Snoqualmie Railroad Days fans nearly had to do without the signature joy of grabbing prizes from antenna balls, dropped from the sky by a hovering helicopter.

With just over a week before the Railroad Days Grand Parade, an anonymous pilot stepped forward to rescue the long standing Valley tradition.

A community-valued event, the helicopter ball drop hasn’t skipped a Railroad Days parade since its inception in the early 1960s, said longtime Snoqualmie resident Ed Wentz.