BY KAREN BOSSICK
This year’s Sawtooth Salmon Festival will be the largest in the festival’s 24-year history.
The festival will take place Friday through Sunday, Aug. 22-24, in Stanley. It is centered around the 900-mile journey of salmon from the Pacific Ocean back to their spawning grounds in the Sawtooth Valley.
It will feature tours to see spawning salmon, a hands-on fish dissection, talks from experts, kid-focused activities, art, tribal dancing and singing.
There also will be live music through the weekend, raffles and more than 40 vendors gathered in support of the salmon.
A free screening of the award-winning film “The Grand Salmon” about a thousand-mile source-to-sea journey of three women to save the wild salmon will be shown on Saturday.
Attendees may enter Festival Passport for a raffle to be drawn at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Mountain Village Resort. There also will be a separate raffle drawing for a Big Wave raft.
The Festival kicks off at 5:30 p.m. Friday with a talk at the Stanley Museum. about recovering 140 miles of river on the Lower Snake to support salmon recovery. Barbarian Brewing will provide beer. The talk will be followed by Salmon Storytelling, trivia and music at 9 p.m. with Good Friends at the Kasino Club.
SATURDAY LINEUP:
10 a.m. Pettit Lake weir tour with the Shoshone Bannock Tribes at the Pettit Lake hatchery.
10 a.m.-5 p.m. The Stanley Museum will offer such activities as stuff-a-fish, salmon rubbings, salmon hat making, a salmon photo display and a Salmon Run obstacle course on the museum lawn.
11 a.m. -1 p.m. Hands-on fish dissection at the Stanley Community Library.
11 a.m.-4 p.m. Salmon Festival featuring music by Hudson Powder Company, vendors, raffles and beer at Mountain Village.
11 a.m.-4 p.m. Kokanee walking tours from the Redfish Visitor Center to see kokanee spawning in Fishhook Creek, along with salmon rubbings and hat making
Noon-4 p.m. Salmon Tours leaving from the Stanley Museum
2-3 p.m. Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Dances and Singing on Mountain Village Resort lawn.
3-4 p.m. Original Northwest Artists Against Extinction-designed orca and salmon stencils will be available to artists of all ages and abilities at the Save Our Wild Salmon booth. The event is designed to create advocacy artwork while learning about salmon’s culture and ecological importance.
6:30 p.m. The Grand Salmon Film, which depicts three women’s thousand-mile journey to save wild salmon. The screening at the Stanley Community Center will include Barbarian Brewing beer and attendees will receive a film raffle ticket.
8 p.m. Live music from Brook, Faulk and Neon Moon, along with a reshowing of the Grand Salmon film at Mountain Resort Village.
SUNDAY
10-11 a.m. Sunrise Yoga at Mountain Village
10 a.m. Historical tour of the Salmon Dam. Meet at Stanley Museum for the 20-minute drive to the dam.
11 a.m. Fire Ecology Talk looking at how flora, trees and wildlife recover after last year’s Bench Lake and Wapiti fire. Fire ecologist Melinda Markin of the Sawtooth Society will lead the tour beginning at the Stanley Lake Trailhead.
5-7 p.m. Music by The Canyon Kids on the Redfish Lake lodge lawn.
Last year’s salmon festival was cancelled because of the Wapiti Fire.
“We can’t wait to see people gather for this year’s celebration,” said Dave Womack, communications manager for Idaho Rivers United. “It has been two years since we were last able to host ‘Salmon Fest,’ and everyone is buzzing about the lineup, the energy, and the fun we have in store for visitors.”
The Festival is presented by Idaho Rivers United and the Sawtooth Interpretive and Historical Association. Sponsors include the Stanley Chamber of Commerce, Visit Idaho, Mountain Village Resort, 94.9 The River, Williams, Maravia and Cascade River Gear.