While teams raced through a scavenger hunt and Upper Fremont opened its new emergency hub on Saturday, Oct. 10, 50 people spent six hours on a field trip through the neighborhood.
Called Fremont’s Best Day Ever, the event was part of a free citywide series created by the Seattle Chamber of Connection and the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Each event gives 50 Seattle residents a curated day in one neighborhood, built around service, movement, learning, a shared meal, and connection.
Fremont’s was the fifth of seven events planned for 2026 and the Fremont Neighborhood Council hosted.
“This was, like, the best adult field trip ever,” said Hugh, a Fremont resident. “I love Fremont even more.”
The day opened at Doric Lodge No. 92 on North 36th Street, with participants greeted by Sam, a large bear mascot from the Chamber of Connection. Participants arrived, crafted personalized nametags, mingled, and ate breakfast.
After breakfast, the program began with a video welcome from Mayor Katie Wilson, recorded for the Best Day Ever series. Wilson called the series an invitation “to volunteer together, share food, learn local lore, and meet neighbors you might not know yet.”
Quynh Pham, director of the Department of Neighborhoods, and Colleen Kaminski, president of the Fremont Neighborhood Council, also welcomed participants.
Charlotte Massey, founding executive director of the Seattle Chamber of Connection, led a workshop on the Chamber’s 6 Points of Connection. The Chamber describes them as six everyday habits that build social ties: neighborhood contact, a community of identity, one-on-one relationships, a third place, a community of play, and community service.
Next came the Troll history talk. Maque Davis, the Fremont Arts Council’s ex-president-for-life, was one of the community artists who helped build the Fremont Troll in 1990. He described how the crew built a rebar skeleton, layered it with wire mesh, and then sprayed it with gunite, which is projected concrete.
Davis also started Trolloween, the Troll’s birthday party, in 1991. “Someone gives me a good idea, I run with it,” he said.
Leo Griffin, president of Friends of the Troll’s Knoll, told the story of the land around the Fremont Troll. For decades after the Aurora Bridge went up, the right-of-way underneath was an informal dumping ground. Neighbors used a city Neighborhood Matching Fund grant to plant more than 85 trees there in 1989.
After learning about the Troll lore, the group walked up to the Troll and posed for a group picture. From there, they walked to Dreamland Bar & Diner for lunch. Suzie Burke, president of Fremont Dock Co., then led a history talk at the Fremont Solstice Mural at 3401 Phinney Ave. N.
The next stop was The Picklr, and the group split in two there. Half decorated greeting cards for Solid Ground, which started in Fremont in 1974 as the Fremont Public Association. The other half learned pickleball. Then they swapped.
The greeting cards went to Solid Ground’s Broadview Shelter & Transitional Housing for domestic violence survivors, along with $3,000 in QFC gift cards donated as part of the event. Simone Marrion, Solid Ground’s community engagement specialist, accepted the donation on the shelter’s behalf.
The day closed on The Fremont Social’s rooftop with music from Fremont Fridays’ Matt McAlman, brownies, and a group reflection. Kaeti Dermody of Silver Line Social, who teaches line dancing at The Fremont Social’s Tuesday night Fremont Country Social, led a line dance lesson.
The point of the day was connection, and some attendees came with a plan. One participant, at her third Best Day Ever, said the group from her first table has met up four times since.
“One of the things I learned at the Best Day Ever: in order to really connect with someone, you’ve got to meet them six times,” she said. “So we’re two-thirds of the way there.”
The six-meetings rule comes from Massey’s workshop.
Want to participate in future Best Days Ever? Registration is open now for the Lake City Best Day Ever on Oct. 24. The year’s final event, in the Central District on Nov. 14, has a notification list.
Disclosure: Fremont Neighbor publisher Aly Teeter organized Fremont’s Best Day Ever as a Fremont Neighborhood Council member. The event was funded by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.
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