Takeaways from Leavenworth’s fantastical rebirth.

Perhaps no other city in Washington better embodies the spirit of rebirth than the city of Leavenworth.

In 1960, after lumber mill closures left Leavenworth in the economic doldrums and sent its population and property values plummeting, Ted Price and Bob Rodgers bought a run-down café and opened the Squirrel Tree. The Bavarian-themed restaurant featured authentic cuisine served by a costume-clad waitstaff in Black Forest cuckoo-clock ambience.

Ted Price and Bob Rodgers outside the Squirrel Tree.

The business was so popular that the entrepreneurs opened a motel, which became the anchor and inspiration for Leavenworth’s economic revival. Price and Rodgers enlisted the help of the University of Washington, which orchestrated a community-wide visioning exercise called Leavenworth Improvement for Everyone (Project LIFE).

Envisioning Leavenworth reborn as a Bavarian village in the Cascades, the city hired architect Earl Peterson, who oversaw the transformation of Solvang, California, into a Danish-themed tourist destination. With the help of German-born Seattle architect Heinz Ulbrecht guiding design standards, the transformation of several downtown blocks began in 1964.

Three years later, Look magazine and the National Civic League honored Leavenworth, and its faux-Bavarian charm, with an All-America City Award.

Fast forward five years: In 2023, Leavenworth, population 2,778, attracted 3.6 million visitors. That year, Leavenworth received a Governor’s Smart Communities Award from the Washington State Department of Commerce for “the vision, planning, and project implementation it took to create the Washington State landmark and top tourist destination Leavenworth is today.”

But with success comes growing pains. In 2022, median home values in Leavenworth rocketed to $494,600, with median income at just $66,000. Last summer, Mayor Carl Florea announced that the city would embark on a new visioning initiative in the spirit of Project LIFE. “We are no longer a town in decline,” he said. “Instead, we attract millions of visitors and potential residents. The popularity has brought unintended consequences … Ironically, what saved us then endangers us now.”

Throughout 2025, a steering committee led by Mayor Florea, along with Chelan Mayor Erin McCardle, Chelan County leaders, and local businesses, will convene a series of community engagement exercises, surveys, and economic and tourism impact analyses, with a final report and recommendations expected by December.

Then the next work of rebirth begins anew.