I have two (2) years living in this area and I never attended any of the previous Salmon Days festival here in Issaquah so this year I decided to do not miss it regardless the weather. The 2 days festival takes place in a small town called Issaquah at the east side of Seattle once a year.

The main street called front street is closed and a huge number of artists and craftspeople show their special skills and talents at the booths located at each side of the street. Also there is a gastronomic festival whit food from all over the world including exotic places like Kenya, Pakistan or Vietnam.

Another nice activity is the “Grande Parade” which features more than 100 entries, including fabulous floats from around the Northwest, clowns, bands, equestrian entries, school groups, dance teams, etc.

However the main attraction in my opinion is the annual return of the salmon to Issaquah streams and to the downtown hatchery. When I was at the elementary school I used to read about the Salmon ritual coming from ocean back to their born place and sorting all kind of perils along the journey (e.g.: sea lions at the Puget sound or wild animals including bears and bobcats along the streams).

My memories were around several pictures showing the salmon jumping and swimming against the river/streams current. Today I was able to see it by myself at the downtown hatchery. Is amazing to see how persistent those salmons are jumping to overcome any obstacle along the route.

I saw big Chinook salmons jumping like a crazy to sort the natural stream ladder. At Issaquah downtown I counted not less than 100 salmons jumping and I was wondering how good any of those would look like in a sashimi plate at night J

 If you are in town at the beginning of October and have some free time I will strongly recommend you to visit Issaquah during the festival, regardless the weather is a nice experience to live at least once.