In the next few weeks are two big events that signal Spring at Lake Chelan.  These aren’t the type of events you will hear advertised to attract visitors to come to town.  They are all about local flavor.  In their own way, they’re both parades.

The events are the St Patrick’s Day Top Dog Parade on Saturday the 20th and Metals Recycling Days on March 27th and April 3rd.  I’ll explain how metals recycling is a parade in a minute!

That’s a picture from last year.  Click on it to see more at the Chelan Historic Downtown Association web site.

Basically this parade is everybody, and their dog, getting together to walk though the couple blocks of downtown Chelan on the Saturday closest to St Patrick’s day each year.  Well, not everybody walks through town, a lot of folks line the streets and cheer the others on.  It is a big, silly social event that gets people gathering at 11:00 and home not very late for lunch.  But, it gets everybody out and saying hello after the winter months and is a great way to usher in Spring!

Metals recycling day is a similar Spring event!  It is also a parade, with folks lined up to drop off old metal stuff.  You wouldn’t believe what people bring in!  Since there’s usually a line, you get to wander and chat with other folks and comment on all the stuff everybody else brought while telling any stories that fit about your junk.

While neither of these events would qualify as extreme sports, which I will chat about later, these are great family fun in a little town where, kinda like Cheers, nearly everybody knows your name!  This is some of the local color of a small town where most communication happens as you see people day to day.  Real estate works the same way at Lake Chelan.  If you want to really know what is happening, get somebody on your side who is immersed in the local scene.  Whether it is Chelan or Tacoma, the folks who are involved in life are your best guides to a new area.