Arlington Stillaguamish Eagle Festival

The Arlington Stillaguamish Eagle Festival celebrates the bald eagles that winter along the Stillaguamish River and its tributary, the North Fork Stillaguamish, each January and February. Hosted by the City of Arlington and community partners at Legion Park along the Stillaguamish River, the festival offers free family programming including naturalist-led wildlife viewing walks, live raptor demonstrations, a chainsaw carving exhibition and competition, live music, and local food vendors. The event draws several thousand visitors over the course of the two-day weekend.

The Stillaguamish River, known locally as "the Stilly," supports late-season chum and coho salmon runs that attract bald eagles from throughout the Pacific Northwest. The lower river corridor between Arlington and Stanwood provides cottonwood-lined banks, gravel bars, and relatively undisturbed habitat where eagles congregate in numbers. While the Stilly's eagle concentrations are smaller than the Skagit's, the river is more accessible from the south (closer to the Seattle-Everett corridor) and the festival setting brings the wildlife experience into a festive community context.

The chainsaw carving demonstration is a longtime fixture and crowd favorite — professional chainsaw artists carve large eagle and wildlife sculptures from raw timber logs over the course of the weekend, with finished works auctioned or sold. The combination of wildlife naturalism and working wood art gives the festival a distinctive character that sets it apart from purely science-focused eagle events.

Legion Park, situated directly on the Stillaguamish River in downtown Arlington, is the festival hub. From the park, naturalist volunteers lead guided walks along the river trail and use spotting scopes to locate eagles perching in riverside cottonwoods and feeding on salmon carcasses on exposed gravel bars. Raptor education organizations typically bring live hawks and owls for close-up educational encounters. The chainsaw carvers work continuously through the weekend in a designated area of the park, drawing large crowds as eagle sculptures emerge from raw cedar and fir.

Shuttle buses typically run on both days from parking areas at local schools to Legion Park, as downtown parking is limited during peak festival hours. The event is entirely outdoors, so dress for February conditions — expect temperatures in the 35–45°F range with a high likelihood of rain. The family-friendly atmosphere and no-cost admission make this an accessible entry point for first-time wildlife festival visitors.