2008 Sacramento Salmon Festival

Note: random picture of the giant salmon playground equipment at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, from the internets.

The lack of salmon represented the stark reality of this year's Salmon Festival. We arrived at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery at 3:45 PM on Sunday at closing time and talked briefly with a member of the American River Natural History Association (ARNHA). Their newsletter contains an article on the plight of the salmon, written at the beginning of the summer, which discusses the hardships salmon have faced in recent human history (since ~1850). Gold miners most likely killed off runs of salmon with deposits of mud into the river. More recently, dams have restricted the ability of salmon to move upstream (from 160 miles to 23 miles on the American River today).

We also had the misfortune of purchasing burnt caramel kettle corn, filled with a high percentage of unpopped kernels.

Despite the unsatisfactory kettle corn and the lack of salmon in the American, we both enjoyed the atmosphere of the event and the many booths. Arriving late meant we didn't have to pay the $9 parking fee (at the expense of missing many booths).