Harvest Festival offers fun this weekend

This would be a good weekend to stay in the Coulee and take advantage of the many facets of the fifth annual Harvest Festival.

Gather the kids, the grandkids, and be at North Dam Park for a celebration designed for all ages.

The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce has put together a host of events within the Harvest Festival so that all ages can have fun.

The event will run Saturday and Sunday, September 17-18.

For the kids, there will be pumpkin and zucchini decorating, water balloons, face painting and a bubble station 10-4 Saturday.

For families, there’s the human foosball event, where six can form a team and take part in competition. Families could face off against each other. That’s from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, with cash prizes for the winners.

There will be arts and crafts booths from 9 a.m. to dusk Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, along with plenty of food. A beer garden is open Friday from 6 to 10 p.m., Saturday 1 to 10 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. Live bands include “The Hometown Hooligans,” of Coulee City, Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m., and Maxx Watts from 8 to 10 p.m.

A two-day, community-wide yard sale is scheduled Saturday from 9 a.m. to dusk and Sunday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The popular Run the Dam event will be held Saturday (see separate story).

One of the more popular attractions will be the food events.

The “Steak and Anything Spam” competition will offer $500 in prizes. Bring your skills and grills and cook steaks provided by Ed’s Meat Market, or use your favorite recipe containing spam. There’s a competition in both categories. For competition details and rules check out grandcouleedam.org/bbq2.

The big event is the Pacific Northwest BBQ Association-sanctioned competition, complete with trophies, ribbons and cash prizes totaling $6,500. Samplings are available for the public on Sunday afternoon. You can register, volunteer, or get additional information by calling the chamber of commerce at 633-3074 or visiting grandcouleedam.org/harvest.