The 2021 Wenatchee River Salmon Festival (Salmon Fest) is alive and well, as it welcomes North Central Washington teachers, students, and the general public to engage in the exciting new 2021 Virtual Salmon Fest. Salmon Fest Team members are thrilled to re-introduce the heavily expanded, “Salmon On-Line”, a virtual supplement to the live festival event, which is now available on our website at https://www.salmonfest.org/index.php/salmon-fest-on-line/ . There you’ll find a host of new educational and fun videos, worksheets, activity guides, and more that are sure to help fill the void until we’re able to, once again, gather in person to celebrate salmon.
Following strict guidelines for managing COVID 19 in 2021, Salmon Fest was canceled at the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery in Leavenworth, WA earlier this year. Salmon Fest is managed and hosted by the non-profit Friends of Northwest Hatcheries, along with several partners that include Chelan PUD, Okanogan/Wenatchee National Forests, Cascadia Conservation District, Bureau of Reclamation, several government agencies, business sponsors, non-profit entities, and Native American tribes.
Salmon Fest is one of the first nature festivals in the United States. It began in 1991 and will be celebrating it’s 30th Anniversary with an extra special event the next time we gather in person, hopefully in 2022. It’s award-winning format of high quality interactive natural resource education has received several regional and national awards for children’s programming by the festivals and events industry, community organizations, and federal and local agency leadership. More than 300 volunteers assist in the production of Salmon Fest each year. Its focus on fish and wildlife conservation continues to be a highlight of this free event for all ages. Salmon Fest is dedicated to supporting outdoor education and shares the Native American cultural significance of salmon to the people of the Pacific Northwest.
Salmon Fest Director Corky Broaddus, President of Friends, Andy Jaynes, and several partners have been busy working on some new online resources that convey the importance of salmon and the critical role they play in their natural habitats.
A BIG thank you to our partners who contributed their video talents and education resources to help make “Salmon On-Line 2021 possible: Friends of Northwest Hatcheries, Leavenworth Fisheries Complex-USFWS, Matthew Juneau of The Echo Film from Spokane, WA, Bureau of Reclamation-Grand Coulee Dam, Cascadia Conservation District from Wenatchee, WA, Cascade Fisheries from Wenatchee, WA, Wenatchee River Institute, Leavenworth, WA, Christie Pease, Art teacher at CREATE in Cashmere, WA, Julie Edwards, Psqousa Wenatchi Native American Artist and Author from Elmer City, WA, Bernadine Phillips, Psquosa Wenatchi Artist from Omak, WA, Carolyn Wilson, Nez Perce Storyteller, from Leavenworth, WA, and Michael Dello Russo, Beaver Technician of the Trout Unlimited Beaver Project in Leavenworth, WA.