Where: Gig Harbor History Museum, Downtown Gig Harbor
When: Saturday and Sunday 11 am- 4 pm mid to late November
Cost: Free
The Gig Harbor community comes together to celebrate the return of salmon to local waters with a festival. The Chum Festival serves to remind us of the importance of habitat preservation and the history and culture of the Maritime City.
I love this family-friendly outdoor event that helps us enjoy and promote sustainable stewardship of the waterways and salmon conservation in Gig Harbor. It also is an excuse to get outside at a social event and enjoy our beautiful fall Northwest days.
Since 1972, the Gig Harbor Commercial Fishermen’s Club has incubated salmon eggs at Donkey Creek, releasing over 1 million salmon fry into Gig Harbor bay annually.
This event is hosted by the Greater Gig Harbor Foundation.
What You Need to Know
This event takes place at the Harbor History Museum located right across the street from Donkey Creek Park in Gig harbor. The festival is held on a Saturday and Sunday 11 am- 4 pm mid to late November and is a free, all ages, community event.
Some of the activities at past festivals include: Kayak, Canoe, and Paddle Board Races, Booths, Chum Burgers, Refreshments, “Paint Your Own Salmon” t-shirts, storytelling in the Big Blue Salmon Tent, “Salmon Maze”, educational talks and touch tanks. Harbor Wildwatch is a sea life education organization that will be running many of the activities.
To participate in the salmon painting/printing, you can bring your own blank t-shirt or tote bag and use a real chum salmon to make a salmon print design.
In recent years you can buy fresh salmon from [The Harbor Fish Company](https://www.facebook.com/harborfishcompany?__tn__=-]K*F), just one of the vendors at the festival. They sell smoked salmon on Sunday from 11-4 or until they sell out. This is a great example of the sustainable, high quality vendors you will find at the festival. Their products are fisherman-direct, meaning they catch all the salmon themselves, and partner with a local family business on Whidbey Island to process and smoke the hand-selected salmon. They use sustainable and traceable fishing methods with the goal to provide environmental stewardship concerning wild salmon. You can also feel good knowing that a portion of the salmon sales goes to support the Wild Salmon Center.