MARSHALL, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The Mermaid Parade and Festival is Marshall’s biggest event of the year. According to the organizers, it is the mountain town’s most magical, too.

When is the Marshall Mermaid Parade and Festival?

The Mermaid Parade will take place from noon to 9 p.m., Saturday, June 6 and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, June 7 in Marshall, N.C.

Parking in Marshall, N.C. is extremely limited. Guests are encouraged to use the shuttle service from the Madison Early College High School parking lot.

Bubbles are encouraged at the event, but organizers ask all water guns, water balloons and related aquatic instruments be left at home.

Saturday schedule

  1. Shuttle available from the Madison Early College High School parking lot – Noon to 8 p.m.
  2. Food trucks set-up on Back Street – Noon
  3. Arts and crafts vendors open in the Mad Co. lot – Noon to 6 p.m.
  4. Splash zone available at Marshall Presbyterian Church – Noon to 4 p.m.
  5. Costume contest at the Madison County Courthouse – 2 p.m.
  6. Parade – 5 p.m.
  7. Live music at the American Legion Lot – 6-9 p.m.
Riverside scene with a railway track, red brick buildings with outdoor seating, and green forested hills under a blue sky.
Downtown Marshall seen from the French Broad River.

Sunday schedule

On Sunday, Mermaid Festival fun will continue on Blannahassett Island, just over the bridge from downtown Marshall.

Find more information here.

Riverside park with a stone embankment, green grass, and dense trees along a brownish river under a blue sky.
Blannahassett Island will host day two of the 2026 Mermaid Parade and Festival in Marshall, N.C.

Mermaids of the French Broad River

The Mermaid Parade is a beloved tradition in Marshall, drawing large crowds every year. However, this year is expected to be even more popular than usual.

“We anticipate that this has the potential to be bigger than every year in the past, and probably significantly bigger,” said Sky Walsh, director of the Marshall Downtown Association. “I would imagine the parade will probably have 30 to 40 floats, and that’s an average.”

Walsh said the event brings tourists to town from all over.

“People come from surrounding areas like Tennessee, Asheville. You get Waynesville. I know people from Charlotte who come up for this,” Walsh said.

“I mean, there’s a lady who emailed us from Salt Lake City, Utah that said, ‘I have a friend who lives in Marshall and I fly out for the parade every year. 
When is it going to be?’,” added Abigail Guyton, president of the MDA. “Last year, when we didn’t have it, there was a lot of chatter on our social media and other local social media groups being like, is there a mermaids? I’m really excited for this to come back. I think, honestly, that anticipation has just been building since last summer. 
I know a lot of our locals are going to turn out.”

Participants in the Mermaid Parade often go all-out with their costumes and floats. Not all attendees are traditional mermaids, either: Mermen, fishheaded merfolk and pirates are also a common sight.

“It’s such a fun and unique event in Marshall. Like, it’s such a creative community here, and that really is on full display during Mermaids. There are incredible costumes, just absolutely bonkers floats,” laughed Guyton. “In fact, until last night, there was a trailer with a 15-foot-long great white shark on it parked outside of Every Angle [Metal Works]. I don’t know what the plans are for that, but it’s gonna be big.”

Three smiling women posing for a casual selfie outside a brick storefront with posters in the window and a large orange logo visible on the glass.
Downtown Marshall Association members Avia Perez, left, Abigail Guyton, center, and Sky Walsh, right.

Walsh feels that the Mermaid Festival is a reflection of the character of Marshall in general. As visitors return to the town after the damage caused by Tropical Storm Helene, the parade is a reminder of the unique qualities of the Marshall community.

“From the standpoint of the businesses downtown, I think it’s important because it shows the weirdness in, like, a magical way for everybody else,” Walsh explained. “To come in and be like, wow, you really are going to find just strange things happening, but it’s so welcoming and so cool. It’s so creative. That’s just amazing for other people to get to see. 
We see it every day and, I don’t know, you can kind of lose sight of that.”

“There’s a lot of whimsy going around, and I think people are attracted to whimsy,” agreed Avia Perez, secretary of the DMA and co-owner of Main Street Comics and Games, a local hobby shop.

The festival is also an opportunity to celebrate the progress Marshall has made since the storm, the DMA trio said.

“We see this first Mermaid Parade that we’re having post-Helene as a fantastic opportunity for everybody who’s been to Marshall and, like, dug out our basements and sprayed mold retardant on our walls, to come back and party with us and really appreciate the good times in Marshall,” Guyton said. “How much fun you can actually have here.”

For more information about the festival, visit www.exploremarshallnc.com/events/mermaid-parade.

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