This year marked the 127th Sequim Irrigation Festival, the oldest continuing festival in Washington state. The festival celebrates D.R. “Crazy” Callen and his partners who designed and developed the irrigation ditches that brought water from the Dungeness River, turning a dry prairie into fertile farmland. The first headgate on the Dungeness River was lifted on May 1, 1895, and on May 1, 1896 the first celebration took place at Crazy Callen’s farm.
The festival runs for two weeks in May, with two parades (the Kids Parade and the Grand Parade), a fun run, arts & crafts fair, logging show, history walk, art walk, fireworks, food and fun.
The Grand Parade has a bit of everything – floats, marching bands, classic cars, tractors, logging trucks and more. Sure the parade, which runs along Washington Street, closes down the major east-west road through town and getting from one end of Sequim to the other involves numerous detours, but you should be at the parade anyway!
I managed to zig-zag my way over to get Mom. After a stop at the Farmer’s Market, we walked up a couple blocks to catch the Grand Parade.
The Sequim High School marching band.
After lunch, I took Mom home, and headed to the logging show. The Sequim Log Show started in 1988 by two life-long Sequim residents, Kevin Kennedy and Dave Bekkevar. More than just a showcase for the skills and techniques loggers use everyday, it features contests, races, truck and tractor pulls, and things I can’t even put a name to. Somewhere around 2005, the Sequim Log Show teamed up with the Sequim Irrigation Festival to become one of the fan favorite events of the Grand Finale Weekend.
And then my camera battery died. One day, I will remember to check the charge! Or take fewer pictures of the parade.
1909 photo of the Sequim Irrigation parade. Photo courtesy of North Olympic Heritage — Bert Kellogg Photograph Collection
Photo from the Sequim Irrigation Festival website.
And if you missed it this year, you can watch the whole parade here:
Links of Interest:
- Sequim Irrigation Festival website