Thank you for affording me the opportunity to thank the many

people who have so graciously given of their blood, sweat and tears to makes

this year’s Snoqualmie Railroad Days Festival happen. (And oh yes, did I

mention money? That, too!) I cannot express enough times or in too

many ways the extraordinarily positive response the festival has received

this year from sponsors, Valley merchants and the community as a whole. I

am so grateful to all of them for the donations of time and energy (and

again, money!) that have come in to make this year’s festival possible.

A very, very special “thank you” goes out to the city of Snoqualmie,

the Valley Record, AT&T Communications, Mountain Transport,

Safari’s Pizza, the Northwest Railway Museum and the Pepsi Bottling Group.

Before joining the festival committee last year and taking on my

current role this year, I admit I had no realistic notion of just how much work

or how many people were necessary to make a community festival of this

kind happen. I was one of those people that just showed up on festival day

and enjoyed the end result of other people’s hard work. Don’t get me wrong, I

was grateful for what they’d done, I just had no idea what it took to put on

a production of this size. My genuine appreciation to all those who’ve

come before me and my committee in the past 61 years to put on this

festival. Bravo to you for paving the way!

As it is the eve before the festival that I write this, my committee and I

are excited but already exhausted. We’re thankful for the real

possibility of beautiful weather and hopeful that we’ll all find enough reserve

energy to make it through the weekend! My sincerest and most heartfelt thanks

to all those on the RR Days Festival team, including the organizers of the

Ridge to Rails run/walk and the Tour de Peaks bike ride. The past nine and

a half months of effort are going to pay off, and “kudos” to all of you for

hanging in there and making it happen!

In closing, I just want to say to all the residents and merchants in

the Valley, thank you for being there when we asked for help and donations.

I hope you will all consider getting more involved with the festival

(in whatever way possible) as time, finances and “life” will allow. I

think the greater mix and number of people we have in the organizing process,

the better our festivals can and will be.

Lisa S. Schaffer

President, Snoqualmie Valley Event,

Organizers of Snoqualmie Railroad Days