Skip to main content

Cedar River Salmon Journey

Calendar/Event Details

Every Saturday starting June 24 through September 16 from 11am to 3pm.

Visit the Ballard Locks this summer to see salmon pass through on their journey to the Cedar River! Join the Seattle Aquarium to learn more about salmon! Trained naturalists will be on-site to help you spot spawning salmon and learn about the things we can all do to help them. Free and family friendly!

Each year, thousands of Pacific salmon return to our local watersheds to produce the next generation of fish. Salmon play a key role in our economy and are the cornerstone of our local ecosystem, which supports us all. These amazing creatures are also critical to the health and well-being of Coast Salish peoples, who stewarded these lands and waters for generations and continue to do so today.

Here in Seattle, we’re fortunate to host one of the few wildlife migrations that runs through the heart of an urban watershed. The Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed supports a threatened run of Chinook—as well as sockeye and coho—salmon. From May to September, adult salmon pass through the Ballard Locks on the final leg of their epic journey from the rivers and streams in which they were born, out to the ocean and back to these same rivers and streams. There, during fall and into winter, these salmon will spawn and die, and the Pacific salmon life cycle will begin again.

Event Details