The Best Affordable Souvenir from Snoqualmie Falls in Washington

During my visit to Snoqualmie Falls, Washington in August 2025, I stopped by the Snoqualmie Falls Gift Shop and Visitors Center where I discovered the best affordable souvenir from this breathtakingly beautiful place.

SNOQUALMIE FALLS GIFT SHOP & VISITORS CENTER

Snoqualmie Falls is an incredibly popular spot to visit in Washington state, attracting more than 2 million visitors annually.  In 2023, the Snoqualmie Tribe opened a completely remodeled Snoqualmie Falls Gift Shop and Visitor Center containing exhibits, a gift shop and a small cafe.

Inside, an exhibit titled “Our Story Is the Story of the Falls,” documents the history of Snoqualmie Falls from Time Immemorial to modern day. It is believed that Moon the Transformer created the falls and the first Snoqualmie people at this sacred spot.  You can learn more about the importance of the land to the tribe and what you can do to protect, respect and restore it on the Snoqualmie Tribe Ancestral Land Movement website.

In another section of the building, you’ll find an extensive gift shop with tribe-themed products, images of Snoqualmie Falls, books and clothing inspired by the Pacific Northwest and Washington state, candled, home decor and much more.

Another section has Twin Peaks-themed merchandise that gives a nod to The Great Northern Hotel, the fictional name of the very real Salish Lodge & Spa that is perched above the 268-foot waterfall.

Nearby, I discovered the “Penny Pincher Souvenir Coin” machine which quickly became one of my favorite affordable souvenirs with a long history in the United States.

BRIEF HISTORY OF PRESSED PENNIES OR ELONGATED COINS

Pressed pennies, or elongated coins, have existed in the United States since the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, Illinois. A jeweler’s mill on display in the Electricity Building started a crazy that continues more than 132 years later. A roller in this rolling mill contained an engraved design that imprinted an image onto a coin. The first pressed coin contained the words “Columbian Exposition 1893.”

The fad continued until 1916, the same year when the original Snoqualmie Falls Lodge opened above the Snoqualmie Falls in Washington State. Mysteriously, the people stopped collecting these coins until they returned in favor around 1932 and again during the Bicentennial Celebration in 1976. According to Kathi Davis’ article “Flattening pennines fun, old tradition” published in The Pantagraph on August 14, 2022, there are approximately 3,500 penny press machines in the U.S.

Creating these elongated coins is legal in the United States per U.S. Title Code 18, Chapter 17, Section 331 that prohibits “the mutilation, diminution, and falsification of United States coinage,” but makes an exception for coins that are not used fraudulently.

SNOQUALMIE FALLS PENNY PINCHER SOUVENIR COIN DESIGNS

The Snoqualmie Falls machine offers four designs. Cost is $1.00 per coin and the gift shop had an entire bucket of quarters for making change to would be souvenir hunters. They also had a bucket of pennies (as people rarely carry pennies these days).

Select the design you want pressed first by turning the gears to match the red dots. Do this before you insert the money.

A few moments later, your pressed coin pops out of the machine. I created all four designs in a matter of moments.

The first design features the Salish Lodge and Spa before it’s recent renovations to extend the porte-cochère. You’ll also notice rectangular bollards place around the driveway to the lodge’s entrance.

This view would be similar to what we see when Audrey Horne gets into a Mercedes Benz at The Great Northern Hotel in the pilot.

The original stone bollards were replaced sometime in October 2019 outside the Salish Lodge.

The coin appears to be taken from a time when the front of the Salish Lodge looked like this photo from September 2019.

By February 2024, the porte-cochère had been extended over the drive way.

By August 2024, the entire driveway had been repaved so the elongated coins is a remnant from a different time.

The second coin features the iconic view of Salish Lodge & Spa overlooking Snoqualmie Falls.

The coin art is reminiscent of scenes from Twin Peaks such as this establishing shot of The Great Northern Hotel and White Tail Falls from episode 1.003.

The third design features a stylized logo for Snoqualmie Falls in Washington state.

The final coin contains a drawing of the sacred Snoqualmie Falls.

It’s almost a nod to the opening credits from Twin Peaks which features a slow pan down the waterfall.

For $4.04, you can take home these easy-to-transport coins as a wonderful from the Real Twin Peaks.