Salmon Festival in trouble, needs help to continue

The Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery’s (LNFH) annual Salmon Festival has been around 25 years, but to continue into the future, they need help. One of the main funding sources for Salmon Festival is the non-profit Friends of Northwest Hatcheries group.
With a number of longtime Friends board members leaving this past year, that brought concerns about the future of the Friends group, and in turn, the future of Salmon Fest. A public meeting was held at the Leavenworth PUD office on Jan. 17 to try drum up some public support for their cause.
Leading the discussion was Corky Broaddus, the former LNFH public information officer who helped found Salmon Festival. She now volunteers with the Friends group.
“We are part of Salmon Fest with a lot of the things going on. We invited you tonight because we would like to participate and we need your help,” Broaddus said.
Salmon Fest is facing some big changes and basically it is time for newness, Broaddus said.
“It is also time to reinvigorate our non-profit group. We just wanted a community meeting so people feel involved. We need your input,” Broaddus said. “We do not want lose Salmon Fest but we also do not want lose the very valuable things that the Friends groups does for our national fish hatchery.”
LNFH Complex Manager Dave Irving has been at Leavenworth for eight years.
“I was invited to come up eight years ago. I was invited to come up and see what things were like during Salmon Fest. I came up and thought this was great, I want to be part of it,” Irving said. “I’ve worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service for 30 years, so I’ve been around a lot of places. The Fish and Wildlife Service has a mission. We want to work with people for the good of natural resources. It’s a worthy goal, worthy mission.”
Irving said he has worked with Salmon Fest for the past eight years.
“The Friends group is crucial to the success of the mission of our complex. The Friends group has accomplished some significant things, some great things,” Irving said. “We’re at a crossroads right now with the Friends group. It’s being reorganized. To be frank, we need some help.”
It’s crucial that we have members of the community step up and be part of the friends group, be part of the board, and help us to move forward into the future with the things we need to do, Irving said.
“The Friends group is crucial to this. I’ve appreciated being able to work with the Friends group and do things we can’t do as a federal agency. The Friends group helps us out and helps us accomplish those things,” Irving said. “There are a lot of things the Friends group has done at Leavenworth, Entiat, Winthrop and other hatcheries.”
Sheila Bergren has been with the Friends group since it started, but is now stepping away, like a number of other aging board members. She said the Friends group has not been membership driven.
“We really don’t get a lot of members. It’s really been board driven. Because we have taken care of all the financial stuff, that’s how we were able to finance to enhance all the projects for the Fish and Wildlife Service,” Bergren said. “Our board has diminished and we really need board members. That is our main mission. We meet once a month for a couple hours.”
The LNFH became the first hatchery in the entire nation to create a non-profit arm, Broaddus said. The Friends group is able to do things government employees cannot.
“We raised funds. We don’t spend government money. We earn those monies. We go out and get grants. We do a ton of different projects and programs,” Broaddus said. “Our Friends group became the umbrella for all the national fish hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest. We are not only Leavenworth. We can support our federal facilities.”
The Friends group has been involved throughout the Pacific Northwest, Broaddus said.
“Probably one of the biggest things we’ve been involved with as a group is being part of the special uses of what takes place on that wonderful 160 acres of land (LNFH), which is a fabulous piece of real estate in this community,” Broaddus said
“What the Friends group does is support behind the scenes with volunteers with all of our programs. We accept donations for various projects. We are also the major funders for Salmon Fest. There is nothing about Salmon Fest that is not connected.”
Salmon Fest would not occur if left up to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Irving said.
“It wouldn’t happen. We don’t have the people or funding to do that. It’s because of the Friends group and their partners, it happens. It’s been happening for 20-plus years,” Irving said.
Julia Pinnix, the current public information officer at LNFH, said the Friends group helps in many ways, such as purchasing educational material the hatchery cannot afford or stepping in last year when the hatchery budget took a big hit.
“Our budget shrank and we couldn’t afford hire somebody to come in and take care of the flowers and grounds. Friends stepped up and got somebody to come in and do that. It was gorgeous because of Friends,” Pinnix said.
Friends brings in a special guest artist to Salmon Fest every year, Pinnix said. Those artworks now sit in the hatchery visitor’s center. Pinnix said they are also counting on Friends to help create a kid’s fishing pond on site.
“We have large hole in the ground. We hope to one day make this into our kid’s fishing pond at Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery. We need help, so our Friends group will get roped into that,” Pinnix said. “Wenatchee River Salmon Festival is just one of the many things the Friends group does, but it is the biggest one. Primarily Friends needs board members, but also help with other things.”
Salmon Fest annual costs about $150,000 to produce, Broaddus said. The Friends group annual contributes $20,000 to the Festival, so they are able to pay stipends for the director and other necessary expenses. The Friends group also offers a scholarship for a student pursuing a natural resources education, not just for Leavenworth but all of north central Washington.
Natalie Briody, acting Friends president, said she joined the Friends group 15 years ago and has enjoyed it. The Friends group helps schools coming to Salmon Fest with mini-grants, Briody said. They also fund Kids in the Creek and purchased the snowshoes for the recent snowshoe tours.
“We’ve done some wonderful things in the community. Right now, we had meeting in November and several people said they were done, people who had been with the board since 1995,” Briody said. “It’s time to get new board members. We haven’t been able to pull people in. We are begging for people to just join us. This is a good cause.”
Briody said they meet one a month for a couple hours. They also volunteer at Salmon Fest, but that is optional.
“We also at any of the Friends sponsored activities, on or off site within the hatchery communities,” Briody said. “We approve grant requests. That is probably the primary thing we do. We also work on writing grants. We support educational learning in the fisheries and the outdoors. That is our mission.”
Last year, Salmon Fest was forced to cancel the public day because there simply not enough volunteers to make it happen.
“It can’t stay just a few people trying to make it happen. We had to prioritize last year, so we chose the kids. That’s why we did Thursday, Friday. We had to say we cannot handle a Saturday. We hope to get back to that. We just need help to make it happen,” Irving said.
The Friends group is so important, Irving said.
“When we see these kids come off the bus, they are so excited about this opportunity to experience the outdoors. We can have a significant impact on kids in regards to the outdoors. The Friends group is key to helping us accomplish that,” Irving said.
For information on volunteering, go to friendsofnwhatcheries.org.
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.