher in 20:05, followed by Emily Harrington.
One of the parade’s most visually striking entries came from Indivisible Vashon, which marched with protest art created by the Vashon-based Backbone Campaign.
A 13-foot inflatable caricature of Donald Trump towered over the contingent, appearing to set fire to a distressed “We the People” scroll bearing the opening words of the U.S. Constitution. Performers dressed as insectlike “LICE agents” — Backbone’s parody of federal immigration officers — carried the scorched-looking banner nearby.
Yvonne Kuperberg and Joe Okimoto served as the parade’s grand marshals, recognizing their work to preserve and share Vashon’s history.
Their selection coincided with Mukai Farm & Garden’s 100th anniversary. Kuperberg, a founding member of Friends of Mukai, has worked to preserve the Mukai family’s story and the island’s agricultural heritage. She will also celebrate her 100th birthday this year.
Okimoto, a former Friends of Mukai board member, is a Nisei survivor of the Poston concentration camp in Arizona, where he and his family were incarcerated for three and a half years during World War II.
The festival’s roots are closely tied to Vashon’s once-thriving strawberry industry. Before World War II, the Mukai family operated the island’s largest strawberry farm, packing operation and shipping company, helping establish Vashon as a significant Pacific Northwest strawberry producer.
That history also shaped this year’s race for Vashon’s unofficial mayor. Marshall the Strawberry, Friends of Mukai’s candidate, succeeded TK Rose in the ceremonial office.
Vashon Highway was lined with more than 110 vendors representing artists, nonprofits, community groups, island businesses and off-island merchants.
Many visitors arriving from the north-end ferry dock boarded King County Metro shuttles displaying “Strawberry Festival” on its destination sign.
After stepping off near Ober Park, they entered streets crowded with festivalgoers sampling honey, strawberry sweets and other treats while browsing handmade jewelry, pottery, clothing and artwork.
Some stopped for tarot readings, while others sat for illustrations reimagining them as animals.
At the Village Green, booths filled the grass as the Vashon Island Growers Association offered local produce and strawberry-themed drinks. Food vendors throughout Uptown served Thai and Filipino dishes, gyros, grilled corn, burgers, curly fries, ice cream and strawberry shortcake.
At Ober Park, visitors stretched across the lawn in patches of sun and shade while musicians performed on the main stage. Nearby, laughter rose from tables beneath the Beverage Garden canopy as children danced, chased bubbles and wove through the crowd.
Music also spilled from businesses throughout town. At Snapdragon Bakery & Cafe, dancers crowded the floor as festivalgoers moved past the building’s open doors. Other venues, including King Tide, added performances of their own.
For festival project manager Lynann Politte, the weekend was the culmination of months spent assembling a complicated network of musicians, vendors, sponsors, permits and volunteers.
She described her job as creating a “container” for the festival — establishing its infrastructure and producing its central events while businesses and community organizations added celebrations of their own.
Politte led production for the main stage, including booking the bands, and oversaw vendor booking and placement and production of the parade.
Samantha Burdman served as infrastructure lead, managing permits, trash collection, portable toilets, road closures and coordination with Uptown businesses. Cheryl Lubbert oversaw all aspects of the Festival Beverage Garden, from logistics and vendor coordination to daily operations and event execution. As a Chamber board member, she also leads the Vashon Chamber of Commerce Events Committee.
Jessica Pichora coordinated volunteers, Alison Bockus coordinated the unofficial mayor race, and Tyrel Stendahl created the festival’s logo, graphics and website.
“No matter how much planning you do, no matter how many emails you send, I put out fires every hour of every day of the festival,” Politte said.
Some of those fires involved water. At one point, the festival’s dunk tank overflowed and began flooding neighboring booths, prompting firefighters to arrive with sandbags. Elsewhere, vendors called about electrical problems and other unexpected complications.
No event of that size unfolds entirely without problems, Politte said, but none of the weekend’s difficulties became a disaster.
“Does that stop a festival from being fabulous? No,” she said. “Any producer of an event will say, ‘Yeah, that’s normal.’”
For Politte, the clearest measure of the weekend came during a brief moment when she stopped moving and looked around.
“I stood in the middle of the highway and looked around,” Politte said. “Music was playing, vendors were busy, and thousands of people were laughing and smiling. I saw my beloved Vashon community having a great time together. This is Vashon’s Strawberry Festival.”
Around her, musicians played, children danced and strawberry-clad festivalgoers moved shoulder to shoulder through streets transformed by three days of island creativity, history and community spirit.
