Yellow Pages
SEDRO-WOOLLEY — Take cover.
Come Saturday, a Sedro-Woolley bank will be robbed again. Only during this holdup, the loot will not be gold, but candy.
“We take a lot of liberty with the story,” said Carolyn Freeman, organizer of the city’s annual Founders’ Day bank robbery re-enactment.
Sedro-Woolley residents have been re-enacting the infamous 1914 bank robbery for more than a decade — except for one year — filling Murdock Street in front of the Sedro-Woolley Museum with outlaws, dance hall girls and gunshots.
When the bank was robbed on Oct. 17, 1914, more than 50 shots rang out inside the bank, but no one was injured. Once outside, another 200 rounds were fired, and a 12-year-old boy who ran into the street to see what was happening was killed.
Five desperadoes fled from town on foot with $11,000. Four of the robbers were later rounded up by a posse and killed, while the fate of the fifth remains a mystery.
This year the story will take a different tack. But, like always, the robbers will drop their candy booty for those who dare to watch. The event has attracted up to 600 people.
A Founders’ Day breakfast will be held from 8 to 11 a.m. at the senior center, and will include scrambled eggs and biscuits and gravy.
A video about the 1914 bank robbery will be played at the museum from 10 to 11 a.m.
The museum will hold an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. honoring the Dunlap, Hart and Woods families, three of the first five bachelors that settled in the area.
On Sunday, there will be a car show and a community picnic at Riverfront Park.
“There will be a little bit of everything — antique cars, classic cars, hot rods, sometimes a few pickups — even sometimes a couple of motorcycles,” Freeman said.
