Harvest festival to offer celebration time

by Roger S. Lucas and Scott Hunter

This year's Harvest Festival will feature a barbecue competition with some $3,500 prize money, as the event continues to evolve in its third year.

That and a lot more will be part of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce's Third Annual Harvest Festival, Sept. 12-14, at North Dam Park.

The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce's Third Annual Harvest Festival, Sept. 12-14, at North Dam Park will also offer wagon rides, helicopter rides, an apple and berry pie-baking contest, a Star Wars-themed costumed pet show, a motorcycle poker run, arts & crafts fair with food vendors, a community-wide yard sale as well as a refreshing beer garden.

And the good thing about it is entry to the event is free.

New this year, the barbecue competition is spread over two days, Saturday Sept. 13, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Judging will occur the second day, with samples available for purchase.

With the prize money sponsored by the Coulee Dam Federal Credit Union, the event is governed by the Pacific Northwest Barbecue Association, complete with trophies and ribbons. The chamber is hoping for 10 to 12 competitors, but 15 would actually qualify it as a sanctioned event.

Peggy Nevsimal, the chambers executive director, said Tuesday that five barbecue cooks have registered so far, but they tend to register late.

The chamber is hoping that aspect of the festival will eventually grow to attract considerable interest, offering a nice park venue for competitors used to hot parking lots. "It will be interesting to see," she said.

"It gets people to stay overnight, because its a two-day thing," she said. "And it was a fun idea that other towns have done that seems to be popular with people."

Corporate sponsors of the event include the credit union, Colville Tribal Casinos, Columbia River Inn, Coulee Playland, Pacific Northwest Bowling Association, Funzees and North Cascades Bank. The pie contest is sponsored by Flo's Café.

The chamber hopes the event will be at the end of harvest and most of the tourism season when the community can celebrate together.