Revival of Smeltermen's Day shows the strength of Anaconda's identity

Identity is a word that sees considerable use these days. Identity theft sadly is still the big one, but assertions of one's own individual identity as part of a broader subset of humanity – in all the myriad ways in which we categorize ourselves and, by doing so, understand ourselves – is very much a thing, and sometimes unfortunately is controversially so.

But if there's one form of identity that mercifully hasn't been subject to either criminality or controversy, it's one's civic identity, and that's something Anaconda still has in spades – and the enduring revival of Smeltermen's Day is the proof.

But first, civic or community identity if you'd prefer, is at its base level about a distinct place and the idea of said place. It could be "the old neighborhood," or one side of town or the other, or even the whole city itself. 

(As an aside, in my case I'll sometimes talk all high-and-mightily with fellow Seattleites about being a "north side kid" from the north shore of Lake Washington – even though I actually lived a few miles uphill from there, and haven't lived there at all in over 20 years. But that kind of identity, much like any other, will stick with you your whole life, if you choose for it to.)

Being originally from someplace else, I don't have the kinds of growing-up-in-Goosetown stories to share, but as a pre-2020 in-mover what I can say to the post-2020 folks who did the same – or to the many visitors we're welcoming more frequently these days – is that what you're seeing in this Smeltermen's Day weekend jam-packed full of events is indeed a revival of a past tradition that, sadly, fewer and fewer people are around to remember. The smelter closed over 40 years ago and, had it not been for the efforts of the Anacondans to Save the Stack Committee thereafter to, ahem, save the stack this almost certainly would be just another summer weekend as the traditional Smeltermen's Day (Aug. 8, by the way), with its union picnic and silver dollars and the kids' parade, faded away – just as much of the history of this town was either locked away or, far more regrettably, thrown away.

(This, by the way, as another aside is why yours truly has given so much ink to the past, partly for the people here who either lived that history themselves or their parents or grandparents did, but also for us in-movers to know what happened here and thereby have a better understanding of this place and perhaps even adopt that civic identity for ourselves.)

But it never truly went away, and that's entirely because of the people here who held on for better days. And those days they did arrive, first with the stack's centennial five years ago – another Save the Stack success story, and not merely as a one-off celebration but one that carries on the Smeltermen's Day tradition. A tradition that goes beyond the smelter, beyond labor, beyond history. A tradition of creating memories, memories that will continue to forge our identity, as individuals and a community. 

So, from this Seattleite-turned-Smelterite (and if I ever use that term again I'm sure I'm going to hear "Stop trying to make 'Smelterite' a thing, James"), I wish you all a Smeltermen's Day Weekend that's as enlightening as it is entertaining.