Missoulians love a reason to get out and enjoy the fresh mountain air with their families and parades make a great venue for some much needed family time. Missoula has parades throughout the year. From January - December there are more than 5 parades to enjoy.
Second Saturday in March
End of April - Early May
Last weekend in June
One Sunday in September & One Sunday in July
End of September - Early October
November 2nd
1st weekend in December
With the parades and activities in Missoula, also comes the road closures. They are closed, usually beginning the night before the parade to ensure they can get everything set up and all the parked cars off the street. While most Missoulians are use to the road closures, for visiting guests this might be difficult to navigate.
Most of the parades around town take place on Higgins Ave, which cuts right through downtown Missoula.
The University of Montana's Homecoming parade takes a bit of a longer route, down Higgins Ave and then over to the University but they generally do not close down all of the side streets until it is parade time.
If you are trying to get around downtown Missoula the night before or day of a parade, it is a good idea to plan ahead and use alternate routes. Such as 5th Street, using this east to west route on the south side of the river will allow access to Orange St and Arthur/Madison to access all the areas of Downtown Missoula. Including parking areas for the parade. Second St is also another east to west option for getting around downtown during a parade, and Railroad/Adler are generally open before a parade begins but it is usually closed to traffic around Higgins around parade times since it is where they end up.
Thinking of heading to some of Missoula's parades and parking downtown? The the city of Missoula site has a list of all public parking areas. Most of these spaces are free of charge in the evenings and on weekends.
