The annual Smelt Parade returned to Canal Park in Duluth, with hundreds of people dressed up for the occasion.

The smelt parade is a celebration of the smelt run, when the fish would make their season visit to the North Shore. It’s also a sign that spring is here and for the arrival of summer.

The parade starts outside of the Maritime Museum in Canal Park, then moves down the Lake Walk to Zeitgeist where smelt is served.

At the top of the parade a royal ceremony is help with all kinds of puppets, including the Smelt Queen the largest puppet in the parade. But people are encouraged to dress up in all things silver and they do! There’s always a lot of enthusiasm for dressing up for the Smelt Parade.

“I think it’s just that first taste of summer experience I think we all need to shed all of the layers, like the psychological layers and the physical layers at the end of winter, and just come out and see some friends, have some fun on the big lake and just sort of kick off summer,” says long time attendee Alison Moffet.

With a silver sea moving down the lake walk, it’s safe to say that the smelt parade is uniquely Duluth.