This free local festival has salmon burgers, face painting, fish prints and other games

Something’s in the water and it’s worth celebrating.

Salmon have a known presence in the Pacific Northwest, particularly as they visibly return to spawn. Gig Harbor – like many cities around the Puget Sound – has a number of salmon-bearing streams. Several even have prime viewing opportunities to watch the instinctual battle home to spawn (now is the perfect time to view them).

However, Gig Harbor is one of the few cities that also celebrates and educates about salmon’s yearly return. Host to the Donkey Creek Chum Salmon Festival, residents and visitors celebrate the fishy return with a family-friendly festival that includes vendors, on-theme food, activities, guest speakers, and salmon tours. The festival is returning this year for the first time since 2019 with not just one day of celebration, but a whole weekend.

Rachel Easton, Education Director at Harbor WildWatch and local salmon tour guide, sums it up: “Gig Harbor has always been a fishing community. This event lets us remind our community of that as we celebrate the annual homecoming of chum salmon. It gives us a chance to not only educate about salmon, but also to share our appreciation for all that they have overcome. It’s a perfect reminder for us to keep going through hard times.”

Undoubtedly, salmon have a lot to overcome when they return to spawn, only for the spawning to ultimately complete a beautiful life cycle that nourishes the surrounding ecosystem. The stream that salmon are born in becomes their home stream. They hatch from fertilized eggs (redds) and use their egg sac for nourishment (alevins). Gradually this egg sac is absorbed and, three to six weeks after hatching, the young fry emerge from the gravel to seek food.

They grow bigger until the smolts are ready to exit their freshwater creek into salt water. They’ll spend the next two to three years of their lives in the open Puget Sound or ocean.

After this time, the adults fight their way back to their home stream. During this journey home their bodies are preparing to spawn, drawing energy from their fat storage, muscles, and organs (excluding their reproductive organs). When they enter back into freshwater, they stop eating.

Males develop characteristics useful for dominance. In chum salmon, this includes a distinctive hooked nose and teeth, as well as maroon, blotchy red stripes. Once in their home stream, the salmon spawn and die, sending nutrients to the nearby trees and plants, seabirds, and even marine life.

The 2022 Donkey Creek Chum Festival

Chum are celebrated in Gig Harbor for their return to Donkey Creek, where September through December viewers can observe splashes and a fast flurry of fins. The festival is hosted at the Harbor History Museum and has been expanded to two days for the first time ever.

“After the two-year hiatus due to COVID, we are excited that this year’s festival will be bigger and better than ever,” Easton said.

On Saturday, Nov. 19, festival-goers can enjoy informational booths and art exhibits indoors, kids activities like face painting and fish prints, salmon tours, human-powered vessel races, and salmon burgers. Sunday, Nov. 20 will bring educational speakers, more kids’ activities on the Donkey Creek trail, as well as more races and demos.

“My favorite part is the guess the weight station, where visitors take a guess at how much a large male salmon weighs. Without fail, people overestimate … which I think is the nature of measuring any catch,” Easton said with a laugh.

This longstanding festival (in its 14th year) goes beyond fun and games. It shows a commitment to educating about our local ecosystem, but also celebrating and bringing salmon to the public. Put simply: the more accessible opportunities we’re given to enjoy the environment, the more likely we are to protect it.

For those who have never viewed salmon, make this the year that you do. If the festival feels like too much hubbub, take a walk along Donkey Creek Park on your own time and peek into the creek. Or visit other local salmon bearing streams; Crescent and Minter Creeks are great spots. You never know, it might be fascination at first splash.

The Donkey Creek Chum Festival takes place Saturday, Nov. 19 and Sunday, Nov. 20 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Harbor History Museum.

For more information, visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/801135697669554/801135704336220?ref=newsfeed

Carly Vester has been writing an environmental column for The Peninsula Gateway since 2019. Her storytelling focuses on the intersection of people and the outdoors — from adventures across the west, to our environment and the rich history surrounding it. Her documentary films have screened internationally and her writing has been published locally and regionally.

This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 5:00 AM.