Salmon Days: Spawning a Cycle of Community Resources and Support
September 7th, 2010 | By: Robin Spicer
No small fish tale for local organizations.
Issaquah Schools Foundation booth at Salmon Days
Issaquah’s historic downtown, the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, the Issaquah Alps Club, the Lake Sammamish Elks Lodge, the Mountains to Sound Greenway, Save Lake Sammamish, PTSA organizations—these are just a few of the more than 50 local community service and nonprofit organizations which benefit each year from Issaquah Salmon Days. For many, the Festival serves as their major annual fund-raiser. For others, it provides an invaluable opportunity to raise awareness and additional support of their organization. This is part of the Salmon Days story that is not often told.
“Salmon Days began as a small community event, and it is important to us to maintain much of that tradition and feel, even with its growth into what has become a major Northwest Festival,” notes Robin Kelley, Director of Festivals at the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce. “We continue to set aside a large portion of valuable booth space each year for our local nonprofits, providing them exposure and fund-raising opportunities to an audience much larger than would be possible without the Festival.”
The Chamber’s festival staff work year-round to organize, produce, market, and secure “spawnsorships.” Corporate spawnsor dollars go directly into underwriting the costs and expenses of the Festival, keeping it free for all residents and visitors. These annual expenses for Salmon Days exceed $460,000. Additional corporate and vendor support offsets the costs of special activities, projects, music, and entertainment, enhancing the overall quality and affordability of the event for everyone. In this economy, free family activities are exceedingly important and appreciated.
Without this annual event, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for any of the local nonprofits to duplicate the marketing and promotional benefits realized through their Salmon Days exposure.
Moreover, almost all of the funds raised by these groups over the two-day event filter directly back to the community, greatly adding to the budgets of local and city services, including youth, schools, and parks programs, as well as the police and fire departments. In 2009, the Issaquah Middle School PTSA raised more than $4,400 toward state testing, scholarships for needy children, the library, and other educational programs. From the Kiwanis Club and Boy Scout troops to local conservation groups and humane animal services, Salmon Days provides a vital source of annual income for local nonprofits.
Festival programming brings more than 150,000 people to Issaquah’s historic downtown, adding significant commerce to the community and creating exposure to the town’s many treasured assets, including the nationally acclaimed Village Theatre, museums, the hatchery, shops, restaurants, wine bars, and recreational opportunities.
Forty-one years ago, the Festival began as a community and family-oriented event, celebrating the annual return of spawning salmon to the downtown hatchery while providing a source of income and, most of all, fun. Today, it remains very much the same in nature and spirit, still offering free admission and many free events and activities, and continuing to celebrate and support two of our greatest assets: salmon and local communities.
