Soon, To Dos, Uncategorized

It’s Colorama week … Join the festival!

2 Comments
This is a big deal, really. It's Colorama! Don't tell me you've never heard of it.
This is a big deal, really. It’s Colorama! Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it.

 

The state’s best rodeo, a carnival, rides, market in the park, hometown parade, race (and/0r) walk across Grand Coulee Dam, a beer tent, plus hundreds of miles of undeveloped beaches on crystal clear lakes.

Let’s see what am I forgetting … oh, a TON of fun to be had this week and weekend in the big coulee at Colorama.

Local residents and visitors will be treated to the 56th Annual Colorama Festival celebration, beginning Thursday with the opening of the carnival and ending Saturday evening.

Events include the Ridge Rider Pro-West Rodeo Friday evening and Saturday, the Colorama Parade at 11 a.m. Saturday, the vendor fair at North Dam Park, Friday and Saturday; helicopter rides Friday and Saturday, the Paradise Amusement Carnival, Thursday at 3 p.m. and Friday and Saturday; the sale of Colorama buttons and gear; and a beer garden under the tent at the tennis courts at North Dam Park.

A full schedule of Colorama events can be found in today’s special Colorama Festival section.

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Astounding Facts, Places to See, To Dos

Spilling water over the dam

For reasons unknown to me at the moment, the USBR is letting water flow over the top of Grand Coulee Dam right now. This is a fairly unusual event. That’s not just water, it’s money running over the top, in the form of revenue foregone by the BPA, which can’t sell electricity the dam doesn’t produce with that water power.
If you have a chance, pop down and see it.
The dam is almost a mile across, and the spill is about 300 feet.

Update
Seems that Lake Roosevelt has to drop right now to meet flood control goals. We wouldn’t want Portland to flood, after all. Here is info about current lake operations the USBR published yesterday:

The elevation of Lake Roosevelt was 1280.4 at 10 a.m. on April 9.

It is antipated the elevation will remain around elevation 1280.0 in order to reach the Biological Opinion operating objective of 1279.9 by April 10. Currently, Grand Coulee Dam is being operated to meet flood control elevations.

The flood control levels are the maximum elevation for Lake Roosevelt. Other factors such as power demand or supplying water downstream for fish can result in elevations under the flood control elevations.

The current flood control elevation is as follows:

April 30 – 1258.5 feet
This is only a prediction and can change due to weather events, power demand or other unforeseen power emergencies.
Lake level forecasts are updated by 3 p.m. each day. Please call 1-800-824-4916 for the updated forecast.

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Boating, swimming and fishing, Soon

Here’s how to fish Banks Lake right now

Open up our guide for great tips and a map.
Open up our guide for great tips and a map.

Here’s a free copy (OK, it’s digital, but still…) of our guide to fishing Banks Lake in early spring.

It’s full of great tips for anglers, even those foolish enough to pass up on the opportunity to get into this weekend’s (April 6-7, 2013) “Are You Tough Enough — Triple Fish Challenge” fishing derby.

Check it out here:

Boating, swimming and fishing, Soon

Are You Tough Enough…

To fish our upcoming derby?

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You’re probably not a real good angler, so just move on. Nothing to see here.

Unless you actually are tough enough for the local chamber of commerce sponsored triple challenge coming up in April.

You read that right: TRIPLE challenge. Meaning you have to catch bass, walleye and rainbow, all in one event, in the first event of the year in eastern Washington.

Astounding Facts, Boating, swimming and fishing, Places to See, Uncategorized

Thinking about a visit? Watch this …

An overview of the Grand Coulee Dam area, produced by KXLY TV.
This is a screenshot of a video overview of the Grand Coulee Dam area, produced by KXLY TV.

Someone just reminded me of this piece on the Grand Coulee Dam area, produced by KXLY TV for their Explorer TV series, in which I was interviewed.
They did a great job of cutting in quick and useful information, and it’s worth a few minutes of your time.
One thing I forgot to mention (one of those “I wish I had said” moments) is that the drive through here on SR 155 is actually the heart of a National Scenic Byway called The Coulee Corridor.

This KXLY video is only offered in Adobe Flash, so it may not play if you’re using a mobile device.