By SUSAN PARK

If Ed Sullivan were here today, you know what he would say about this year's Fremont Fair: "This is going to be ONE BIG SHEW."

And he would be absolutely right.

The 28th annual Fremont Fair, a celebratory community event that features crafts, food, music and entertainment, will be held in downtown Fremont on the weekend of June 19 and 20, and the year's biggest bash for the neighborhood known as the "Center of the Universe" has never been bigger.

For starters, the festival, which is expected to draw more than 100,000 visitors, will include "Seattle's largest crafts marketplace" with 400 craft and import booths, 28 ethnic food booths, and 40 non-profit and community information booths.

This year will also have SIX entertainment stages, including a "Flatbed Truck Stage," an indoor "Brewhouse Stage" (inside the Red Hook Brewery complex), plus an all-new interactive drumming area called "Percussion Point." There will also be the usual assortment of street performers throughout the fairgrounds, as well as a special area just for children called "Kids Universe."

This year's fair will include several new events:

A "Louisiana Barn Dance" will be held on Saturday, 8 p.m., at the Brewhouse Stage with legendary Louisiana Zydeco greats Boozoo Chavis, the reigning king of Zydeco, and Geno Delafose and his band French Rockin Boogie, on Saturday the 19th, at 8 p.m. A Seattle Zydeco band, Chank-A-Chank will open. The event will include a free dance lesson by the Northwest Zydeco Association, and a late-night 'Orleans style Red Beans 'n Rice feed. Advance tickets are now available at the Trolleyman Pub and at Ticketmaster for $15.

The Original Fremont Outdoor Cinema will be held for two nights in conjunction with the Fair: Friday the 18th features a Disco Dance party with a showing of "Thank God It's Friday," plus live music by the Dudley Manlove Quartet; Saturday the 19th will be Rat Pack Night with a screening of "Robin & His Seven Hoods," starring Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop, with live music by local swing band The Molestics. The Friday show will have an $8 cover and includes a Beer Garden. The Saturday show will be free. Doors open at 7 p.m. on both nights.

Local talent: The Brewhouse Stage will feature a Singer-Songwriter Showcase on Saturday. Jet City Maven columnist Jason Trachtenburg will entertain. A Theatre, Circus & Cabaret Stage on Sunday.

Creative fund raising: Franklin High School will hold an art department demonstration and sale of silk painting and other art projects to raise money for next year's school classes.

Gentlemen, start your neck ties: As a prelude to the Fair Weekend, the Fremont Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual 5K Briefcase Relay Race on Friday, June 18, beginning at 6 p.m. on the Fremont side of the Fremont Bridge. Participants are asked to arrive at 5:30 p.m. The Fremont Chamber challenges members of all other Seattle-area chambers of commerce, business improvement areas and businesses to race for the coveted Slug Cup. Cost is $150 per 5-10 member team. Dress is business attire from the waist up, runner's choice below. For more information about the race, call the Chamber at 632-1500.

Solstice Parade: The Fremont Arts Council's will hold its 11th annual Fremont Summer Soltice Parade, an "extravaganza of community-based costumes and floats" through downtown Fremont. The parade, and for that matter, the entire Fair Weekend has been described as "Mardi Gras meets the Magical Mystery Tour," and that pretty well does sum it all up. A press release issued by the Fair puts it this way: "Where else can you experience a people-powered parade complete with 20-foot high puppets, bugs and space aliens? Or troupes of whirling, bedecked and bejeweled dancers who surround floats of gorgeous whimsey and outrageous imagination?"

All for a good cause: What fairgoers may not realize is that the festivities are also supporting a worthy cause. Proceeds raised from the Fair benefit the Fremont Public Association, a non-profit social services agency that began in Fremont in 1974 with a small food bank and a job referral service. Today, the FPA, which is now located in Wallingford, offers more than 20 programs, including everything from the AIDS Project to food banks, hospice care, legal clinics and emergency shelter programs. Collectively, those programs last year served more than 50,000 people throughout King County. The need for funds is critical and the Fremont Fair is an essential part of the FPA's annual fund-raising process.

Think of it as partying for a good a cause.

The Fremont Fair will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday the 19th and from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday the 20th. For more information about the Fremont Fair, call 633-4409 or check out the Fair's Web site at http://www.speakeasy.org/frefair