Presented by the City of Tumwater and Olympia Tumwater Foundation
with cooperation from The Copper Wolf Tattoo Studio and Art Gallery
Save the Date | Saturday, September 30, 2023 | Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls
Celebrating Tumwater Falls as a sacred and historically-significant place in our community.
Join us for a day of celebrating the transformative effect of water as a place of healing and community. Grab a cup of coffee and take a stroll through the luminous park grounds, soaking in the fall color as an Olympia Symphony Ensemble plays, or bring the entire family – there are activities for all! Kids are invited to join a printmaking workshop, and have their faces painted. All ages are welcome to attend an educational talk by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife about the return of salmon or watch a stone carving demonstration. The event will also feature local artists, makers, food vendors, and a Stream Team scavenger hunt.
Constructed in 1962 by the Olympia Tumwater Foundation, the 15-acre Brewery Park along the Deschutes River attracts thousands to the city of Tumwater each year. Visitors come to gaze at the waterfalls, bask in the fall color, and experience the annual salmon return. The park, which was originally created to attract visitors on their way to the World’s Fair in Seattle, has a long history of being a gathering place, and a source of economy for the communities that have called it home.
Tumwater Falls is part of the Squaxin Island Tribes’ ancestral homeland. The falls and the nearby village were gathering places for trade, and a ceremonial sport for local indigenous people in the region. The Squaxin Island Tribe considers the falls historically sacred and has conducted water ceremonies at its shores for centuries.
The falls also mark the end of the Oregon Trail and the journey of the influential Bush and Simmons families, some of the first American settlers in what is now Washington. In subsequent years, the falls were harnessed to provide energy to flour, saw, and shingle mills, a door factory, a lumberyard, an electric company, and eventually, the Capital Brewing Company.