Nothing fishy about this

Packs of elementary students streamed in for the Salmon Festival’s School Days on September 20 and September 21. Salmon Festival hosts the children in an attempt to harness in their attention to the wildlife that surrounds them while simultaneously making the event fun oriented. 

The Get Out of Class Free card only made the excitement for the kids at a higher frequency, as the giggles and squeals echoed from the clumps of students taking in Reptile Man and posing with the Salmon mascot. 

The two School Days is a unique, hands on opportunity — not a mainstream educational experience — that the kids were observably hooked on. 

The field trip for the surrounding school districts, including Cascade, took place at the Leavenworth Fish Hatchery and was the perfect setting to illuminate the wildlife education and host the large number of children. 

The School Days gave the students an exclusive chance to learn what happens beneath the surface of the river without the push and pull of the public crowds that often ferments from festivals. There was no need to stand on tip toes to catch a glimpse of exhibits or straining to see around adults since it was closed off to the public and reserved for North Central Washington schools. Kids wandered from different stations wide eyed and eager. 

“This is magical because these are huge birds, the eagles and the owls, they do a wonderful presentation,” said Corky Broadus, longtime Salmon Festival volunteer referring to one of many different exhibits for the kids to get hands on. “It’s the Sardis Raptor Center Exhibit.”

The Community Chalk Art caught the attention of some students while the Salmon Storytelling Tent kept others riveted inside a blow up fish. 

Children flocked to different stations but all learned something regardless of where they landed. At one station, a volunteer from Grand Coulee Dam taught a crowd of kids about dams and had a miniature exhibit for the kids to peer at. Some of the children milled around the Fish Guts station whereas others stared into the aquarium to see a variety of fish from local streams. 

Using fun activities that filtered out educational facts is the key component for the Salmon Festival’s School Days. 

“The whole mission is to connect people with nature — all ages, all ethnic groups and just get them outdoors,” said Broadus

For the kids that came home from school that day flushed with the excitement from exploring the Native American exhibit and spouted off facts about the hatchery, they had an opportunity to extend their invitation to the Salmon Festival for the rest of the family. Saturday, September 22 was the day that the Salmon Festival was open to the public.