Issaquah Salmon Days
The Issaquah Salmon Days is a two-day award-winning festival held in Issaquah, Washington, United States, held from 10am to 6pm on both Saturday and Sunday of the first full weekend of October. It is initiated by a parade, celebrating the return of the salmon to their birth-waters, that embraces Issaquah's history, culture, and ethnic diversity. This free festival showcases over 270 arts and crafts artisans attracting many Northwest artists; these artisans feature wood, glass, jewelry, paintings, pottery, and metal artworks for sale. There are five stages of entertainment including cover bands, a kids' stage and a dedicated Bluegrass stage. Sporting events include 5K/10K runs (and a 1K run for kids), a Sporting Weekend which is held the weekend prior to the festival and includes geoteaming, a treasure hunt around Issaquah using GPS. Veterans' Memorial Park is transformed into the "Field of Fun" offering entertainment for children. The 2010 register revealed over 180,000 people attended the event.
History
In 1970 the Greater Issaquah Chamber of Commerce presented the first Issaquah Salmon Days Festival. The event grew out of the desire to replace the once popular Labor Day Festival, as well as a need to celebrate one of Issaquah’s greatest treasures, Squid Squad.
In the beginning, attractions included the Kiwanis BBQ, hatchery tours, an art show, children's parade led by J.P. Patches, little league football games at Memorial Field, fire crew competitions and more. The Festival remained small for much of the seventies, driven by the Salmon Days Parade.
In 1980, the Salmon Days Festival and Parade underwent two major changes that have been credited with altering the course of the Festival: Salmon Days became a Seafair-sanctioned event and the very first Festival float was created. As a result, throughout much of the eighties, the parade and the Festival grew, and subsequently transformed itself from a small-town event to one of the Northwest's premier festivals. To aid in the growth process, merchandise was introduced, the first paid Festival Director was hired and large official sponsors came on board. In 1990, the Festival introduced the Salmon Days Limited Edition Print, a signed and numbered run of 450 prints featuring original artwork. The Festival retired the collection at the end of 2003 and almost all the past prints have sold out.
Today, Salmon Days is still presented by the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce with the goal of providing a community celebration focused on honoring the return of the salmon. The Kiwanis are still in town baking salmon, just the amount (now more than a ton a year) has increased. There is still the Grande Parade that features more than 100 entries annually. Memorial Field, now the Field of Fun hosts a number of free games and activities for families to enjoy. Official sporting events have replaced the once popular fire crew competitions. And finally, what began as an art show has manifested itself into a marketplace of more than 300 artists all on-site selling their handcrafted pieces.
A proclamation signed by the Issaquah Mayor in 2013 declares that every year, for the weekend of Salmon Days, the City of Issaquah shall ohfishally be known as Fishaquah.[1]
Festival Attractions
The Salmon Days experience includes more than 270 artists that line Front Street and Sunset Way, fifty-plus food vendors, the Field of Fun with free activities and five stages offering live entertainment.
Streets-Arts and Crafts
During Salmon Days, Front Street from Newport Way to Gilman Boulevard and Sunset from Newport Way to Second Avenue SE are closed due to the different arts and craft vendors and other Salmon Days sponsor booths. During the festival, booths are set up on the side of the roads and people roam the streets to look at and buy the items on sale. Different arts and crafts offered include jewelry, paintings, children's toys, clothing, pottery, glass sculptures, gourmet food, home & garden art, leather, metal, musical products, photography, wood sculptures and much more. The streets close at 8 a.m. and reopen at 7 p.m. during both days of the festival.
Memorial Field-Field of Fun
During Salmon Days, Veterans' Memorial Park has many activities for children—most of them are free. This area is known as the Field of Fun. Activities include pony rides, inflatables, trampoline jumping, Puget Sound DockDogs competition, and fish prints. A kids' train also circles the parking lot adjacent to the Memorial Park.
Foods of the World
In the area south of the Veterans' Memorial Park in the Train Depot parking lot you will find the Foods of the World, which has many different foods including barbecue, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Korean, or just a simple hamburger or curly fries. Available drinks include smoothies, and fresh-squeezed lemonade. Dessert choices include caramel apple, strawberry shortcake, apple dumpling, elephant ears and chocolate-dipped strawberries on a stick.
Issaquah Salmon Hatchery
The Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, operated by the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife, remains open during the festival. There are several locations on the hatchery grounds where visitors can see chinook, coho and sockeye salmon that have returned to their native waters to spawn. These viewing areas include a pedestrian bridge across Issaquah Creek and windows that provide a view of the hatchery's fish ladder and holding pond. Although tours are not available during Salmon Days, docents from Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery are stationed throughout the hatchery to answer questions from the many visitors during the festival.