Growing fast, but trying not to change

By TRACY JOHNSON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Antique steam engines and rusted railroad cars are the centerpiece of Snoqualmie, proud remnants of the logging town's past.

The city's mayor, a toolmaker by trade, lovingly rebuilds Harley-Davidson motorcycles as a hobby. He introduces himself by his nickname, Fuzzy, when he knocks on doors to welcome newcomers.

Motorists stop, crosswalk or not, to wave pedestrians across the highway. Shopkeepers greet customers by name.

Snoqualmie has all the charms of a quiet town in the sticks. In almost a century tucked at the base of the Cascades, it has stubbornly resisted change.

But bigger things are on the horizon -- literally.

On a ridge overlooking the city's historic downtown, a colossal maze of houses and businesses is rising.

It will likely triple the tiny town's population in just five years.

The Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Co., developer of the 1,343-acre Snoqualmie Ridge village, has footed the bill on major town improvements: the $25 million, four-lane Snoqualmie Parkway reaching to Interstate 90; a $16 million waste-water treatment plant; a $2.5 million police station.

But many locals fear the Ridge will bloom into the kind of suburbia they came to the Snoqualmie Valley to escape. Others worry it will suck the life from friendly downtown businesses that have weathered many years. And many believe it will sever the town into two communities that want nothing to do with each other.

"I think it'll be two different towns," says Robin Robinson, a bartender at Smokey Joe's tavern on King Street.

Friendly neighbors stop to help when someone's car breaks down, she says, and most parents become acquainted with the teachers at Snoqualmie Elementary School long before their children are in their classes.

Throughout "the whole valley, everybody just knows everyone -- or they used to," she says, dismally shaking her head. "We don't need it all changed. It's just fine the way it is."

Mayor Randy "Fuzzy" Fletcher says the town needed some growth to remain vital, but he has a few concerns himself. He fought to keep the planned new city hall downtown, rather than building it atop the annexed ridge, and he often encourages new residents to come downtown to shop and meet people.

"The city is trying very, very hard to keep things integrated," says Fletcher, whose curly hair earned him the nickname Fuzzy in the sixth grade. "It's hard to say what the effects of growth in this area will have on downtown."

Downtown is where longtime residents stroll along the sidewalk of Railroad Avenue and kids furiously pedal their two-wheelers. Baskets of brilliant flowers hang from awnings, sprucing up weary buildings that are shedding their paint.

Mount Si peers down at the town, nowadays home to almost 2,000 people and an array of small businesses: a barber shop, a grocery, a travel agency, a few antique stores and other shops.

Inside Snoqualmie Falls Candy Factory, workers stretch brittle and scoop 30 flavors of ice cream. The '50s-style shop, with its pink hues and soda-fountain stools, is a favorite for the young and old.

"The kids throw down their bikes on the street, come in and buy a few gummy bears," says Wes Sorstokke, who owns the shop with his wife, Sharon.

Bowling and bingo are the town's night life.

A few parks stretch along the Snoqualmie River, alive with children on summer break. A little girl practices unicycling on the shady, clover-filled expanse of grass at Sandy Cove Park.

"The primary reason people move out here is the pace is a little bit slower," Sorstokke explains.

Despite its size and outlying location, Snoqualmie is far from a secret. The Snoqualmie River's magnificent, 268-foot plummet over Snoqualmie Falls draws an estimated 1.5 million tourists from all over the world each year.

It's second only to Mount Rainier National Park as the state's most visited scenic site.