Browns Point Salmon Bake

Submitted by Brownspoint on July 20, 2010 - 6:35pm
Event Date: 
August 7, 2010 - 9:00am - 5:00pm

Browns Point Salmon Bake Promises a Northwest Feast

The Browns Point Salmon Bake will celebrate its 64th anniversary this summer the traditional way: with salmon baked on cedar spits on the shores of Commencement Bay.

The Browns Point Salmon Bake will take place from noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 7 and Sunday, Aug. 8 at the Browns Point Improvement Club (BPIC) in northeast Tacoma. Organizers expect to feed salmon dinners to 3,500 people this year.

The event is free and features live music, entertainment, a beer garden and activities for children. Salmon dinners cost $18 for adults, $10 for children and $15 for seniors. Dinner includes corn on the cob, green salad, a roll and beverage, and of course, salmon, which – unique to Browns Point – is baked on cedar spits over fire pits of green alder wood. Dessert, chowder, hamburgers and shakes will also be available.

Families can tour the fully restored Lighthouse Cottage and visit a hands-on boathouse maritime museum with a replica Coast Guard surf boat and a working 19th-century fog bell. A weeks’ vacation stay in the Lighthouse Cottage is a top prize for the Bake raffle. There are more than 40 prizes to win including a $1,000 cash prize, donated by the Browns Point Improvement Club. Raffle tickets can be purchased at the Bake.

The Browns Point Salmon Bake began in the early 1900s when Puyallup Native American Jerry Meeker hosted traditional-style clam and salmon bakes on the beach at the end of summer, just as he had with his tribal family prior to settlement of Browns Point by Europeans. It is the longest continually running salmon bake in the state, which started in 1946, and happens every other August.