Find Your Brand of Summer Fun in Salem

• Use our summer activity list to plan your best Salem summer yet!
• Take a run, make some music, or explore art and nature with these local options

Imagine your perfect summer. Art? Live music? Entertainment? Sports? Games? Water fun? Arts and Crafts? Festivals? Something for the whole family? A little bit of everything? Salem has it covered!

Check out our list of just a few fun things Salem has to offer.

1. City Celebrations

• Salem Service Day, Thursday, July 11, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Riverfront Park. Enjoy games, activities, booths, free hotdogs and demonstrations of City services.
• National Night Out, Tuesday, August 4, brings neighbors together to celebrate the spirit of police-community partnerships with more than 75 block parties across the city each year.

2. Family Fun

• Movies in the Park, Fridays, July 10, July 24, August 7 and August 21 at Riverfront Park's Gerry Frank | Salem Rotary Amphitheater. From Superman to Zootopia 1, walk-in instead of drive-in. Movies start around sunset. Bring a blanket or low-back chair. Captions are shown on a separate screen.
• Salem's Riverfront Carousel 25^th Birthday Celebration, Saturday, June 6, $1 rides all day, birthday card making, a complimentary birthday cupcake; free activities from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
• Salem Community Markets, check out the farmers and makers at the Salem Farmer's Market, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., March-October at 865 Marion Street SE. Also check out other weekday mini farmers markets.

3. Live Music

Make Music Salem, Sunday, June 21, a city-wide celebration of music in Salem.

• Concerts in the Park, Friday, July 31, and Friday August 28, Gerry Frank | Salem Rotary Amphitheater. Enjoy music and nature together.
• Punx in the Park , Saturday, September 5, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., a free youth-oriented punk rock concert and resource fair at Riverfront Park's amphitheater. A fun way to access youth-focused community resources.
• Boot Scoot and Brew Music Festival, Saturday, September 12, 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m., at the Gerry Frank | Salem Rotary Amphitheater. All-day music event with food, beverages, bounce house, line dancing, vendors - and don't forget the zucchini races!

4. It's Festival Season!

• Capital Pride events start June 7 culminating in the Capital Pride Festival and Capital Pride Concert on Sunday, June 21.
• World Beat Festival, June 26-28. This year, the event is celebrating the cultures of Pacific Islanders from Samoa to Chuuk to Hawaii.
• 2026 4^th of July Spectacular, Saturday, July 4, 3-11 p.m., Oregon State Fairgrounds. Enjoy fair-style fun and a free 20-minute fireworks spectacular that starts at 10 p.m.
• Englewood Forest Festival, Saturday, August 8, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., at Englewood Park. Enjoy live music, local artists, food vendors, local resources and connecting with neighbors all in the shaded woodland of Salem's first city park!
• 77^th Annual Salem Art Fair & Festival, Friday, September 11-Sunday, September 13, at Bush's Pasture Park. Enjoy paintings, sculptures and music under the trees in this juried art event.

5. Something for All Ages in the Recreation Guide

• Summer Parks Program, ages 5-12, weekly camps start June 22, Monday-Thursday, in four neighborhood parks including Englewood, Hoodview, Sumpter and Sunnyslope. Each week features a different theme starting with Spirit Week, Minecraft/Roblox, Disney, International Week, and more. You may be eligible for a 50 percent fee waiver.
• Adult Pickleball, ages 18 and older, offering beginning-intermediate and intermediate-advanced sections. A pickleball youth camp is also available for ages 9-12.
• Sports Camps, starting June 22, tennis, basketball, soccer, futsal in various age brackets.
• Explore more in the 2026 Recreation Guide.

6. The Great Outdoors

• Fishing Derby, all ages, Saturday, May 30 and Saturday, November 14, 8-11 a.m. Join the Recreation staff and Park Ranger Mike at Walter Wirth Lake, inside Cascades Gateway Park for a morning of fishing. Poles and bait will be available.
• The Great Marble Hunt, Sunday, September 13 in downtown Salem, a full-day scavenger hunt for one-of-a-kind, handmade marbles hidden throughout the city.

7. Athletes in Action

• STRIDE 5K/10K Run/Walk Events continue the morning of June 13 at Riverfront and Minto-Brown Parks, and at different parks through September.
• Ironman 70.3 Oregon, Sunday, July 19, brings top triathletes to the trails, roads and waters of Salem. The Salem event boasts one of the fastest swims on the circuit. Registration is closed, but this is an event audiences can enjoy, too. And volunteers make this event run!
• Hoopla XXVII, July 21-26. This exciting 3-on-3 basketball tourney thousands of teams and more than 50,000 spectators to downtown Salem.
• USA Softball Girls' 10B/16A/16B Fastpitch Western National Championships, July 27-August 2. Watch some of the top fastpitch softball teams in the country go head-to-head at Wallace Marine Park.

8. Take a Stroll Into Salem's Past

• Historic Downtown Walking Tour, explore the past at your own pace with a tour through the Salem downtown Historic District. Download the interpretive brochure to read about the origins of the buildings on the tour.
• Open Gardens at Gaiety Hollow, Wednesday, May to September, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and designated Saturdays, discover the outdoor legacy of landscape architects Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, the first women in the Pacific Northwest to open and operate their own landscape architecture firm. They designed more than 200 landscapes and gardens in the region between 1929 and 1969.
• Deepwood Estate, Deepwood is a Victorian historic house designed in the Queen Anne style and situated in a five-acre public park with formal gardens, nature trails, a greenhouse and the original carriage house. Stroll the gardens, enjoy a special event, or visit the museum home.
• Learn more about Salem's vibrant history.

9. Find Adventure at the Salem Public Library

• Discover a new hobby through the Library of Things. From sewing to rock collecting to musical instruments, and more, you can try a hobby before investing in equipment.
• Check out a cultural pass to a variety of local and nearby attractions.
• Explorer Kits are designed to help elementary-aged children and their families explore the natural world, parks and various personal interests. Each backpack includes books, field guides and hands-on activities to support exploration.
• The Summer Reading Challenge kicks off with a special event on Friday, June 12, from 2-4 p.m. in the Children's Corner. The event will feature fun festivities including crafts, games, circs arts and more.

10. Get to Know Salem's Public Art

Are you inspired yet? Discover even more ideas from throughout the mid-Willamette Valley at the Travel Salem website.