Salmon Insanity!

This is it! This weekend is the big (and I mean BIG!) festival in downtown Issaquah! The Issaquah Salmon Days festival draws an estimated 150,000 people, and trust me, they wouldn’t be there if it weren’t a bunch of fun. Plus, I’ll have a booth this year!

• When: October 4th – 5th, 10am-6pm
• Where: Historic Downtown Issaquah
• Why: To see the salmon!

The Issaquah Salmon Days Festival celebrates the return of the salmon from the Pacific Ocean, up the Issaquah Creek, and finally, to the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery. The salmon are truly the stars of the show, as kids watch in wonder while the fish make their way to the hatchery entrance underneath the final bridge of their journey at Sunset Way. If you’ve never seen this spectacle, it really is worth a visit!

The Salmon Days Carnival has expanded this year with bigger rides, bigger thrills, and bigger laughs, including 12 rides that cater to all ages.

It wouldn’t be a festival without vendors, food, and entertainment, and this year you can expect to see a whopping 500 vendors, 60 food booths, and multiple entertainment stages with a list of bands too long to mention. Hey, I told you it was big! There’s even a parade!

Speaking of vendors, I’m sure you want to know where I’ll be, right? Well, I’m in Booth 15, which as you can see on the map below is between the north First Aid station and the go fish! stage and food court, just south of NE Dogwood St. on Front St. N. I’ll have some new work there that you’ve never seen – I promise!

Salmon Days 2014 Festival Map

If you’ve never been to the festival area, it’s held in cute little historic downtown Issaquah. The entire downtown is shut down to accommodate the event, and as a result, street parking is in short supply. But, there are many local organizations that provide parking for a reasonable fee, or you can take the shuttle from three different locations for $3 round-trip. Be warned, though, that at peak times the shuttle lines can get long, so if you do that, try to arrive early or late. Here’s a map showing the shuttle pickup locations and official parking lots:

Take the Shuttle to Salmon Days … it is easy!

Well, that’s about it. This is my biggest festival to date, so I’m pretty excited about it!

Hope to see you there!