Skagit River Journal

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Noel V. Bourasaw, editor 810 Central Ave., Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284 Home of the Tarheel Stomp Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug
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Founders Days Sedro-Woolley
Next: Sept. 10-11, 2011

During the first Founders Day in July 1994, the late Stan Nelson, second to the right (Nelson Chevrolet across the street), was the reigning King Neptune of Seattle's Seafair Days. While the Sedro-Woolley Museum honored the Cook descendants, King Stan honored Sedro-Woolley residents (l. to r.) as Knight William Stendal, who was mayor at the time; and as ladies, Carolyn Freeman, one of the founders of the museum; and Paula Cook Budlong Cronin — great-granddaughter of Sedro/Bug founder Mortimer Cook. That first Founders Day was held during Loggerodeo after we tracked down Cook's relatives and visited them across the country. But the Museum chose to select a month and date separate from the busy Loggerodeo week. Thus the festival is scheduled annually on the second week of September.

Update for 2011: The 18th Sedro-Woolley Founders Days weekend events will be conducted on Sept. 10-11, 2011. This event is staged annually on the second weekend of September and the events generally repeat on both Saturday and Sunday as outlined below. The Lemley family and Guddall family are being honored this year..
See the schedule below for times and places of regular annual events. Most repeat but to check current times, see the Sedro-Woolley Museum home page

1994, The beginning A fire truck and a police car took them from Three Rivers Inn to the Sedro-Woolley Museum with sirens blaring on the Fourth of July, 1994. The Cook family returned to Sedro-Woolley, 94 years after the last member of Mortimer Cook's family moved, from his old town of Sedro by the river, to Rockford, Illinois. On Sept. 11, 2004, the family returns to town to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Founders Days. The event was moved permanently to the second weekend of September annually back in 1995.
A decade later, Paula Cook Budlong Cronin returned with her granddaughter to donate the wedding dress of Paula's grandmother, Nina Cook Budlong, to the museum. She brought her nine-year-old granddaughter with her to actually hand the dress over to the museum, where it will be housed in a special wooden case in the Mortimer Cook room, which was dedicated to the town founder back in 1994. Cook first appeared on the Skagit river in June 1884 and initially named his town, Bug. The town was renamed Sedro on Dec. 7, 1885, when Cook obtained a post office for his general store at the old wharf. His daughter, Nina, married Standish Budlong at the Cook home near the store on Oct. 30, 1895. They were both descendants of Mayflower passengers. These events below generally repeat annually for Founders Days:

Saturday events

8 to 11 a.m. Founders Day Breakfast at the Senior Center, 719 Pacific street, featuring biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, juice and coffee, for $5, a heck of a deal (2011)
10 a.m. 1914 Bank Robbery Lantern Slide show plays at the museum downtown on Murdock street, assembled from the slides of the bank robbery
Noon Reenactment of the Great Sedro-Woolley 1914 Bank Robbery. Performed by the Loco players. Event takes place in front of the museum. See our Journal website about the Oct. 17, 1914, robbery.
1-4 p.m. Museum Open House, honoring the descendents of the honored family.

Sunday events

9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Classic Car Show at Riverfront Park, the site of Mortimer's original village on the north shore of the Skagit river. (2009: Wolfman Jack, the timeless radio DJ who broadcast from a pirate radio station back in the 1960s and '70s and became famous nationwide, will oversee this car show, which gets bigger and better every year, expecting 300+ classic cars on Sept. 13)
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Founders Day Picnic, featuring hot dogs, potato chips, cookies and pop for only $1.50.
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Arts- In-The-Park, free to the kids. Sponsored by North Cascade Health Council (A United Way Agency), SKADU kids and the Sedro-Woolley Kiwanis.

Regular Museum Hours: Wed. and Thurs. 12 noon to 4 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sun. 1:30 to 4 p.m. 725 Murdock St. Sedro Woolley, Washington 98284-1457; Phone: (360) 855-2390

Links, background reading and sources

Sedro-Woolley Museum official page and more details.
The robbery of the First National Bank of Sedro-Woolley on Oct. 17, 1914. Includes layout of the town and businesses at that time, the crime wave of Summer 1914 and the True-Love bandit.
A descendant of J.B. Crane, a member of the 1914 posse that chased the bank robbers, shares letters that give details of how the robbers were tracked after the First National Bank robbery of Oct. 17, 1914.
Brief introduction to Cook and family and links to our Cook stories. New Mortimer story, "The Legend," coming in the Subscribers Edition in 2010 or before.
Read our exclusive two-chapter profile of P.A. Woolley and his family and his company town. The link now works, so that you can read part two, about how his Woolley town was born, how Metcalf Street was named, Dr. Harbaugh's marriage into the family, how the family moved their business to Savannah, Georgia, and much more.

Story posted Aug. 1, 2001, last updated Aug. 10, 2011
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Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop at 817 Metcalf Street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 90 years continually in business.

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Founders Days Sedro-Woolley Next: Sept. 10-11, 2011

Founders Days Sedro-Woolley
Next: Sept. 10-11, 2011