Salmon Days: Plan Your 'Thrills & Gills' Trip to Issaquah

Everyone who goes to Salmon Days, Issaquah's annual celebration of the return of its local seafarers, seems to have more fun than a fish in water.

From the grande parade beginning Saturday morning at 10 a.m. to Dock Dogs competitions throughout the weekend, music, art, the "Field of Fun" for kids with tons of great activities put on by festival "spawnsors" at Veterans Memorial Field--and of course if you go you can't miss a trip to the which is literally jumping with activity just near all the action of the festival.

Patch is an "ohfishal spawnsor," too, and we'll be there right near the Front Street Stage with our wheel o' prizes for folks who stop by and sign up for our convenient daily e-newsletter for any of the 15 great local Patch sites. Kirkland Patch editor Greg Johnston will be at the Patch booth Sunday from 2-6 p.m. if you want to stop by and chat. You can also enter online here to try the Kirkland Patch daily newsletter and enter our contest to win Salmon Days prizes.

So, with all the activity, parking right next door to the festivities is really not an option, so you should consider it a walking day. Luckily, there is a handy shuttle that runs every 15 minutes and picks up from three parking locations between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. both days. See the map above to plan your route to and from the festival.

Attractions Not to Miss

The grande parade, starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, boasts more than 90 entries and can be seen from Front Street at NW Dogwood, down Gilman Boulevard to 12th Ave and along 12th Ave to the Sports Authority parking lot.

The celebrating its 75th anniversary, is a must-see while you're at the festival. The Hatchery raises two of the five types of Pacific salmon; Coho or silver salmon and Chinook or king salmon. The Hatchery provides an artificial means for spawning salmon; eggs are removed from the female fish and fertilized. Once they mature into "fingerlings" they are released into the Issaquah Creek to begin their migration downstream.

Music, music, music. The festival has four stages, all alive with entertainment throughout the festival. Click the links here to see the schedules for the Go Fish! Stage, the Front Street Stage, the Hatchery Stage, and the Rainier Boulevard Stage.

Arts and Crafts vendors will be stationed along Front Street, along with the many local businesses and eateries that will be open for business during the festival.

The Issaquah Depot Museum will have its newly renovated trolley on display. Though it won't be running this weekend, you can get a little preview of the car that soon will be making its way up and down the tracks of Issaquah's historic district.

What's your favorite part of Salmon Days? Tell us in the comments.

We hope to see you upstream on Saturday.