The Festival America takes place on Independence Day, the 4th of July, at the park below the visitor center for the Grand Coulee Dam.
With the dam, a testament to what Americans can accomplish working together, as a backdrop, those attending the festival can enjoy shopping, music, food, a laser light show, and fireworks to celebrate the founding of the United States of America.
There will be 25 vendors at the festival selling food, crafts, fun and more from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m.
Live music includes funk and rock musician Jerry Lee Raines who takes the stage at 2 p.m.; the Hometown Hooligans who play classic rock covers starting at 5 p.m.; and Jesse Quandt, who plays country rock, starting at 7:30 p.m.
The laser light show titled “One River, Many Voices,” starts at 10 p.m., with lasers projected onto the face of the dam itself telling a story, followed by a fireworks show that will launch over 5,000 shots off of the dam and lighting the face of it.
For the first time since the coronavirus shut everything down, the Bureau of Reclamation will open the Visitor Center and display the Laser Light Show at Grand Coulee Dam.
The Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center and laser light show will begin on Saturday in time for Memorial Day weekend.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced the re-opening for the visitor center and the “One River, Many Voices” laser light show in a statement May 19.
“To safely re-open the visitor center and return the laser light show, Reclamation will be following the recommended guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” the release states. “Fully vaccinated visitors are no longer required to wear a mask.”
“The health and safety of the public and our employees remains our number one priority,” said Grand Coulee Power Manager Coleman Smith. “We recognize the visitor center and laser light show are important to the Grand Coulee community and beyond. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding with the new safety guidelines we have in place.”
The visitor center will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week.
The laser light show will begin at 10 p.m. from May 29 through July 31. Beginning on Aug. 1, it will start at 9:30 p.m., and for the month of September it will start at 8:30 p.m.
Dam tours will not take place this year due to the inability to social distance during parts of the tour.
Nothing seals friendships like overcoming adversity, such as freezing your rear off for a few seconds in Lake Roosevelt and creating a memory on New Year’s Day.
If you’d like some active fun on New Year’s Day, here are a couple local options:
1. Meet at Spring Canyon at noon for a polar bear plunge into Lake Roosevelt or join a few crazy kayakers braving the cold. They’re both happening at noon.
Spring Canyon, the National Park Service’s closest campground in the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area to Grand Coulee, isn’t open with full service now, so plan on taking any trash with you when you leave. And be sure to bring a thermos of something hot to drink when you get cold, plus a way to dry off and warm up.
We understand some folks will also make their way to a local bar to help in that effort, if that’s your thing.
A September shot of the western rim of the Lower Grand Coulee, with its iconic overlook at left.
2. Take a hike at Dry Falls with the Washington State Park’s “Adventure Awaits” event, “New Year’s Day — Tracks & Impressions — Dry Falls Hike.”
Starting at the Dry Falls Visitor Center on highway 17, you’ll walk the western rim of the Lower Grand Coulee. (If you drive there from the city Grand Coulee, you will have driven the length of the Upper Grand Coulee along Banks Lake.)
The 2.5-mile hike, judged to be of “moderate” difficulty starts at 10:30 a.m. and lists no minumum age on the adventurewaits.com website. But note that the trail is NOT stroller or ADA accessible.
Dogs will be allowed on a leash.
Hikers should be prepared for winter conditions, of course, but also note that you’re hiking the rim, so prepare for wind. You should also bring a day pack with water and snacks, winter boots and hiking poles.
Park Interpretive Specialist David McWalter is organizing it: david.mcwalter@parks.wa.gov. , 509-632-5214.
Fall is fast approaching, and rather than be plagued by the summertime blues, why not celebrate autumn with the upcoming Harvest Festival?
Life-size fun with human foosball.
There will be food and fun aplenty for adults and kids alike with helicopter rides, arts and crafts, games, barbecues, beers, live music.
The Harvest Festival, put on by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, will take place from Friday to Sunday, Sept. 20-22, at North Dam Park.
Helicopter rides will be available from Inland Helicopters from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, offering those who take the ride a scenic bird’s-eye view of the coulee’s unique landscape, a great opportunity to take photos for the photographer in all of us.
And when you need to calm down from the adrenaline rush of flying in a helicopter, the Harvest Festival beer garden will have a variety of ales that are good for what ails ya, and some live music to boot.
The beer garden will be open on Friday from 6-10 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The Hometown Hooligans, a rock ’n’ roll band hailing from Coulee City, will perform live music on Saturday night, from 8-11 p.m.
And bring your bib! A barbecue competition will take place on Saturday and Sunday, with samples available on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. when $10 will buy you four samples. Categories include ribs, brisket, pork, and chicken.
The competition is sanctioned by the Pacific Northwest BBQ Association and awards cash prizes totaling $6,500.
On Saturday from 10-3 kids can enjoy a number of free activities: finger painting, rock art, slime making, popsicle stick art, pumpkin decorating, water balloons, and a “magnificent bubble station.”
Also on Saturday, from 10 a.m .to 1 p.m., teams of six will compete in a lifesize human foosball tournament.
The Run The Dam race will offer 5k, 10k, and half-marathon lengths to run, starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.
And if motorcycles and poker are your thing, a motorcycle “poker run” will start on Saturday at 9 a.m. Riders will take a 210-mile journey around the coulee and surrounding areas, gathering cards to try to get the best hand of poker.
And as always, there will be vendor booths, on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
More information on all of these activities, such as registration info for the bbq contest, information for vendors, and more, can be found on the chamber’s website at http://www.grandcouleedam.org or by calling 509-633-3074.
This art show attracts Native American and NA-related artists from all around, and features some beautiful pieces, and innovative traditional crafts that push the boundary from craft to art.
The fifth annual art show sponsored by NNDF is in Banks Lake Park at North Dam.
