Leavenworth, Washington & Festival of Christmas Lights

Well Saturday I went to the small touristy town of Leavenworth, Washington. It is over the mountains in Eastern Wa. I went with a tour group---I will never do that again. Too many people for me. I am not a people person on that scale. Since it was the Festival of the Christmas Lights of course there were at least a bajillion people roaming around seemingly loving to stand in long lines to be jostled by more people. I will slow down--I think I am cranky. LOL

First picture is some of the crowd during the day
Second pic is of Ron the leader of the parade with his star and bell The last 3 pics are of the town all lit up. They also have a park across from the shops which has a gazebo and huge trees and they all lit up---on the count of 1..2..3..Boom. Magical!!

The first route across Stevens Pass was built by the Great Northern Railway in 1892. The townsite was across the Wenatchee River from Icicle and was named Leavenworth the same year the rail construction began. Captain Charles Leavenworth, president of the Okanogan Investment Company, purchased the land in the present-day downtown and laid the streets parallel to the new railroad tracks.

The railroad construction was completed during the winter of 1893. Lafayette Lamb and his brother, Chauncery Lamb arrived in 1903 from Iowa to build the second largest sawmill in Washington state.

Leavenworth was officially incorporated on September 5, 1906. A small timber community, it became the headquarters of the Great North Railroad in the early 1900s. The railroad relocated to Wenatchee in the 1920s, greatly affecting Leavenworth's economy.

The city struggled until 1962, when the Project LIFE (Leavenworth Improvement For Everyone) Committee was formed to transform the city into a mock Bavarian village to revitalize its economy. In this same vein, Leavenworth is home to the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum, which opened in 1995 and contains more than 5,000 nutcrackers dating from prehistoric to modern. Leavenworth's annual Oktoberfest celebration is claimed to be one of the most attended in the world outside Munich, Germany. Leavenworth's transformation into a theme town was inspired, and assisted, by Solvang, California. Later the Washington town of Winthrop followed Leavenworth's example and adopted a town theme. Winthrop has a western theme.

My camera is in the shop again and the camera I used was not my baby. I have some pictures of the beautiful sights across the mts. Later!