The Annual Santa Monica 4th of July Parade will take a new path this year, reversing its traditional route as organizers tie the celebration to a new post-parade festival and a pair of milestone anniversaries.
The 2026 parade will begin at Marine Street and travel north on Main Street, concluding at Pico Boulevard — the opposite of the classic southbound route that has defined the event since its founding. Participants will stage and check in at Santa Monica Beach Parking Lot 5 South, where vehicle inspections will also take place before the parade steps off at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, July 4.
The route change was developed in coordination with the City of Santa Monica to funnel participants and spectators toward Pulse in the Park, a free World Cup-themed festival running from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Tongva Park. The event will feature live music, food vendors, pop-up shops, family activities and an enclosed beer garden. Organizers are billing it as the city's first official post-parade celebration.
This year's parade carries a dual theme: the 100th anniversary of Route 66 and America's 250th birthday. Santa Monica serves as the western terminus of Route 66, and the semiquincentennial of American independence gives organizers two major milestones to mark simultaneously.
The 2026 grand marshal is Dr. Walid "Wally" Ghurabi, medical director of the Nethercutt Emergency Center at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center for more than 40 years. His selection is tied to a third centennial in the mix — UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center's 100th anniversary — with the parade billed as one of the culminating events of that celebration. UCLA Health is among the parade's sponsors.
The reversal is not entirely unprecedented. In 2022, when Civic Center construction blocked the traditional staging area, organizers ran the parade in the same northbound direction — staging at the South Beach Lots and traveling up Marine Street before heading north on Main to Pico. That year marked the parade's return after a two-year COVID-19 hiatus and drew an outpouring of community support.
This year's route change is more deliberate, designed to end closer to Tongva Park and the new post-parade festival rather than at the southernmost beach lots. Updated route maps and participant information are available at SantaMonicaParade.com.
The parade is presented by the Ocean Park Association, a resident-advocacy neighborhood group covering Santa Monica's southwest beach community. It was founded in 2007 by Jeff Jarow, a longtime Santa Monica resident who has also served on multiple committees in the city including as president of the Santa Monica Sister City Association. As Jarow recalls it, a few patriotic neighbors simply decided they wanted to celebrate the nation's founding — and a parade was born.
What started as a small neighborhood procession has grown into one of the city's signature civic events. More than 10,000 people are involved as participants, volunteers and spectators.
The event is free to spectators and run entirely by volunteers, funded through sponsorships and donations.
Perennial crowd favorites include the Santa Monica High School Viking Marching Band, the Dogtown Car Club's classic and vintage cars, fire trucks and police vehicles, a double-decker bus, and Pacific Park's pink octopus mascot "Inkie." Participants are encouraged to dress in red, white and blue; children, leashed pets and wagons are welcome.
The parade was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Jarow citing public health orders prohibiting large gatherings and the City's suspension of funding for special events amid budget cuts exceeding $80 million. It returned in 2022 and has grown steadily since. The parade begins at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Marine Street and Main Street.
The parade isn’t the only patriotic activity in Santa Monica this year.
A Fourth of July road race that relocated to Venice Beach last year following the Palisades Fire is returning to its original Pacific Palisades home for its 49th annual running Friday.
The Palisades Will Rogers Fourth of July 5K/10K Run, presented by Providence Saint John's Health Center, will return to its traditional course through Will Rogers State Historic Park after moving to the Venice Beach boardwalk in 2025 as fire recovery efforts continued across the neighborhood.
"We're proud to be returning our historic race to its home in the Pacific Palisades this Fourth of July," said Thomas Hathaway, chief financial officer and lead organizer of the Will Rogers-Pacific Palisades Foundation.
The race offers four distances: a 10K run, a 5K run/walk, the Dick Lemon Run — a high school competition 5K — and a half-mile Kids Fun Run. The 10K course features ocean views and switchbacks through Will Rogers State Park before finishing at a course that has seen elite runners and Olympic athletes cross the line.
The event's organizing foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is donating a portion of race proceeds to local charities. To date, the race has raised more than $200,000 toward rebuilding the Palisades Recreation Park, with reconstruction expected to begin this summer, Hathaway said.
Donations to organizations supporting Palisades recovery can be made through the event's RunSignup page. Registration for Friday's race is open at the same site 9https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/PacificPalisades/PalisadesWillRogers5K10KRun)
The race is managed by Spectrum Sports Management and owned by the Palisades-Will Rogers 5&10K Run Foundation, which is dedicated to honoring the legacy of humorist and entertainer Will Rogers through fundraising and preservation efforts at his namesake state historic park.