Best Summer Activities in Redmond, WA

If the first warm Saturday of the year arrives and you're standing in your living room wondering what to actually do with it, you're in good company. Pacific Northwest summer is short and packs a lot in, so making the most of it matters. Here's a guide to help you plan for the best summer in Redmond!

Marymoor Park

Quick orientation if you're new to the area: Marymoor is King County's largest park, 640 acres at the north end of Lake Sammamish, drawing more than three million visitors a year. Most of our summer plans end up starting here. The park is just a short drive from The Colony, and a first visit usually turns into a regular one.

Marymoor Live Concert Series

Marymoor Live is the outdoor amphitheater tucked inside the park, and the 2026 season runs deep. June opened with The Dead South, Iration, and Buju Banton with Stephen Marley on the Roots and Rhymes Tour. July picks up with Blues Traveler and Gin Blossoms, the Marcus King Band, Young the Giant on the Victory Garden Tour with Cold War Kids, and Slightly Stoopid closing the month. August gets loud: ZZ Top with Cheap Trick on the 11th, Trombone Shorty and St. Paul & The Broken Bones on the 19th, and NEEDTOBREATHE on the 21st. The series wraps in September with Squeeze, Adam Ant, and Haircut 100 sharing a single stage in what may be the most 1980s evening of the calendar year.

Pack a blanket, grab dinner before you head over, and leave yourself a buffer for parking on the bigger nights. And if you're a fellow concertgoer like some of our staff, then you'll want to read our Live Music in Redmond blog post to stay informed on all things loud in the area!

Outdoor Movies at Marymoor Park

KeyBank Outdoor Movies at Marymoor enters its 22nd season in summer 2026, and the lineup opens July 8 with Ferris Bueller's Day Off. You bring a chair or a blanket, the food trucks are already there, and dogs on leashes are welcome. Tickets are $12.50 per person, and kids five and under (along with your pup) get in free. There aren't many things more satisfying than a 1986 movie on a giant screen with the sun still going down behind it.

Climbing, Trails, and the Off-Leash Dog Area

Marymoor doesn't only offer ticketed events. The climbing wall stands about 30 feet tall with bouldering problems and bolted sport routes, free and open to the public during park hours. There's a 400-meter velodrome (the only one in Washington), the Audubon Bird Loop Trail (where birders have recorded more than 200 species), a radio-control aircraft field, and a 40-acre off-leash dog area that's probably the most beloved square footage in the county.
 

The Redmond Saturday Market

The market opens its 2026 season on Saturday, May 2 and runs through October on Saturdays from 9am to 2pm at 9900 Willows Rd NE in the lot at Overlake Christian Church. Stalls cover locally grown produce, cheese, eggs, fish, meat, fresh flowers, baked goods, and prepared food (for those with a little less cooking expertise like yours truly). If you go early, you'll catch the best flowers and skip the mid-morning line at whichever stall is selling the prettiest scones that week.

Residents who keep a Saturday market habit will tell you it changes the rhythm of summer. There's something about walking home with a paper bag of peaches you genuinely intend to bake into a pie.
 

Redmond Derby Days

Derby Days is Redmond's signature summer festival, and 2026 lands on Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25. Friday runs 4pm to 10pm, Saturday runs 8am to 11pm, all centered on the Redmond City Hall campus and the Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome at 15670 NE 85th St. The weekend packs in live music, bicycle races at the velodrome, parades, a craft market, food vendors, and a beer and wine garden. Saturday closes with a drone light show above City Hall, a quietly futuristic way to wrap a hot July evening.

If you're newer to Redmond, this is the weekend that introduces you to the rest of the city. Half the people you'll meet at the velodrome have lived here for two decades.

Free Summer Concerts: Rockin' on the River

Redmond Town Center runs free concerts of its own across the season and also hosts the Exotics at Redmond Town Center car show on Saturday mornings in June, which is the only place we know of where you can drink coffee next to a row of vehicles worth more than the building. The Redmond Arts Festival anchors a separate weekend at Town Center with about 60 artist booths, a community art project, and live entertainment.
 

The Sammamish River Trail

The Sammamish River Trail runs 10.1 paved miles from Blyth Park in Bothell up to Marymoor Park in Redmond, following the river through what amounts to a long, flat, green hallway.  It's relatively flat the whole way, which makes it equally workable for a casual evening walk and a serious training ride. On a clear day, you'll see the Cascades, and if the light cooperates, Mount Rainier on the horizon.

You can walk a mile of it. You can bike the whole length. You can rollerblade like it's 1998. Our community sits a short walk from the trail, which is probably the closest thing we have to a Redmond summer cheat code.
 

Make Our Community Your Summer Home Base

A great Redmond summer rewards people who live close enough to act on the spontaneous stuff. A Marymoor concert someone mentions at 4pm. A market run on Saturday morning before the heat lands. A slow trail walk after work that turns into dinner outside. We're a few minutes from Marymoor, a short drive from Town Center, and right off the Sammamish River Trail, which makes us a pretty natural home base for the summer.

For more local guides, neighborhood notes, and reasons to stay outside until the streetlights come on, find more in The Bear Creek Bulletin.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best summer activities in Redmond, WA?

The headliners are Marymoor Park (concerts at Marymoor Live, outdoor movies, climbing, the off-leash dog area), the Redmond Saturday Market, Derby Days in late July, and the free Rockin' on the River concerts. The Sammamish River Trail ties most of them together.

Is there an outdoor concert series in Redmond?

Two, actually. Marymoor Live runs major touring acts through summer at Marymoor Park, and Rockin' on the River brings free Wednesday-evening concerts to the Great Lawn at Redmond City Hall starting at 6pm. Redmond Town Center also runs its own free summer concert series.

When does the Redmond Saturday Market open in 2026?

The 2026 season opens Saturday, May 2 and runs through October on Saturdays from 9am to 2pm at 9900 Willows Rd NE. 

When is Redmond Derby Days 2026?

Derby Days 2026 is Friday, July 24 (4pm to 10pm) and Saturday, July 25 (8am to 11pm) on the Redmond City Hall campus and at the Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome.  Saturday wraps with a drone light show over City Hall.

Is Marymoor Park free to enter?

Marymoor Park itself is free to enter, and the climbing wall and off-leash dog area are free to use during park hours. Ticketed events inside the park (Marymoor Live concerts, KeyBank Outdoor Movies) require a paid ticket. Also, vehicle parking is $1 per day. Concert parking is separately listed at $20 per vehicle by Marymoor Live. I’d revise the FAQ so you don’t imply driving/parking is free.