Petaluma Butter & Egg Days Parade and Festival

Every year, on a Saturday in April, the Butter & Egg Days Parade marches through historic downtown Petaluma amid a quirky, hometown festival like no other. The festival spans four blocks with food, crafts, craft beer, two kids’ areas, live music, and uniquely Petaluma entertainments such as the Cutest Little Chick contest and a Cow Chip Throwing Contest. Thirty to thirty-five thousand people attend this iconic parade and festival, many buying buttons and shirts and raving about it for weeks.

The Cutest Little Chick is a baby beauty contest with a Petaluma twist. Babies show off their cuteness in their chick costumes. The Cow Chip Throwing Contest draws more than 100 participants competing for distance with their painted cow chip or donkey apple.

The Butter & Egg Days Festival and Parade, a Petaluma tradition revived by the Petaluma Downtown Association as an annual event in 1982, with roots reaching back to its designation as the Egg Basket of the World in 1918. In 2026, the parade theme is: “America’s Birthday – Petaluma Style” – Celebrating 250 years of independence, ingenuity, and small-town pride.

2026 Butter & Egg Days Parade Theme

The 2026 theme is “Americas’ Birthday – Petaluma Style: Celebrating 250 years of independence, ingenuity, and small-town pride.” The theme recognizes the farmers, immigrants, makers, entrepreneurs, and creatives whose hard work, imagination, and ingenuity reflect the enduring American Dream, while also paying respect to the indigenous people who first stewarded the land.

The Butter & Egg Days Parade showcases 100+ units with approximately 3,000 participants and 200 volunteers. Nonprofits, businesses, organizations, and individuals will show off their creativity as they embrace this year’s theme.