Wenatchee River Salmon Festival Cancelled for 2020
As the largest and main event supported by Friends of Northwest Hatcheries, we are sad to report that the Wenatchee River Salmon Festival has been cancelled for 2020 due to Covid-19. Please see their Press Release below. We look forward to working with them through 2020 and into 2021 to help them plan for celebrating the 30th anniversary event in Sept 2021.
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NEWS RELEASE FROM THE WENATCHEE RIVER SALMON FESTIVAL
Leavenworth, Washington: Due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic affecting all of us in many ways, the much-beloved award- winning Wenatchee River Salmon Festival (Salmon Fest) has been cancelled in 2020. This year’s event was scheduled to be held at the beautiful Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery on the days of September 17th – 19th. The popular north-central Washington nature festival will now begin looking forward to creating a special 30th Anniversary celebration, “Salmon of the Future,” to be held September 15-18, 2021. Festival organizers will follow all required guidelines for public health and safety concerns during all phases of planning during these most challenging times.
An educational event on the scale of Salmon Fest hosts approximately 2,500 students and pulls in hundreds of volunteers. Natural resource and recreation specialists, community exhibitors, multi-cultural tribal educators, and other participants from throughout the entire Pacific Northwest are included. The public day can draw more than 4,000 attendees.
“The health and welfare of our festival visitors, students, volunteers, and community residents are top priority for the Salmon Fest planning team,” Festival Co-Directors Corky Broaddus and Hailey Croci clearly state. “During this coronavirus time of our lives, we truly are concerned about the health and safety of all of our dedicated festival staff that work in every capacity of Salmon Fest management and operations. We thank our festival agency and non-profit partners and community contributors in helping us come to this hard cancellation decision.”
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service managers of Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery agree. “Hosting a big public event this year presents far too many obstacles and concerns,” Visitor Services Manager Julia Pinnix noted. “Our first priority must be health and safety. Postponing the event until 2021 is a wise choice.”
The Salmon Fest is a hands-on outdoor event whose mission is to connect people and nature by providing opportunities that create meaningful and enriching outdoor interpretation and education. A visit to Salmon Fest builds life skills and experiences reaching out to all ages about the wonder of science, nature, and culture. Please join us in 2021 to share a “salmon experience” with us during next year’s upcoming Wenatchee River Salmon Festival “Salmon of the Future” celebration! For updates on the event, visit salmonfest.org and follow the Wenatchee River Salmon Festival on Facebook.
Contact: Corky Broaddus, Festival Director, 509.548.6662, director@salmonfest.org
See the official Wenatchee River Salmon Festival News Release