On the same day a car went for an unseasonable dip off Lake Washington Boulevard and into the eponymous lake, Mayor Katie Wilson announced the official schedule for car-free weekends along the lakeside road this summer.
Starting on Memorial Day, Wilson will close roughly three miles of Lake Washington Boulevard from Mount Baker Park to Seward Park to cars and open the stretch of road up for Bicycle Weekends. (Though bikes as well as rollerskates and skateboards and solo-wheels and hoverboards and pogo-sticks and just your own two feet are welcome—whatever your sick little multimodal heart desires). This time, every summer weekend will be a car-free weekend on Lake Washington Boulevard except for SeaFair on the first weekend of August. ‘Cause that’s an event for suburbanites and warmongers.
The program has never been this big. Car-free time on Lake Washington Boulevard has technically existed since 1986 when it started as Bicycle Sundays and only gave a few hours on certain Sundays over to the bikes. When the pandemic hit, the event became Bicycle Weekends and the road closure became a way for people to get outside while social distancing together.
The standard has been for 10 Bicycle Weekends a summer. From 2023 to 2025, Seward Park resident and car driver Bruce Harrell kept the number of Bicycle Weekends the same, but pared back the hours of those car-free weekend days, according to the Seattle Bike Blog. He also cut the July 4th holiday weekend out of the lineup.
Under Wilson, Seattle will have 15 car-free weekends on Lake Washington Boulevard. That includes the three-day holiday weekends of Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day.
“Seattle summers are beautiful, and everyone should be able to enjoy them,” said Mayor Katie B. Wilson in a press release. “This is your city, and it should be easy to get out and enjoy our sunny days.”
Man, I have really got to get myself a fucking bike.
Here are the days you can own the prettiest street in the city:
- Saturday, May 23 — Monday, May 25*
- Saturday, May 30 — Sunday, May 31
- Saturday, June 6 — Sunday, June 7
- Saturday, June 13 — Sunday, June 14
- Saturday, June 20 — Sunday, June 21
- Saturday, June 27— Sunday, June 28
- Friday, July 3 — Sunday, July 5*
- Saturday, July 11— Sunday, July 12
- Saturday, July 18 — Sunday, July 19
- Saturday, July 25 — Sunday, July 26
- Saturday, August 8 — Sunday, August 9
- Saturday, August 15 — Sunday, August 16
- Saturday, August 22 — Sunday, August 23
- Saturday, August 29 — Sunday, August 30
- Saturday, September 5 — Monday, September 7*
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