At the 37th Nisqually Watershed Festival, the line of willing volunteers for a very large snake was one of the day’s most memorable attractions. Reptile presenter Scott Petersen lifted a yellow-and-white albino python at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, and volunteers lined up to support the animal as families watched.
Rita Raccoon’s field note: when the guest list includes a python, “hands-on” becomes a surprisingly literal phrase.
The Sept. 26 gathering drew an estimated 1,585 visitors, according to refuge visitor-services manager Julia Pinnix. Organizers hired four school buses to bring visitors from the Hawks Prairie Park and Ride, while the refuge amphitheater filled with people eager to see salmon and dogfish-shark dissections.
The festival’s itinerary kept several kinds of curiosity busy. Children decorated paper windsocks and bird-beak masks, climbed into an inflatable salmon tent for traditional stories, and tried an obstacle course. Guests could also meet animals with the Reptile Man and falconer John, browse wildlife exhibits, pick up books from the Timberland Library bookmobile, and hear Olympia band Vendredi’s Bag.
The annual festival is organized by a committee that includes the Nisqually Indian Tribe, Tacoma Power, the Nisqually River Council and River Foundation, the Nisqually River Education Project, the Nisqually Reach Nature Center, Friends of Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and the refuge. This year’s student poster theme was birds of the watershed.
It took at least 70 volunteers to run the day, Pinnix said. That is a sizeable crew for a community event—and, apparently, enough people to form an orderly support team when an albino python makes a main-stage appearance.
The 38th Nisqually Watershed Festival is scheduled for Sept. 25, 2027. The current event page is maintained by the Nisqually River Council, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s report documenting this year’s attendance and activities.
Sources: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s festival recap; Nisqually River Council’s official festival page and program.
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