Kent County Rhode Island Gaspee Days Festival
Pawtuxet Village does not wait for summer to remember its revolution. Gaspee Days is not a county fair and it has no fairground. It is a community celebration season, centred on Warwick in Kent County, Rhode Island, commemorating the night in 1772 when Rhode Island colonists captured and burned the British revenue schooner HMS Gaspee. Run by volunteers, it centres on Pawtuxet Park, Narragansett Parkway and Pawtuxet Cove, all in Warwick, in a village that spills across the river into Cranston.
About the Season
Gaspee Days is the May to June season of community events around Pawtuxet Village, organised by the Gaspee Days Committee, an all-volunteer non-profit. The committee calls the season “mostly free” in its own wording, no season gate, no parade-viewing charge, no general admission anywhere on this record, and the Block Party is the priced exception.
The standing programme runs from the Proclamation and Block Party through the Memorial Day weekend Arts Festival, Symphony with fireworks, a community service, the 5K and Parade on parade Saturday, the Encampment, Sunday in the Park and the Burning, with Night at the Museum opening the calendar. The parade is the culminating event, never the whole season’s name.
Warwick is the centre: the committee’s own pages place the parade, Arts Festival and 5K at Narragansett Parkway, the Block Party, Symphony, Proclamation and Encampment at Pawtuxet Park, and the Burning at Pawtuxet Cove. Its address form is 2 East View Street, Warwick, Rhode Island 02888; the Aspray Boat House at Pawtuxet Park is its headquarters building in local layers, and an older brochure form uses “Avenue” in that layer only.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Event | Gaspee Days, a May to June community celebration season |
| Centre | Pawtuxet Village, centred on Warwick, Kent County, Rhode Island |
| Organiser | Gaspee Days Committee, all-volunteer non-profit |
| Committee address | 2 East View Street, Warwick, RI 02888 |
| Standing venues | Pawtuxet Park, Narragansett Parkway, Pawtuxet Cove |
| Season | May to mid-June, parade on the second Saturday in June |
| Documented 2026 season | May 8 to June 14, 2026; parade June 13, 2026 |
| Admission | Season mostly free; Arts Festival free; Block Party five dollars, 21 and older |
| Parking | No committee parking price or term published for any year |
| Camping | No visitor camping offered; reenactor encampment only |
A Burning Remembered, a Committee Formed
On the night of June 9, 1772, Rhode Island colonists captured and burned HMS Gaspee off Namquid Point. The Rhode Island House resolution of 2025 calls the burning “the first blood shed during the American Revolution” and America’s “First Blow for Freedom,” the committee’s trademarked motto. That year, 1772, is the affair’s year only, never the festival’s founding, and the resolution’s 253rd anniversary of the burning in 2025 is the affair’s anniversary, never the festival’s age.
For a useful comparison, see the Bristol County Rhode Island Bristol Fourth of July Festival for another county festival.
The festival’s founding stands only on direct statements: the Rhode Island House resolution, the committee’s own Parade page and the Warwick tourism layer all say that since 1965, the village has memorialised the event with an annual celebration. Secondary layers add that observances were sporadic until the modern committee was formed in 1965, never a continuous pre-1965 run, and a magazine layer’s 1966 inaugural-parade claim stands alone.
Billing is billing only: the 2025 “60th Annual” billing, the Parade page’s “over fifty years” and the President’s Message “over sixty-one years” never yield a founding year and do not sit on one reconciled count. In 2020 the pandemic forced the cancellation of all scheduled events, and 2021 was scaled back with the Arts Festival and Block Party moved to September.
Warwick is a city in Kent County, whose five communities are Warwick, East Greenwich, Coventry, West Greenwich and West Warwick. Kent County was separated from Providence County in 1750, and East Greenwich became its county seat in 1750 in National Park Service layers. That is historical only: East Greenwich holds no current seat function and does not host Gaspee Days, and no county-seat claim may be attached to Warwick. Rhode Island counties have no county government; county government was abolished in 1842 in one state layer and defunct since 1846 in another. A county-map aggregator’s claim that Warwick serves as Kent County’s seat is quarantined false colour.
What to Expect
The Parade and the 5K
In 2026, the 5K Foot Race ran on Saturday, June 13, from 9:30 to 10:00 in the morning on Narragansett Parkway, and the Gaspee Days Parade followed from 10:00 in the morning to 1:00 in the afternoon along the two-mile parkway stretch, with colonial groups, fife and drum corps, fire trucks and Shriners in miniature cars. The 5K draws over 1,600 runners each year along the parkway’s red, white and blue stripe, Narragansett Parkway’s own, and all proceeds support the parade. Pawtuxet Village straddles Warwick and Cranston, and local layers document the parade crossing the Pawtuxet River Bridge into Cranston and ending at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet. Those Cranston-side forms stand in local layers only, never a Cranston host claim and never erased: the Warwick-centred season sits in Kent County, while the crossing and the village’s northern side sit in Providence County.
The Arts Festival, the Symphony and the Burning
The Arts and Crafts Festival is the season’s largest free gathering. In 2026 it ran Saturday, May 23 through Monday, May 25, opening at 10:00 in the morning on Narragansett Parkway, and the committee’s own Arts page calls it a free, fun and family-friendly experience showcasing over 100 fine artisans, community groups and non-profits. The same free term fences the held 2025 festival, May 24 through 26, 2025.
In 2026, Symphony in the Park took place on Saturday, June 6, from 5:00 to 8:00 in the evening in Pawtuxet Park, showcasing the Warwick Symphony Orchestra and culminating in a Fireworks Extravaganza the same evening, with fireworks set off in Salter’s Grove, never Warwick’s separate July fireworks at Oakland Beach, quarantined entire.
In 2026 the Colonial Encampment ran Saturday, June 13, from 2:00 to 8:00 in the evening and Sunday, June 14, in Pawtuxet Park, and the Burning of the Gaspee fell on Sunday, June 14, at 4:00 in the afternoon at Pawtuxet Cove, a symbolic burning of the ship that sparked the American Revolution in the committee’s words. In 2025 the same closing fell on Sunday, June 15, with the Blessing of the Fleet. The Blessing of the Fleet belongs to 2025 and older layers: none appears in the committee’s 2026 calendar as fetched, and it may not be carried into 2026.
The Block Party and the Rest of the Season
The Block Party is the season’s one priced evening. In 2026 it took place on Friday, May 22, from 6:00 to 11:00 in the evening in Pawtuxet Park, and the committee’s own Block Party page prices admission at five dollars per person and limits entry to individuals 21 years of age and older, with identification checked at the gate, police in attendance, drink tickets purchased after entry, and no children, pets or outside beverages permitted. The same five-dollar figure stands separately for 2025, 2024 and 2019 in their layers.
The rest of the 2026 calendar: Night at the Museum on Friday, May 8; Proclamation and Children’s Play on Sunday, May 17, from noon to 4:00 in the afternoon in Pawtuxet Park, with a historic children’s play by the Gamm Theatre; and Community Service and Concert, the ecumenical layer’s 2026 form, on Tuesday, June 9. The 2025 season opened with an Essay Contest on Friday, April 11, 2025, and ran to June 15, 2025, while the 2024 season is fenced in city and state layers to a Block Party on May 24, an Arts Festival from May 25 to 27, a parade on June 8 at 10:00 in the morning, and a burning reenactment on June 9.
Planning Your Visit
Admission and Money
Plan on a season that is mostly free, in the committee’s own wording. There is no season gate or parade-viewing charge; the Arts Festival is free, and the Block Party is five dollars per person in the committee’s 2026 page, for adults 21 and older only. Other events’ prices are unverified committee-side. The 5K entry fee is unverified for 2024 through 2026; the only 5K figure is the 2021 virtual race’s thirty-dollar entry fee in a Motif layer, never a modern in-person price.
Parking and Camping
No parking price or term is published in any committee layer for any year. The only parking money on the record is third-party and fenced entire: a 2024 Warwick community-calendar layer advertised a parade parking fundraiser on Saturday, June 8, 2024, at Asbury United Methodist Church in Warwick, at five dollars, one block from the parade route. That was a church’s own fundraiser price in that layer only, never a committee price.
No visitor camping is offered or documented for Gaspee Days. The only camping in the committee’s own record is programme camping by reenactors: the Colonial Encampment page says colonial militia will be camped out in authentic revolutionary style, with no plumbing, no electricity and no cell phones, in Pawtuxet Park, in collaboration with the Pawtuxet Rangers. That is a reenactor exhibit, never a visitor campsite offer.
Where to Stand
For the parade, arrive on Narragansett Parkway well before the 10:00 morning step-off. For the Burning, Pawtuxet Cove is the viewpoint, and the 4:00 afternoon hour in 2026 is the time to be in place. Bring identification for the Block Party and comfortable shoes.
A Sample Weekend
Build a first visit around parade weekend. Arrive on Friday evening for the Block Party if you are 21 or older, remembering the five-dollar admission and identification check. On Saturday morning, take a place on Narragansett Parkway before the 5K, then stay for the parade from 10:00 in the morning to 1:00 in the afternoon. Spend the afternoon in the Colonial Encampment, and return on Sunday for Sunday in the Park and the Burning at Pawtuxet Cove. On Memorial Day weekend instead, spend the three free Arts Festival days on the parkway.
Gaspee Days Beside Other Rhode Island Celebrations
It is not Bristol’s Fourth of July celebration; the red, white and blue stripe here is Narragansett Parkway’s own, in the committee’s 5K layer. Warwick’s July fireworks at Oakland Beach are a separate city event; Gaspee fireworks are the June display set off at Salter’s Grove. It is not Gaspee Point as a standalone attraction. And it is not a Cranston event, even though the parade’s documented ending at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet sits in Cranston; the season’s centre is Warwick’s, in Kent County, and the crossing is stated rather than erased.
The Gaspee Days Committee runs the season, with the City of Warwick and the Pawtuxet Rangers as partners, never the organiser. The Warwick Symphony Orchestra and the Gamm Theatre do not run the season. Past presidents appear only in their years’ layers, and the current president’s name is unverified on this record. The older “Gaspee Days Committee, Inc.” and reportage “the Gaspee Committee” forms stand in their layers only.
Visitor Checklist
- Confirm the year’s calendar first; no 2027 date was published.
- Treat the season as mostly free; budget five dollars for the Block Party if you are 21 or older.
- Expect no committee parking term.
- Do not plan on visitor camping; the encampment is a reenactor exhibit.
- Arrive early for parade Saturday on Narragansett Parkway.
- Remember the village straddles Warwick and Cranston.
- Keep the years apart: the 2025 Blessing of the Fleet does not belong in 2026.
- Bring identification for the Block Party and comfortable shoes.
Beyond the Parade Route
Pawtuxet Village rewards a slow walk after the events. The village sits where the Pawtuxet River meets the Providence River and Narragansett Bay, one village in two cities. The Aspray Boat House at Pawtuxet Park, the committee’s headquarters building in local layers, anchors the Warwick side, while Salter’s Grove and the cove itself give the season its waterline. Beyond the village, the county’s other communities are day-trip neighbours. East Greenwich, the county’s 1750 shire town, is worth a visit, but it is not a Gaspee Days host.
Why Gaspee Days Matters
Gaspee Days matters because it keeps a local story local. The burning of HMS Gaspee is taught as a national prologue, the “First Blow for Freedom” in the committee’s motto, but in Pawtuxet Village it is also a neighbourhood anniversary, kept by volunteers since 1965, through a full cancellation in 2020 and a scaled return in 2021. Its shape: a proclamation, a free arts festival, a symphony in a park, a parade down a parkway, a militia camp without modern comforts and a symbolic ship set alight on a cove. Nothing in that shape requires a gate or a grandstand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Gaspee Days free to attend?
Mostly, in the committee’s own wording. There is no season gate or parade-viewing charge, and the Arts Festival is free committee-side. The Block Party is the exception: five dollars per person, 21 and older, in the committee’s 2026 page. Other events’ prices are unverified committee-side, rather than free by assertion.
Where exactly does Gaspee Days take place?
In and around Pawtuxet Village, centred on Warwick in Kent County. Venues are Pawtuxet Park, Narragansett Parkway and Pawtuxet Cove. The village straddles Warwick and Cranston, and the parade route crosses into Cranston in local layers, but the season’s centre is Warwick’s.
Is there visitor parking or camping for Gaspee Days?
No committee parking price or term is published for any year, and no visitor camping is offered or documented. The only parking money on the record is a 2024 church fundraiser at Asbury United Methodist Church in Warwick, five dollars, in that layer only. The only camping in the committee’s record is the Colonial Encampment, a reenactor exhibit.
When was Gaspee Days founded?
The festival’s founding stands only as directly stated: since 1965. The year 1772 is the year HMS Gaspee was burned, never the festival’s founding, and no founding year may be derived from the 2025 “60th Annual” billing. The 2020 cancellation and scaled 2021 return break any unbroken full-form run.
What to Expect From the Next Kent County Rhode Island Gaspee Days Festival
How often is Kent County Rhode Island Gaspee Days Festival held?
The season is annual, held each year from May into mid-June in Pawtuxet Village, with the parade on the second Saturday in June. The documented 2024, 2025 and 2026 seasons prove the annual run.
When is the next Kent County Rhode Island Gaspee Days Festival?
No date for the next season was published. The standing pattern is May into mid-June, opening with a museum evening and closing with parade Saturday and the Sunday burning.
Will the dates change?
Yes. The dates move from year to year: the 2026 parade fell on June 13, the 2025 parade on June 14, and the 2024 parade on June 8, and the Arts Festival shifts with Memorial Day weekend. Treat every date here as fenced to its documented year.
Gaspee Days ends as it begins, with a village and a story: the ship burns again on the cove, and the village returns to its ordinary streets until May comes round again.
