Colorama will include a little circus, music, food, and more

Colorama gets its name from the colorful lights the Bureau of Reclamation used to project onto the milelong concrete dam to mark the start of the summer tourism season here in the Coulee, in the years before the laser light show became a summertime staple. 

Nowadays, a big part of the weekend festival happens at North Dam Park in Grand Coulee: the vendor fair and food purveyors, live music, a beer garden, and this year, a little traveling circus of aerialists, stilt walkers, jugglers, clowns and more. 

Somebody has to pull it all together to make it a bangin' weekend in the park with fun for all ages.

This year - that somebody is three people: Krystal Marchelle, her daughter Jillian Fillis, and Jillian's partner Dylan Green. The three own Wavy Petal Designs in Coulee Dam, which sells handcrafted home decor and accessories online and at local shops and fairs.

"We are vendors ourselves, and Nancy [Zimmerman Boord, of the Chamber] approached us and asked if we'd be interested in putting this together," said Marchelle, describing how they got recruited to organize the vendor fair - their first time doing so. "We said, 'Sure, why not? It should be fine. It should be easy.'"

She laughs, then adds: "It's a good thing we're very organized." 

Jokes aside, Marchelle and Fillis said organizing the big event has been smooth sailing for the most part. They anticipate hosting 27 food and market vendors this year, including 15 who have never vended at Colorama before.

"Having a good variety of vendors, I think, sets it apart," Fillis said, rather than a bunch of booths all selling the same things. 

This year the market will feature facepaint and henna artists, clothing and accessories, resin taxidermy, illustrations and art, custom fishing rods, permanent jewelry, home goods, a vinyl record booth, electronics repairs, kids activities, and a trucker hat bar.

"It's trucker hats, and then you pick the embroidery and they make it on site," Marchelle said. 

As for food, festival-goers can look forward to classic carnival food, noodle dishes, Mexican food, hot dogs, shaved ice, boba tea, and frozen shaved fruit.

Friday and Saturday will both include a beer garden and live music on the stage in North Dam. 

Dylan Green has filled the stage with local musicians and a couple of acts coming from Spokane, starting at 4 p.m. Friday May 10, and at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Musicians include Randy Spotts and Austin Carruthers on Friday. Saturday's acts include Super Rat vs. Creature Society, Early Berkley, and Whiskey Trail.

And if you're in the mood for breaking out in song yourself (or encouraging friends to do so) karaoke in the park is 7-10 p.m Friday, hosted by DJ Smallz. 

Before and after vendor hours, there's the Cowboy Breakfast at the senior center Saturday morning 7:30 to 10:30, the parade down Midway Avenue, starting at 11 a.m., and MPH HiDam's After Party happening Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights going until 2 a.m.

"The Chamber's goal with this is to really coordinate with the other groups and really have it be a big community event," said Nancy Zimmerman Boord, executive director of the chamber of commerce, in an interview last month. "Our goal is to make sure everyone's included."