The Friends of Northwest Hatcheries and Wenatchee River Salmon Festival event organizers are excited to announce the return of Salmon Fest School Days in September 2022! After a 2 year hiatus due to Covid precautions, we couldn’t be more excited to welcome back students from around the region, and to a new location at the Chelan PUD’s Rocky Reach Dam and Discovery Center. While School Days have returned, the public Community Day will have to wait another year.
Salmon Fest’s Education Coordinator, Marjorie Lodwik says of this year’s event, “We are so excited to be able to bring this event back for the first time since 2019, but due to complications with the construction on hatchery infrastructure projects and limitations with both FWS and Friends of NW Hatcheries/Salmon Fest staff, a few weeks ago it became clear that a successful event at Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery would be incredibly challenging to pull off. Luckily, our wonderful partner, Chelan County PUD, offered their Rocky Reach Dam facility for this year’s event. They have extensive grassy grounds, a brand new interactive visitor center, and can accommodate a large number of buses for the school days.”
She continues, “Unfortunately they won’t be able to host the public event on Saturday, but we have heard from many teachers, students, and their families that are so excited to be coming to the festival’s school days this year on September 15th and 16th. While we are sad that the festival can’t take place a the fish hatchery, we are very thankful for all of the hard work that the PUD and the rest of the Salmon Festival Team have put in to make this new location work!”
Read the official Press Release from the Directors of Salmon Fest below.
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Wenatchee River Salmon Festival “School Days” September 15th and 16th, 2022
Wenatchee, Washington — “Celebrate the Return of the Salmon”, at the 30th Anniversary of the Wenatchee River Salmon Festival! Our two “School Days” will be ready to host North Central Washington students on September 15th and 16th, 2022 at Rocky Reach Dam and Discovery Center. Students will explore and experience natural resource education at its finest! Salmon Fest has been the recipient of multiple awards, including, “Best Children’s Program”, by the International Festivals and Events Association. The Wenatchee River Salmon Festival 2022 is an event devoted to engaging students at a venue that is both educational and fun. Our Festival mission is to connect people of all ages to nature, and help build discovery and appreciation of the diversity and importance of the great outdoors. The beautiful grounds overlooking the mighty Columbia River are managed by the Chelan PUD’s Rocky Reach Dam. This unique venue will transform into an extraordinary outdoor classroom for this year’s Salmon Fest event. Students will become part of “River Ramble” and a Native American Village receiving a powerful inter-tribal cultural experience. Learning about nature from top Pacific Northwest natural resource specialists means students will gain first-hand knowledge about fish and wildlife, healthy habitats, and watersheds. There is magic when Salmon Fest happens. Students receive unique opportunities to be eye-to-eye with a fish, create gyotaku art, and share in a “Salmon Experience” together. For more information, swim to our website salmonfest.org or call 509.548.6662 ext 226.
The Wenatchee River Salmon Festival is hosted by Friends of NW Hatcheries, Chelan PUD, USFWS-Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests, and the Bureau of Reclamation.