Small towns serve up big fun

Before forecasts of 100 degrees and higher got in the way, the Downtown Camas Association was preparing to top off its annual Camas Days celebration with a new addition: Picnic in Color, an arts-focused family outing set for Sunday afternoon. Local artists were looking forward to working with children on small and large artworks, and everyone was encouraged to dress so colorfully the whole population could be seen from space. 

Alas, health concerns got in the way. You can’t send children and their grandparents onto sidewalks in 100 degree heat, according to Downtown Camas Association executive director Carrie Schulstad. Watch out for a rescheduled Picnic in Color sometime this fall, she said — when leaves are already popping with color.

Still, all the usual fun is in store for the first two Camas Days — it’ll just be a little on the steamy side, that’s all. Vendor booths will be open along six city blocks in the heart of Camas, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. July 27 and 28. Food booths on Birch Street between Northeast Third and Fourth avenues will contribute tastes from all over the world. And kids can flock to Dallas Street, aka “Kids Street,” to check out a bounce house, rock climbing wall, a big slide and more.

Kids Street opens for business at 11 a.m. July 27 and 28. At 11:30 a.m., July 27 only, the Kids Parade starts lining up for judging before its 12:15 p.m. launch. 

Later on, grown-ups get some fun too. At 5 p.m., Northeast Birch Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues transforms into the 21-and-up “Toast of Camas Wine & Microbrew Street,” featuring live blues and classic rock by the Beth Willis Band, followed at 7 p.m. by the Wise Guys. Entry to Wine & Microbrew Street is $5.

July 28 features more of the same — vendor and food booths, streets repurposed for bouncing kids and drinking, rocking-out adults — but there’s also the 11 a.m. Camas Days Grand Parade, the theme of which is “Celebrating Papermaker History.” That runs along Northeast Fourth Avenue from Oak to Adams streets.

It’s followed by Camas Days’ greatest claim to fame: bathtub races at 1 p.m. at Franklin and Fourth. No doubt the Camas Fire Department, which fills the tubs with water between heats, will offer its customary widespread and welcome dousing to anyone and everyone on the scene.

Later, you can venture up to Grove Field, 632 N.E. 267th Ave., for the annual steak feed. Fifteen dollars gets you a steak (or chicken) you can barbecue just the way you like it, along with salad, potato, lemonade, pork and beans, cake — and introductory membership in the Camas-Washougal Aviation Association. It is at 6 p.m. July 28.

Grove Field festivities continue July 29 with an open house, displays and $25 plane rides; Liberty Field at Northeast Ione Street and 19th Avenue hosts a softball tournament all day long; and, topping it all off, the annual Ducky Derby — when the Camas-Washougal Rotary dumps 5,000 floating rubber ducks into the Washougal River. Sponsor as many ducky racers as you like by buying $5 tickets from the local Rotary Club throughout the weekend; then, gather on the Third Avenue bridge at noon July 29 to cheer on your racers as the current takes over. All the ducks eventually funnel down a narrow chute, so somebody crosses the finish line first.

You get more than ducky feelings if you win: The grand prize is a one-week condo stay in Hawaii, plus $1,000 toward airfare, donated by Riverview Community Bank.

Steamboat celebration

There’s no steamboat service to La Center anymore, but the memory lives on in the town’s annual Steamboat Celebration. That gets underway July 27, with the animated Disney/Pixar hit “Coco” screening at dusk in Sternwheeler Park, 100 W. Fourth St., for free. Concessions will be available.

The celebration picks up speed Saturday, with an 8 a.m. 5K run/walk in Holley Park, 1000 E. Fourth St., and a 10 a.m. town parade that starts at the La Center Evangelical Free Church and winds up at Holley Park.

Holley Park will also be the site of an 11 a.m. car show, a noon beautiful baby contest, a 12:30 p.m. performance and meet-and-greet by the Black Pearls Friesian Dance Troupe, and bingo at 2 p.m. Vendors, a kids zone, a beer garden and family games to play will be open all day. Barbecue lunch costs $8 a plate in the community center.