The chamber of commerce’s First Friday Market hits the street — Main Street, that is — tonight, Aug. 4, 2023, from 5-9 p.m.
Here’s our 2023-24 Visitors’ Guide, the print version in online form. Use this to keep it “in your pocket” for quick reference
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Pick up the actual print version just about anywhere in town, at the Visitor Center at Grand Coulee Dam or at several visitor centers around the state.
Music, food and fireworks.
Sounds like Festival of America time in the coulee, when patriots can celebrate America Friday and Saturday at the park below the Visitor Center, with a guide to the action inside this issue.
The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, the organizer of the event, has put together live music, kids activities, a big show in the park, fireworks and more to entertain local residents as well as the thousands of visitors who crowd the park and surrounding areas each year.
Listen to the music of MacDaddy, Tuxedo Junction and the Olson Bros. bands.
Fifty vendors will provide food and product in the park.
An “Inflatable Village,” a romp particularly for the kids, will help to make the time clearly a family time.
New this year is the chamber’s Beer Garden, located on town shop property facing Columbia Avenue, where adults can go for a beverage break and a retreat from the crowd.
All in all, a great experience filled with possibilities for everyone.
And don’t forget the Laser Light Show, kicking off just before the fireworks over Grand Coulee Dam.
All the fun is explained in the special Festival of America section with this week’s Star newspaper.
And by the way, when you see a chamber of commerce member, say “thanks” for the creativity and hard work it takes to put on the festival.
Here’s our online edition of our printed special section:
Kids, mark Saturday, June 20, on your calendars.
That’s the day the 11th Annual Kids Fest occurs in the coulee area.
Start by picking up your passport and map from a variety of places — Saturday Market at North Dam Park, Coulee Hardware or the Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center. It’s your ticket to a day of fun and adventure — and potential prizes.
Bring your passport with six or more stamps on it to the Grand Theatre on Grand Coulee’s Main Street for a performance by juggler-comedian-yoyo man Curtis Carlyle ( a 60-minute performance) with prizes awarded afterward.
During the day, kids can take advantage of many fun things to do, all organized and presented by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce.
Ride a pedal boat
Catch a fish from a large fish tank.
Sit inside a real MedStar helicopter.
Tour the inside of a fire truck.
Romp in a bubble station.
Play disc golf.
Create beautiful chalk artwork.
Build your own dam.
Vote for your favorite Coulee Cruizers car.
Play a round of miniature golf.
Get free ice cream and cookie.
And at the end of the day make it to the thrilling Curtis Carlyle performance at 3 p.m. Winners must be present and ages 12 and under to win.
See you Saturday, June 20, for the 11th annual Koulee Kids Fest.
The laser light show that explains the history of the area and the dam shows nightly through the season. It’s the largest outdoor show in North America and is something to see, newly updated in 2014.
The laser show is held nightly at Grand Coulee Dam as follows for 2015:
May 23 to July 31 at 10:00 p.m.
Aug. 1 to Aug. 31 at 9:30 p.m.
Sept. 1 to Sept. 30 at 8:30 p.m.
The show is about 28 minutes in length. There is no admission fee. Call 509-633-9265 for more information.
The laser light show lasts approximately 28 minutes, during which time colorful images created by the lasers move back and forth across the huge surface of the dam.
The best locations are the seating area at the Visitor Center and from the park below the Visitor Center. These areas provide an outdoor sound system.
The town of Coulee Dam has a park — terraced and grassy for viewing the laser show — adjacent to the east end of the Columbia River bridge.
Other viewing spots: from Douglas Park in Coulee Dam; from Crown Point atop the granite cliffs above Lake Rufus Woods, access from SR174 towards Bridgeport.
The USBR broadcasts the audio portion of the laser light show nightly at 90.1 FM.
Lasers are intense beams of light commonly used in medicine and science, but they’ve also found a niche as a high-tech, fast-moving form of entertainment. They are controlled by computers which, at Grand Coulee Dam, are in the Visitor Center.
Although a single dot of light, lasers can trace an image so rapidly it appears as a solid figure to the human eye.
The term laser is actually an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. It is so commonly used now that the tradition of using capital letters for an acronym has been dropped.
As one of the largest entertainment laser projection systems in the world, and certainly the largest outdoor laser show in North America, the lasers at Grand Coulee Dam tell the story of the Columbia River and how its power was harnessed to provide multiple benefits to mankind, including electrical power, irrigation for farming and exciting recreational opportunities. As a result of the open process of scripting the show new in 2014, viewers will also understand the costs of building the dam — cost to wildlife, and to native peoples whose way of life was dependent on that wildlife, in particular, the salmon that no longer could continue upstream to spawn.
With the original equipment in use since 1989, the Bureau of Reclamation commissioned a new show and new equipment. The equipment began operation in May of 2013, but projecting the new show began in May, 2014. Lumalaser, of Oregon, bid the project at $1.6 million.
Pictures are beamed at the awesome height of nearly 300 feet.
The laser lights are beamed between 2,000 and 4,000 feet to the surface of the dam.
