Seward’s Fourth of July Festival is a three-day celebration featuring the legendary Mount Marathon Race, a downtown parade, waterfront vendors, live music and fireworks over Resurrection Bay. Festival activities begin on July 2nd with booths opening at 2 PM and a “Kids Summit Steps Challenge” provided by Youth 360. Liz Marsh, communications coordinator for the Seward Chamber of Commerce, describes the event as a mix of family activities that will be open for the duration of the festival.
On July 3rd, specific games that will be hosted at various places in the community include: firefighter games with the Seward Fire Department, a sawdust challenge, BINGO, a hotdog eating contest, water games with the Alaska SeaLife Center, Tug of War, an egg toss, Musical Chairs and a fish toss. A pie sale will be held at the Seward United Methodist Church and a slow bike race will be hosted by the Seward Bike Shop. On the 4th of July, festival booths will be open from 9 to 5 pm with a BBQ rib feed at the American Legion and a chicken BBQ at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church at 11. The Fourth of July Parade will begin at 1 PM. Mount Marathon Races will take place throughout the day of the 4th.
“It is just an epic foot race going up to the almost 3000 foot race point. It brings in trail runners from all over, not only the country, but the world, and it just, it's so fun, not only for people in the community, and whatever, to run it, but also just to watch and see everybody's like face at the finish line, and kids are enrolled all the way up to there are some older adults who have done year after year after year. Fred Moore, he's a local legend, I believe. He's in his 80s, I'm not sure exactly where in his 80s, maybe 85 and he's done it. He has the most finishes, I think, of anyone, I. Them, so it's really inspiring to watch, and it's just a really great time to, like, you know, enjoy the summer with the community, and it's fun for tourists and locals together, and it's my favorite time of the year, for sure,” Liz Marsh said.
Race director Matias Saari provided this description of the race:
“Mount Marathon is the oldest mountain race in North America. We're really proud of that fact. And this is the 98th running. We're starting to look forward to the 100th running in 2028 And there are some long, long time participants. This is a big thing for individuals and families, and that's a tradition for a lot of people, and the Foldager family is one group with Patty Foldager and Flip Foldager, both over 40 races each, Ellyn Brown is another one with more than 40, Braun Kopsack, Everett Billingsley, these people show up year in and year out, and it's really exciting, really inspiring to have old timers as part of the event.”
Saari himself is also a long time race participant:
“I've done the race 18 times, so yeah, even though I'm the director now, it's written into my contract, I guess, to still be able to race, and for one hour I drop the clipboard and the radio and run up and down the mountain and celebrate with 1000 other people,” he said.
In 2026, Men’s racer David Norris of Steamboat Springs, Colorado entered the race for his seventh time, winning the past 6 years. Norris now has four of the fastest five times in the history of the race, including the course record of 40 minutes, 37 seconds, from 2024.
In addition to the race historians, there are what Saari calls rookie racers also and they have some of their own race requirements:
“We have first-time racers, rookie racers, both from out of state and Alaska. Of course, there's a high amount of interest in this race, so there's a lottery process to get a bid, and we have more than 300 rookie racers this year. It's a bucket list event for a lot of people, and pretty exciting when their name is drawn in the lottery. The first time racers do have special rules, they have to complete the entire course and training as a safety measure before race day and sign an acknowledgement that they've done so, and they also have to attend a safety meeting on July 3 at the gymnasium.”
In an email sent from the Mount Marathon Race Committee in April, this year's percentage rates for race acceptance were:72.7% for the Girls Division, 38.3% for the Boys, 32.6% for Women and 19.1% for men.
In 2026 Arc’teryx, a Canadian outdoor apparel brand known for its high-performance mountaineering gear and urban technical clothing, joins Mount Marathon as a presenting or top-level sponsor. As Saari explained in a story with The Seward Folly this spring, “modernizing the race takes resources and, for example, Arc’teryx is helping with a fencing project, which costs $40,000–$50,000. Last year, we tested out new, lightweight, easy-to-set-up barricades in the finish area, and the plan is to extend this fencing through town.” Arc’teryx will also double the bib raffle proceeds for the event and funds raised will go to a local Seward non-profit organization.
More details and rules about the race event can be found at www.mountmarathon.com.
Reporting from Homer, this is Emilie Springer.
