Exploring Washington State

Amanda Valdez is the special events coordinator for the City of Auburn's Parks, Arts and Recreation department. She grew up in Girl Scouts, found her calling running events during a year of AmeriCorps service, and spent about ten years running the Auburn Farmers Market before moving to the city's larger events.

This episode works in any month, because Amanda walks through Auburn's whole year. In spring, Peter Cottontrail hides laminated paper bunnies in parks across town over Easter weekend, and the Clean Sweep around Earth Day puts hundreds of volunteers to work, mostly pulling blackberries. Petpalooza fills Game Farm Park the Saturday before Memorial Day weekend with more than 150 pet vendors and a dog trot. Kids Day at Les Gove Park marks the end of the school year and is free, and the 4th of July festival brings two stages, a car show and a wristband for the rides. August has an almost 5K fun run that doubles as a poker run, so you do not have to be fast to win.

The fall belongs to the Veterans Parade, now in its 61st year: more than 120 units every year, about 4,000 participants, and more than 160 entries already for 2026. Amanda's advice: "bring a flag and bring some tissues." December brings the Lighted Santa Parade, where one Auburn kid, age 5 to 9, is picked to light the tree at City Hall, and a gingerbread contest that is not about graham cracker houses anymore.

Scott also asks her to play tour guide for a friend who has never been to Auburn. Her Saturday starts with laps around Les Gove Park and a photo with the Crow With Fries, then coffee, chocolates and ice cream for breakfast at Gosanko Chocolate, more parks, and an evening show from the city's Bravo performing arts series while the Auburn Avenue Theater is rebuilt.

Also: free parking for the parades, Mando's Disc Golf Pro Shop, Aura Song Gifts, Z Street Coffee Roasters, lunch at Oddfellas, Pie Style Bakery across from City Hall, and pie, apple, no question.

A friendly fact check: Amanda remembers the Crow With Fries as "over 40 feet tall." It is actually 12 feet tall and 18 feet long, which is still plenty of crow.

Auburn dates to know

Veterans Parade and Observance (61st): Sat Nov 7, 2026, 11 AM, Main Street. Park free at the Transit Center garage.
Lighted Santa Parade and Tree Lighting: Sat Dec 5, 2026, 4:30 PM, East Main Street to City Hall. Free.
Gingerbread contest: early December, Auburn Community and Event Center. Free, public voting.
Every year: Peter Cottontrail (Easter weekend), Clean Sweep (around Earth Day), Petpalooza (Saturday before Memorial Day weekend, Game Farm Park), Kids Day (end of the school year, Les Gove Park), 4th of July festival (Les Gove Park), the almost 5K poker run (August), and the Auburn Farmers Market (Sundays, June through September, Les Gove Park).

Chapters

00:00 The giant crow (cold open)
00:20 Welcome Amanda Valdez, City of Auburn
01:09 From Girl Scouts and AmeriCorps to running Auburn's events
03:30 The Girl Scout cookie question
04:23 The Auburn Farmers Market at Les Gove Park
06:51 Farmers markets as a start for small food businesses
08:48 The Veterans Parade: 61 years, 4,000 participants
14:16 The Lighted Santa Parade and the kid who lights the tree
16:25 Downtown under construction: the theater, the Postmark Center, Party on the Plaza
17:51 Is parking in Auburn a problem?
19:43 Spring: Peter Cottontrail and 40 plus parks
21:48 Clean Sweep and the blackberry war
23:08 Petpalooza
24:39 Kids Day, free at Les Gove Park
26:16 The 4th of July
27:15 August: the almost 5K poker run
28:53 Winter: the gingerbread contest
30:18 Fall programs, the golf course and the community center
31:46 Why she loves the Auburn Library
33:04 Tour guide: a Saturday in Auburn
36:56 When the Auburn Avenue Theater comes back
39:00 Scott's family connection to Auburn

Links

Crow With Fries: auburnwa.gov/crowwithfries
Aura Song Gifts: aurasonggifts.com
Things to do in Auburn: explorewashingtonstate.com/auburn

Brian Alley spent years on the road with Never Come Down, a Portland band that played bluegrass instruments and anything from Gillian Welch to Ween. They played Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco and a hostel stage in Reykjavik during Iceland Airwaves. Then Brian settled in the Methow Valley, offered to help a small festival called Cidergrass with its booking, and by spring realized he was running the whole thing. He was voluntold.

That festival is now the Winthrop Folk N Roots Fest, back at the Winthrop Barn on October 23 and 24, 2026, with Max Gomez headlining. It is small on purpose: one stage, seven acts, and a full house for every artist.

Brian is blunt about the money. Every musician leaves with at least $300 for each day they play, with food and lodging covered, and even that is only about $60,000 a year for a band on the road 200 days. Tickets have a set price, plus pay what you can passes and patron passes for people who want to cover a neighbor, and there is no VIP tier. As Brian puts it, "this is a community thing."

We also get into the late night jams at the artist hang, "emo grass" and the Northwest sound, why small venues can lose money on a full night, what a small town asks of a newcomer, and Mountain Music Fund, the nonprofit he started so nobody misses music camp because they cannot afford it.

Also: Blue Star coffee in Twisp, the veggie sandwich at the Mazama Store, and pie, no question.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome, and the festival coming up
02:24 From touring band to festival organizer
05:05 Voluntold
05:25 The coolest stage he ever played: Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
07:46 A hostel show in Reykjavik during Iceland Airwaves
11:03 What a Portland sound means, and emo grass
14:51 Hard choices at a big festival, and finding Chuck Prophet
17:10 Why one stage is the right size for now
18:22 The late night jams at the artist hang
19:29 What a free festival makes possible
21:27 Booking a festival from the far end of the road
26:07 Folk and roots is a big umbrella
29:29 How many people fit in the Winthrop Barn
30:42 Free workshops, showcases and jams around town
33:08 Is a small town welcoming to a new face?
36:53 This year's lineup, headlined by Max Gomez
40:49 Pay what you can, and patron passes
43:44 Why small venues lose money on full nights
48:55 $300 a day, and why that is still not getting rich
51:12 The crew: four board members and 20 to 30 volunteers
54:41 What a festival does for a town in shoulder season
58:04 Why you should come: Sisters Folk Fest meets Wintergrass
01:00:41 Where the outdoors starts at the back door
01:02:33 Coffee in the Methow Valley
01:06:03 Lunch at the Mazama Store
01:09:00 Cake or pie
01:14:18 Mountain Music Fund and the camp he wants to build
01:17:59 Can you bring a 140 pound dog to a festival?

Winthrop Folk N Roots Fest

October 23 and 24, 2026 at the Winthrop Barn, 51 State Route 20, Winthrop. Friday 5pm to 11pm, Saturday 11am to 11pm. Weekend pass $120, day passes $60 and $70, patron pass $175, and a limited number of pay what you can passes. The Saturday daytime workshops, showcases and jams around town are free.
Lineup: Max Gomez, Jenner Fox, Skillethead, Golden Shoals, Shane Brown, Bordergrass Alliance and Omak Creek.

Links

Winthrop Folk N Roots Fest: www.folknroots.com
Tickets: zeffy.com/winthrop-folk-n-roots-fest-2026
Want to help Mountain Music Fund? [email protected]
Blue Star Coffee Roasters, Twisp: bluestarcoffeeroasters.com
The Mazama Store: www.themazamastore.com
Things to do in Winthrop: explorewashingtonstate.com/winthrop

John Shephard has spent three decades photographing Washington State on Fujichrome Velvia 50, using two cameras nobody makes anymore. One of them has a lens mounted on a rotating cylinder that takes two minutes and twenty seconds to complete a single exposure.

It started at five in the morning in a Skagit Valley tulip field in 1999, when he met an Australian photographer named Ken Duncan and ended up spending four years as his assistant, two of them living in Australia.

Now John has made his own book. Washington Wide is a panoramic portrait of the entire state, shot on film, drum scanned on a 25 year old Heidelberg Tango, with a foreword by Randy Lewis. It releases this fall.

We talk about why he only buys 20 rolls of film a year, which corners of Washington he still wants to shoot, and what happens to an art form when the film, the cameras, and the people who can repair them are all quietly disappearing.

Also: the Salmo-Priest Wilderness, why summer is his least favorite season, and a firm vote for huckleberry pie.

Chapters

00:00 Meeting Ken Duncan in a tulip field
11:59 Two cameras, two ways of seeing
16:34 What film cannot do that your eye can
23:35 Washington before and after Instagram
41:22 Going digital
46:38 Deciding to make the book himself
01:11:08 Washington Wide, out this fall
01:22:00 Wrapping up

Links

John Shephard Photography: https://johnshephard.com
Washington Wide, preorder: https://washingtonwide.com

Kate Miller is the executive director of the Okanogan Land Trust, a nonprofit with two staff and an intern that protects working farms and ranches, wildlife habitat and water resources across Okanogan and western Ferry counties. Scott recorded this in their office in the town of Okanogan, in the county of Okanogan, a naming situation he admits gets him every time.

Kate did not plan this career. She was born in Chapel Hill, grew up overseas while her father worked in global public health, went to Reed College, and finished a PhD in cultural anthropology in California. There was a postdoc in Vienna and teaching at Western Oregon University. Then COVID rearranged everything, a friend pointed her toward local environmental nonprofits, and she has now run this one for over five years. Her husband teaches at Tonasket Elementary.

Most of this conversation is about one property.

Bonaparte Meadows is 745 acres in the Okanogan Highlands, below Bonaparte Mountain near Bonaparte Lake, and at its centre sits roughly 265 acres of calcareous fen. Kate explains the distinction most of us never learn. A bog catches and holds rainwater, which is what makes bogs acidic. A fen is fed by groundwater welling up through the site. At Bonaparte that water filters through limestone, which makes it a calcareous fen, one of the rarest wetland types in the United States and the largest peat wetland in Okanogan County. Its deep peat soils hold water, store carbon, and feed cold clean flows into the Okanogan River watershed.

Parts of it had been mined for peat. The family that owned it wanted to sell rather than place an easement, which meant the only way to protect it was to buy it outright.

So a two person organisation in one of Washington's least populated and lowest income counties set out to raise 1.5 million dollars. Kate walks through how that actually works: state Recreation and Conservation Office grants that require a local match, the Ponderosa Dinner they hold every summer, the end of year mail campaign, and the part that surprised her most, which was how hard and how fast her own community gave.

On August 12, 2026, five days after this conversation was recorded, Okanogan Land Trust announced that the For the Fen campaign had reached its 1.5 million dollar goal. Project partners include Trout Unlimited, the Okanogan Conservation District, North Central Washington Audubon Society, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and Sparrow Song Consulting. Restoration planning comes next.

You can learn more about Bonaparte Meadows and its extraordinary capacity to sequester carbon, store water and provide habitat for wildlife and plant life on the Okanogan Land Trust campaign page. Giving now supports the stewardship fund for the property.

Also covered: what a conservation easement actually restricts and what it leaves alone, why parcels under about 80 acres rarely qualify, how many years one easement takes, the 36 easements the trust now holds, and the worthy projects it has to turn down because two people can only do so much.

Plus a divemaster certification in Egypt, and a firm ruling on cake.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome, and an office in Okanogan, in Okanogan County

00:50 Chapel Hill, then overseas, then Reed, then a PhD in anthropology

06:02 What a land trust is, and what an easement does

08:46 Getting paid for an easement, or donating one for the tax benefit

12:31 How big a parcel has to be

13:11 So how long does all this take (watch her face)

17:24 Working with landowners

21:43 The water rises up through limestone, and that changes everything

30:37 Putting the water back

33:27 How you actually raise the money

34:57 The Ponderosa Dinner

40:54 What surprised her about her own community

44:46 Why this place, and who wanted it protected

46:34 What is next for the trust

49:32 Thirty six easements and counting

51:02 The projects they have to say no to

58:03 Where Kate eats

01:01:11 Getting divemaster certified in Egypt

01:06:14 Exploring Okanogan County

01:12:08 Protecting the trails around Wenatchee

Kate's local picks

Smallwoods, a little south of Okanogan toward Malott, for the porch, the smoked meats and the milkshake. Bonaparte Lake Resort, which is proud of its dinners and runs a smoked prime rib on Saturdays, with a reservation strongly advised in high season. She also named Crafted, Freebird, Tugboats and Scott Brothers.

Links

Okanogan Land Trust: okanoganlandtrust.org

Bonaparte Meadows and the For the Fen campaign: okanoganlandtrust.org/protect-bonaparte-meadows-3

Exploring Washington State Podcast: explorewashingtonstate.com/podcast-2/

Kelsey Lang looks after the museums at Fort Flagler and Fort Worden, and she lives at one of them.

She grew up in central Florida, an hour north of Orlando. Her husband went looking for the rainiest place in the country that also had mountains, Washington came up, and after years of applying they made the move during COVID with a dog who could not fly and a U Haul driven by a hired stranger. Her degree is in marine science with minors in biology and geology, which is not the resume you expect from someone running two history museums.

The best story in this episode is a ceiling beam. The Fort Flagler museum sits in the old quartermaster storehouse, and across one beam there is a scatter of greasy fingerprints at different heights. A volunteer anthropologist worked out the likely explanation: bored soldiers, stationed at the end of an island with no bridge and no ferry, greasing their fingertips to see who could jump the highest. Nobody has ever cleaned it off.

She also points out something most visitors trip over without noticing. The concrete gun batteries have been aging for a century, rain pulls calcium carbonate out of the cracks, and it is recalcifying inside as stalactites, stalagmites and flowstones. There are caves forming inside the fortifications.

Also covered: how she rebuilt both museums around human stories instead of glass cases, the scavenger hunt she designed by following her eight year old around and writing down everything at that eye level, the Junior Ranger program and why adults keep asking for their own version, and the interactive rooms at the Commanding Officer's Quarters where you can write in the commander's log, look over the parade grounds through vintage binoculars, and put on a fake mustache for a photo. Plus a footstool whose legs are literal deer legs, hooves attached, and a rug made from used silk underwear.

Her advice, and it is the line worth keeping: the next time you drive past a state park sign, turn down the road. Just do it.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome back, and a host who admits he is rusty

00:52 Interpretive specialist, or park ranger

01:43 Central Florida to the Olympic Peninsula

05:00 Moving during COVID, with a dog and a U Haul

06:02 The museums Kelsey actually oversees

08:24 Living in ranger housing at Fort Flagler

09:47 Marine science to museum curation

11:49 Rebuilding the Fort Flagler museum

13:00 A scavenger hunt designed by an eight year old

15:15 How the Junior Ranger program works

20:29 Why Washington's parks are underappreciated

25:41 Favorite season at each fort

27:25 The greasy fingerprints on the storehouse beam

30:55 Cave formations growing inside the batteries

32:55 Camping at Fort Flagler, and the ranger pick

35:59 Coffee and lunch in Port Townsend

38:35 Inside the Commanding Officer's Quarters

43:34 The commander's log and the selfie station

50:17 Deer leg footstool, silk underwear rug

52:50 What still needs fixing, and the long term plan

01:01:41 Summer events at the parks

01:05:06 A recent visit to Peshastin Pinnacles

KELSEY'S PORT TOWNSEND PICKS

Coffee: Conduit Cafe, 1012 Lawrence St, Uptown. She orders an iced latte.

Lunch: Tommyknocker's Cornish Pasty, 711 Water St. She goes for the mac and cheese.

Lunch: The Old Whiskey Mill, 825 Water St.

Camping: Fort Flagler site 37, back corner of the upper forested loop, the furthest spacing from your neighbors.

Cake or pie: cake. Specifically spice cake.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Fort Flagler Museum is open daily 11am to 4pm through August, then Wednesday through Sunday in September and October. Free, donations welcome, Discover Pass required to park.

The Commanding Officer's Quarters Museum at Fort Worden is open Friday through Tuesday, 11am to 4pm, April through October. It is closed Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The Rothschild House in Port Townsend is open Thursday through Saturday, 11am to 4pm, April through September.

The Fort Flagler historic hospital tour is cancelled through August 30 for construction work.

A Level 3 burn ban is in effect statewide through October 30. No charcoal or wood fires. Gas and propane stoves are fine.

The Junior Ranger booklet can be downloaded from parks.wa.gov, and completed pages can be mailed in to earn the badge.

A note on two numbers you will hear in this episode: Washington State Parks recorded more than 40 million visits in 2025, not the 36 million quoted from the sign, and Fort Flagler has 116 campsites rather than the 150 plus estimated in the conversation.

Remember me? After six months off, the Exploring Washington State podcast is back, and we're kicking things off with a caffeinated twist. Scott dragged his buddy Brooks Smothers from RV Out West to four very different coffee shops in downtown Everett to drink too much coffee, talk even more, and finally figure out what a "one and one" actually is. Turns out you can drink coffee your whole life and still learn something at the first shop.

From cortados served in little glass juice cups to the surprising backstory of the AeroPress, plus Everett's arts scene, its food, and the eternal question of why every coffee shop closes at 3, it's a loose and friendly tour of a city that takes its coffee seriously. Grab a cup and settle in.

During peak summer season, Lake Chelan State Park can host nearly a thousand campers every night. Behind the scenes, that responsibility falls on one park manager.

In this episode of the Exploring Washington State Podcast, I sit down with Brian Frahm, the park manager at Lake Chelan State Park, to talk about what it actually takes to operate one of Washington’s busiest state parks. Brian oversees daily operations, staff, safety, and law enforcement across the entire park — responsibilities most visitors never see.

We talk about the reality of seasonal staffing, what happens when the park reaches capacity, wildlife encounters, emergency incidents, and how quickly the quiet of spring turns into full-blown summer chaos. Brian also shares what it’s like to raise a family in a state park and why the slower shoulder seasons are when Lake Chelan really shows its character.

This conversation offers a behind-the-scenes look at the people and systems that make Washington’s state parks work — and why they deserve more appreciation than they often get.

If you love spending time outdoors in Washington, this episode will give you a new perspective the next time you pull into a full campground.

Spokane Built the Dodgers Dynasty

Show Notes:

Author and researcher Eric Vickrey returns to the Exploring Washington State Podcast with a story most baseball fans have never heard — how Spokane helped build the future Dodgers dynasty.

In his new book, Before They Wore Dodger Blue, Eric uncovers the overlooked role the Inland Northwest played in shaping the players, culture, and leadership that would later define one of the most successful eras in Major League Baseball. From the seismic 1968 MLB Draft to the 1970 Spokane Indians, this episode connects the dots between a small Northwest city and a national baseball powerhouse.

We dig into:

• Why the 1968 draft was a turning point for the Dodgers
• How Spokane became a developmental forge for future MLB stars
• The early version of Tommy Lasorda—before the legend
• Player stories that reveal who these athletes were before the spotlight
• What modern baseball can learn from this forgotten era
• Why this Washington chapter deserves recognition

Whether you’re a baseball die-hard, a Washington history fan, or simply love a great origin story, this is an episode that reframes what you think you know about the Dodgers — and shines a light on Spokane’s rightful place in baseball history.

Guest: Eric Vickrey

Book: Before They Wore Dodger Blue

Website: ericvickrey.com

Ever wondered what really happens behind the scenes at one of Washington’s most visited state parks? In this episode, Park Ranger Kevin Leese shares what he sees every day at Wallace Falls that most visitors completely overlook.

From seasonal crowd patterns and trail management to the unexpected challenges that come with keeping a high-traffic park running smoothly, Kevin sheds light on the work that keeps Wallace Falls accessible year-round. You’ll also hear a ranger’s perspective on lesser-known areas, changing trail conditions, and what makes this park such a standout in the Cascade foothills.

Whether you’ve hiked Wallace Falls dozens of times or it’s still on your list, this conversation gives you a deeper appreciation for the place and the people who care for it.

What happens when you shine a spotlight on the wonderfully odd, the creatively brave, and the musicians who refuse to fit the mold?

In this episode of the Exploring Washington State Podcast, we sit down with founder Rachel Crick and photographer Chris Pugh from As Many Weirdos As Possible — a project that celebrates the artists who make the Northwest music scene vibrant, unpredictable, and unapologetically unique.

We talk about the beauty of standing out, what “weird” really means in a world obsessed with trends, and how individuality fuels authentic art. This isn’t about shock value — it’s about honesty, expression, and the people who remind us that Washington’s creative heartbeat has always been a little unconventional.

Remember, there’s always more to explore — especially in the wonderfully weird corners of our music scene.