Festival of Americal comes off despite a hitch (literally) or two

The biggest local festival of the year drew thousands to Grand Coulee Dam to celebrate Independence Day with fireworks, live music and even the original laser show on the dam.

What they couldn't see were the unusual challenges that started the week for Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce officials. With the festival looming on Friday, Krystal and Jillian Fillis, executive directors in training, knew they had a lot of organizational boxes to tick off by Thursday.

But Monday morning they discovered all the chamber's equipment for hosting the beer garden had been stolen - the big tent, the chairs, tables, fencing. Even the trailer they were stored in. All gone.

Someone had backed up to the trailer's hitch and driven off with it.

But people chipped in and stepped up, and by showtime everything needed was in place, albeit borrowed or rented. Low vendor attendance meant those who showed up were busy. Some who didn't had declined citing last year's high heat, and one canceled on Thursday because she had Covid.

A bad valve in the water system meant low pressure, which made it necessary to move the kids' water toys to a different area and limit them to just a couple.

But kids were still playing and cooling off. The weather was good, as were the musicians, and the beer garden was running out of some beers.

It was a one-day show, and people were enjoying that day no matter what. Every place you looked, the town was full of people but very few parking spaces. The chamber's estimate on attendance: about 15,000.

"Up until the fireworks started, it was fantastic," Fillis said. The plan had been to start them at 10:30 p.m., after both laser shows. The Bureau of Reclamation had offered to run both the newer show and the older one from 1989. People were excited to see it again. Fireworks would come right after the older one.

Except they didn't wait that long. Fuses were lit shortly after the first laser show ended, so the old one, with "Coming to America" and other songs playing along, got disrupted and hard to hear.

Fillis still isn't sure exactly what happened, but speculates perhaps a pause between the two shows led the pyrotechs to think it was time, although the contract specified a 10:30 start. "That's the only thing I can think of," she said Tuesday.

By then, police had located a suspect for the trailer theft, who confessed and told them where he'd left all the equipment. It was spread out.

Fillis didn't want to name him before police did officially, and a police report wasn't ready for The Star, but she did say he is local.

She said he'd told police some chairs were in two different places. The steel poles had been taken to a recycler in Wenatchee, where the trailer was parked behind a JC Penney store, with the tables still in it. The big tent was left in a ditch in Mansfield.

"To everyone who attended: your excitement, grace, and support - especially through the surprise delays - reminded us why this celebration is so special," the chamber wrote in a Facebook thank you note to many who had helped. "Here's to small towns with big hearts - and a 4th of July celebration we'll never forget. Already counting down to 2026."

Next week might seem pretty easy.