Dungeness River Bridge centennial brings visitors, salmon upstream SIDESHOW

Published 10:31 pm Tuesday, September 29, 2015

No trestle, no problem for organizers of the 16th Dungeness River Festival.

Powell Jones, Dungeness River Audubon Center executive director, said there was a “huge turnout” on Sept. 25-26, and reconstruction of the trestle on the Dungeness River Railroad Bridge was a “non-issue” when it came to visitors. Typically, many elementary students bike to the event on Friday, but school leaders opted to bus them in, Jones said.

Spirits were high with Smokey Bear giving high-fives, music flowing through the Railroad Bridge Park, driftwood artists filling the River Center on Sept. 26-27, and educational programs on every corner with emphasis centered around the 100th anniversary of the construction of the Dungeness River Railroad Bridge.

On Saturday afternoon, local leaders with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, City of Sequim, Peninsula Trails Coalition, Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society and River Center spoke about the bridge and the park’s impact. Afterward, Clare Manis-Hatler, a board member with the Dungeness River Audubon Center, unveiled the new plaque designating it on the National Register of Historic Places. While it’s been on the registry since July 1982, organizers felt a plaque was appropriate for the 100th anniversary of the bridge.

Since Railroad Bridge Park was created, Manis-Hatler said she looks at it as a success story because prior it was a place of mischief.

“Now we’re teaching kids of all ages to love and respect it,” she said. “It’s an ongoing success.”

Several sources said on Saturday the full bridge with a new surface is slated to reopen tentatively in December.

On average, the bridge hosts about 120,000 crossings a year, Jones said.

For more information about the bridge, River Center and River Festival, visit http://dungenessrivercenter.org or call the center at 681-4076.