Celebrate
Salmon... Wildlife... Nature... Rivers... Native Tribes...
Connecting Humans & the Environment
Education
Award-winning natural resources education and activities.
Conservation & Stewardship
Learn about the important connections between humans and the environment.
Outdoor Recreation
Ranging from archery, to a climbing wall, to disc golf, and more.
Next Event: September 2022
Celebrating 30 Years of Salmon Fest!
The Wenatchee River Salmon Festival is a three-day natural resource education event held in the fall at the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery to celebrate the return of the salmon to the Wenatchee River. An exciting menu of hands-on activities and “edutainment” provides attendees from throughout North Central Washington a unique opportunity to discover and appreciate the complexities of the natural world and the significance of salmon to people of the northwest.
With the cancelation of the 2020 & 2021 events due to Covid-19, we look forward to celebrating our 30th event in 2022!
Exciting Activities & Exhibits
Salmon Maze Reptile Man Native American Village Sardis Raptor Center Gyotaku Giant Fish Aquarium Wildfire Education
Check out these fun hands-on activities and exhibits that have been a part of
the Wenatchee River Salmon Festival.
Want to help with Salmon Fest?
New online resources
The best Natural Resources Event in the Northwest
Awards
Summit Award for Best Environmental Education & Best Children's Program Award
Washington Festivals and Events Association
National Environmental Leadership Award & "Sense of Wonder" Award
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Pinnacle Award — International award for “Best Environmental Education”
International Festivals and Events Association
Conservationist of the Year
Trout Unlimited
Volunteer Organization of the Year
American Fisheries Society
Outstanding Conservation Education
Environmental Education Association of Washington (EEAW)
Carl L. Sullivan Award — “Most Outstanding Conservation Education Event in the United States”
American Fisheries Society International Convention, Hartford, Connecticut
Summit Award for Environmental Education
Washington Festivals and Events Association
News
Click on a headline to read more.
Salmon Fest Launches New Website!
Welcome to the new and improved Wenatchee River Salmon Festival website! 2020 sounds like “the future,” so we finally took the plunge and spent much of this crazy year building out this new website to better convey the scope, popularity, and critical role that this festival plays in the lives of so many from all…
Wenatchee River Salmon Festival Cancelled for 2020
Leavenworth, Washington: Due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic affecting all of us in many ways, the much-beloved award- winning Wenatchee River Salmon Festival (Salmon Fest) has been cancelled in 2020. This year’s event was scheduled to be held at the beautiful Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery on the days of September 17th – 19th. The…
2020 Nancy Duree Natural Resource Scholarship Applications NOW Available!
The Wenatchee River Salmon Festival and the Friends of Northwest Hatcheries are excited to once again offer Nancy Duree Natural Resource Scholarship (renamed the Wenatchee River Salmon Festival Natural Resources Scholarship in late 2020) of $1,500 to a high school student pursuing a higher education in natural resources (i.e. fisheries, forestry, wildlife, botany, geology, soil…
This event has been made possible thanks to generous support from the following organizations.
Check out the Sponsorship page for details on how your organization can join the event.
Festival Hosts
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Fun Fish Facts !
- Salmon returning to the Wenatchee River travel 500 miles and over 7 dams from the Pacific Ocean to get to their place of birth.
- The oldest salmon fossil found is 50 million years old.
- The intricacies of a salmon’s genetic code insist that the salmon always faces upstream into the current. This means that when it navigates to the sea it swims tail first.
- You can count the rings on a fish scale to determine its age, much like counting the rings on a tree.
Get in touch
Festival office
Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery
12790 Hatchery Rd.
Leavenworth, WA 98826
Get Directions
Additional contacts
Education Coordinator – education@salmonfest.org
Vendor Coordinator – vendors@salmonfest.org
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