Coming Soon: Mill Valley’s Massive Memorial Day Weekend of  Pancakes, Parade, Carnival & Concert on the Green – May 26-29

The biggest weekend-long gathering of your family, friends and neighbors is almost upon us. Here’s the 411:

Kiddo! Carnival

The 2017 edition of Memorial Day Weekend kicks off May 26 with the four-day Kiddo Carnival, beginning Friday at 4pm and wraps up at 5pm Monday. More than 15 rides, from the Baron Berry-Go-Round and Tune Train for little ones to the Sizzler, Zipper, Century Wheel and Typhoon, are being provided by Sacramento-based California Carnival Company. After an eight-year hiatus, the Carnival was revived in 2012 as part of the 30th anniversary party for Kiddo. The event has become the centerpiece of Memorial Day weekend ever since on the Mill Valley Middle School campus.

Advance $25 ticket vouchers are available in the Kiddo! office at the Mill Valley School District from May 22-25 (8:15am-3:30pm) and May 26 from 8:30am-1pm. Advance vouchers will also be sold at the Mill Valley Community Center May 25 (2-5pm) and May 26 (2-3:30pm). All advance purchases are cash or check only. Once the Carnival begins, the price will increase to $30 for a book of 30 tickets or $35 for an all-day wristband. Vouchers may be turned in for a one-day wrist band for unlimited rides or a book of 30 tickets. Food and games are extra. MORE INFO.

Pancake Breakfast

While the Carnival draws thousands throughout the weekend, the Mill Valley Volunteer Firefighters Association’s Pancake Breakfast does do in just a few hours on Monday, May 29. The Association launched its annual Pancake Breakfast nearly 20 years ago, when John Thompson, Fred Martin, John McClure and Bob Hughes, among others, cobbled together a bunch of portable grills, coolers and propane tanks and prepared to serve up a Memorial Day breakfast for a few hundred people.

And then 800 showed up. And hundreds more showed up every year after that, with volunteers serving up some 1,500 to 2,000 plates each and lines forming around the block outside the Mill Valley Fire Department’s downtown station on Corte Madera Avenue. The massive event is set for 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. on traffic-free Corte Madera Ave. in front of City Hall and outside the fire station with pancakes, eggs, sausage, juice and coffee.

Memorial Day Parade and Lytton Square Ceremony
Children of all ages come out for the Mill Valley Memorial Day Parade, which regularly draws more than 6,000 spectators each year and more than 60 organizations and businesses as participants. The parade starts at Old Mill Park at 10:30am – preceded by a memorial service to “honor those fallen heroes who served our country and protected the American dream” – and winds its way throughout downtown – Miller Avenue construction has shortened the route this year to avoid going down Miller as usual – and back to Old Mill.

Applications to enter the parade are available online, and must be received by May 19. Entry fees are $75 for commercial entities and $35 for nonprofits. Here’s the revised parade route:

On the fourth and final day of the Carnival, the Kiddo! Memorial Day Community Celebration draws hundreds to hear the  free Concert on the Green and dance throughout the afternoon to the music of The 85’s, Beso Negro, Matt Jaffe & the Distractions and the Mill Valley Middle School Bluegrass Club. The event, sponsored by ECO Compliance and hosted by Kiddo! in collaboration with Mill Valley Recreation and Famous4, will have food on sale from an array of local providers and drinks from Kiddo!, Lagunitas, and Laughing Glass cocktails, among others.