The city's mayor, a toolmaker by trade, lovingly rebuilds Harley-Davidson motorcycles as a hobby. He introduces himself by his nickname, Fuzzy, when he knocks on doors to welcome newcomers. Motorists stop, crosswalk or not, to wave pedestrians across the highway.
Shopkeepers greet customers by name.
Snoqualmie has all the charms of a quiet town in the sticks. In almost a century tucked at the base of the Cascades, it has stubbornly resisted change. On a ridge overlooking the city's historic downtown, a colossal maze of houses and businesses is rising. It will likely triple the tiny town's population in just five years. But many locals fear the Ridge will bloom into the kind of suburbia they came to the Snoqualmie Valley to escape.