News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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A fairy gives a Star Wars character a prize during the River Artist Celebration in Coulee Dam Friday when the first night included a costume contest. The closed Mead Avenue saw a lot of costumes, hosted many vendors and heard good music bands during both days of the event. It was organized by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce working with the Northwest Native Development Fund. - Scott Hunter photo...
Oohs and aahs and lots of applause were audible at the end of last year's fireworks show put on by Rocketman Pyros, L.L.C. So the chamber of commerce brought them back again. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce's main sponsor of the fireworks, STCU, merged in 2021 with the Coulee Dam Federal Credit Union and has been a reliable community partner ever since, helping the community to put on many events. It's hard to imagine a better, more iconic venue for the patriotic show than the top...
The Visitor Center Park in front of Grand Coulee Dam is a sprawling lawn just below an award-winning visitor information center that you can walk to learn more than you thought possible about the mile-wide concrete behemoth in front of you, but that might not mean much to your kids. That’s why the Festival of America organizers for the sponsoring Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce will have games and activities, including cool water features, literally, to keep kids entertained and not overheated. So, you might want your kids to go p...
Despite threatening skies that occasionally burst into rain, lightning and wind gusts to topple a shade canopy, around 150 kids and their family members came out for Koulee Kids Fest, the car show, or both last weekend. For Kids Fest, families visit participating local storefront businesses, where kids do free activities and get their event "passports" stamped, to be entered in a drawing. Based on numbers from the chamber of commerce, most families chose to focus on businesses in central Grand...
A big crowd comes out for the annual Colorama Parade Saturday, after it had at one point looked like it would not happen at all. A declaration of its cancelation by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, due to lack of needed police, got attention and response from the Grant County Sheriff's Office and local police, who staffed it as necessary for traffic control. - Scott Hunter photo...
It will start at 11 a.m., just as it has for decades, but for a few hours, chamber leaders thought the upcoming annual Colorama Parade on Saturday would have to be canceled. In fact, it was called off on Monday afternoon. Until about 5 a.m. Tuesday. That's when the executive director of the chamber got an email from the Grant County Sheriff's Office, saying they would, after all, be able to send three deputies in cars to help with traffic control. Closing two intersecting state highways for an h...
Over the next few weeks, you'll be hearing a lot about the 67th Colorama Festival – the kickoff to the Coulee area high tourist season happening May 9-11 this year. Part vendor fair and part pro-rodeo, the early summer community party features live music, beer gardens, bull riding, a parade, two days of pro rodeo events, a raffle drawing, cowboy breakfast, riding entertainment, a Kid Zone with games and activities, a 21+ after party, and even a little variety circus show. For now, Colorama b...
Sometimes a Coulee Medical Center patient needs to be transferred to specialists or trauma care at a larger hospital, in a city such as Spokane or Seattle. In critical situations, air transport may be deemed medically necessary to save a life or limb. At that point, emergency room staff start making calls to one or both of the competing EMS programs covering the Coulee area. One program is called Life Flight Network - which most people informally surveyed for this story knew about - and the...
Local organizations received accolades Tuesday night as the chamber of commerce announced the winners of three awards voted on by chamber members at a dinner for that purpose at MPH Hi-Dam. Addressing a fairly young crowd, Nancy Zimmerman-Boord, executive director of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, noted that young people are starting new businesses or taking over established ones. "What I love to see about this community ... is that our kids are stepping up into owning...
1 years ago Local bowlers recently brought home the cash during the 2013 Washington state women’s bowling tournament in Anacortes. Mae Stensgar and Candy Weed-Butts took first in doubles, their team Riverview Lanes II, which also included Sherry Potts and Jennifer Miller took seventh. Candy also took 26th in singles and 3rd in all events. Coulee Dam’s wastewater treatment project is apparently dead at least for now. The town’s plan to build a $4.92 million plant was derailed by objections from town residents and the council’s decision to go f...
1 years ago The regional board of mayors is finding out that it’s operating agreement is a poor way to run a railroad facing emergency repairs at the Delano transfer site. A month ago the mayors put a hold on the single bid they received to do the work hoping to get more bids. This time around park commissioners Monday night barely passed a motion to allow the Chamber of Commerce to hold another beer garden event at the North Dam Park next month. Commissioners expressed frustration with learning of the planed event in the newspaper before g...
Ten years ago The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board passed it’s budget Monday night after a public hearing on the matter. No one showed up to question the $9.5 million budget. The Colville tribes has announced plans to construct a casino on property purchased four years ago along SR97 South of the Rodeo Trail Road near Omak. Tribal officials had announced that the cost will be a $24 million project for the 58 square foot facility. The building that had housed the headquarters of the Colville tribes for decades burned down early Monday n...
A lot is happening in the coulee this summer....
Kids from all over the area took part in the annual Koulee Kids Fest Saturday, organized by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce and supported by businesses and organizations. About 17 of them put on little activities for kids from 10 a.m to 2 p.m., when the day capped off with a learning opportunity as The Reptile Man taught and entertained kids with live snakes, an alligator, and other reptiles. At least two activity sponsors offered prizes in drawings. Kids who filled in a...
Hot, simmering, smoldering is how patrons of the "First Friday" chamber of commerce event were describing the refractive heat, bouncing off the concrete sidewalk last week. But thankfully, firefighters were present with ultimate water power, and the chamber placed cooling locations in the nearby park Upon arrival, it was dominated by dedicated business, with vendors selling goods ranging from popcorn, cheeky shirts, eccentric jewelry, and scrumptious (i.e., "nom nom") food from the Siam Palace....
by Scott Hunter A year ago, it was an idea shared while visiting in a garden. Last week, Plain Jane's was named "Business of the Year" for 2022 by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce. Caroline Walsh had cancer then and was going through chemotherapy. She decided to start a business that would research and bring in healthy products for the local community. Rachel Anderson was helping her with her garden the day Walsh presented the idea to her. "I was like, absolutely!" Anderson told...
It's been an interesting year for the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, especially if you're President Natalie Dennis. Dennis and others outlined past challenges and future plans and directions last Wednesday night at the chamber's annual meeting and awards dinner. Dennis told attendees at PK's Culinary that the chamber is once again facilitating "business after hours" events where business owners can "speak with like-minded people and bounce ideas off of each other." Two have been...
Here’s a look at the most popular stories in The Star over the last year. January Stolen car found abandoned at Keller Ferry after chase A stolen Cadillac that police stopped following because of a new state law was found at the Keller Ferry Marina the next day anyway. Washington State House Bill 1054 took effect in 2021 and limits, among other things, the circumstances in which an officer can pursue a vehicle in a chase, including circumstances related to probable cause, weather conditions, the safety of others, and more. A local officer h...
Children talk and stare at Santa and Mrs. Claus, who stopped at Mason City Memorial Park in Coulee Dam Dec. 14 in an event arranged by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce. It also featured other characters popular during the season, such as Elsa. Cocoa around the fire was popular too. Firefighters helped by making the place look like daylight with big lights on their fire trucks. - Scott Hunter photo...
It’s October, and watching the 1993 Disney film “Hocus Pocus” in the park, in addition to enjoying food, drink, and craft vendors, may be the perfect way to spend your Friday night. On Oct. 7, the last “First Friday” event of the year will take place from 5-9 p.m. at North Dam Park. The event will include food and craft vendors, a beer garden featuring selections from One Tree Cider, Rocky Coulee Brewing, and other options, a DJ set by Jimmy Philips, and an 8 p.m. screening of the movie. Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce Executive...
The Coulee area looked so festive last year with scarecrows that another Scarecrow Trail is planned this year by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce. During the scarecrow trail, residents and businesses display scarecrows outside of businesses and in their neighborhoods. This year’s event will be held from Oct. 15-Nov.15 and participants have until Oct. 14 to register to be included in the contest, with awards given for first, second, and third place. “We are sure that the scarecrows displayed will be nothing short of fantastic! Let...
It was constructed nearly three years ago, but people behind putting up an informative kiosk at North Dam Park, delayed by circumstances, decided to hold a ceremony to officially open it last Saturday. The kiosk tells historical information about the area, and gives overviews of some of its features. Washington State Parks' Coulee Corridor Area Manager Dennis Felton and board member Birdie Hensley were joined by longtime corridor president Tim Alling, who cut the ribbon on the basalt...
Local park district commissioners have secured funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to help keep North Dam Park alive for several years to come, provided matching funding can be secured for a park that is the center of community-wide events. “It looks like we have done it, mission accomplished,” Commissioner Kevin Portch of the Coulee Area Parks and Recreation District said Aug. 31 in an email to the other commissioners and interested parties, including The Star. CAPRD, which manages North Dam Park, located on USBR land, was in some fin...
North Dam Park will host another First Friday event on Aug. 5 from 5-9 p.m. that will include live music, mixed cocktails, food, and vendors, organized by the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce. Dry Fly Distillery will be providing the alcohol in the beer garden in the form of cocktails in a can with drinks like huckleberry lemonade, Moscow mules, bloody Marys, gin & tonics, greyhounds, whiskey smash, and more. Two musicians will provide the acoustic ambience Friday. Local musician Randy...
North Dam Park can continue to be maintained, at least for a while longer, as more funding has been donated by the community to the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District. At their July 13 meeting, CAPRD commissioners were presented with a $5,600 check by Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rachelle Baughman who started a page at the online fundraising site, GoFundMe.com. Commissioner Kevin Portch said that CAPRD also received $900 in private donations separately from that online donation site. The group voted to...