A Discussion of Issaquah's and the surrounding communities history and the development of Lake Sammamish State Park.

Join FLSSP and UWRP as we launch the 2025 Lakeside Lecture Series. This March 5th at Formula Brewing we will be hosting several wonderful speakers to explore the history of the surrounding community in a fun and engaging format. The speakers will be talking about a wide range of topics, including the growth and development of this community, as well as the concepts that led to the creation of Lake Sammamish State Parks and the open spaces of our community.  

Speakers will include 

-Rich Benson, Rich Benson retired from a 40 year career with Washington State Parks working at Lake Sammamish for a majority of those years. He started as a young newlywed, raised 4 sons in the park and retired as the area manager of the Cascade foothills Area which includes Lake Sammamish. He and his wife continue to live in Issaquah, a community they learned to love.

-Paul Winterstein, Paul is the Executive Director of Issaquah History Museums, our local historical society. Issaquah History Museums (or "IHM") cares for over 30,000 artifacts, photos, and documents in its collection, and runs a museum and gift shop at the historic Issaquah train Depot. They also host guided history tours for kids and adults, offer a multiple-episode series of history presentations called "Let's Talk Local History", and publish about 10 history vignettes monthly on social media. You can peruse their collection online at issaquahhistory.org

-Cristy Lake of Snoqualmie Valley History Museum; Cristy holds a BA in History and Anthropology from Whitman College and a Masters in Historical Archaeology from the University of York. She has worked for several museums in King County, including the Nordic Heritage Museum, Tolt Historical Society, the Northwest Railway Museum, where she is currently the Deputy Director, and the Snoqualmie Valley Museum, where she is currently the Executive Director. She is past Chair of the King County Landmarks Commission and currently serves on the Mountains to Sound National Heritage Area advisory committee.

-Isabel Smith, Senior Researcher of Racially Restrictive Covenants Program at the University of Washington; Isabel is a student at the University of Washington studying Journalism and Political Science with a focus on American Politics. Their academic interests include community journalism, social and environmental justice, and Asian American communities and their history. As a research associate, they are involved in research, data management, community outreach, and manage the project newsletter.

Please join us at Formula Brewing on March 5th, 2025!

Learn more about our partner, Formula Brewing!