The sights we saw along Railroad Avenue!

Snoqualmie Railroad Days was so much fun this year, we can’t wait to give you a sneak preview of Railroad Days 2010.

August 2009 was the first time the Northwest Railway Museum hosted Snoqualmie’s annual festival. Thanks to all who helped! The Field of Fun transformed the Snoqualmie Depot grounds, where hundreds of children bounced themselves silly in inflatables, raced bananas in North Bend Theatre’s Banana Boogie, and laughed and sang along with Nancy Stewart, Eric Ode, and Clay Martin’s Puppet Theater. 877 runners completed 1k, 5k and 10k courses in the Snoqualmie Fun Run. View results and a gallery of photos. 65 vendors sold paintings, crafts, insulated glass, you name it. 44 Grand Parade entrants marched, danced, rode and unicycled through Snoqualmie. Congratulations, winners! View parade and festival photos. The police department estimates 3,500 festival-goers, which nearly quadrupled downtown Snoqualmie’s population for a day!

Snoqualmie Valley Railroad trains sold out. Fair-goers also rode the rails aboard a railway motorcar. The Museum demonstrated a tie spacer, which is a diesel-powered machine for aligning railroad ties; a Pettibone Speedswing, which is a small crane that operates on roads and railroad tracks; and a winded museum director showing tamping techniques and rail spiking. Don’t know what those are? Well, that’s what the demo’s are for! We’ll see you next year, when the Museum will feature additional demonstrations and activities throughout 3 festival days.

That’s right, we’re back to a full-sized festival in 2010, beginning Friday, Aug. 20, 2010. You can look forward to the Legends Car Club Classic Car Show on Sunday, Aug. 22. RunSnoqualmie will host the Fun Run Saturday, Aug. 21, and the Northwest Railway Museum will dedicate its new Train Shed exhibit building. Should be about triple the fun!