Free fun for cool kids

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 prepared to get wet. And if you plan to stay into the night for the entertainment and fireworks, dry clothes to change into, if necessary, might not hurt either.

That said, the weather ordered ;) for the two-day event is expected to get hot each day — in the high 80s on July 4, low 90s on July 5.

So, kids activities available in the park for the festival include:

• water games,

• splash pads, and

• sprinklers, organizers say.

And extra shade tents will be available too.

The addition comes in response to suggestions made at last year’s festival.