Youth parade kicks off Ephrata festival
Sage-N-Sun celebrates 99th year
EPHRATA - The community of Ephrata offers a little bit of "old America" this weekend with a long-running annual festival.
"Sage-N-Sun is a local festival that has been going on for 99 years," said event President Candy Erickson. "What I mean by that is, it's a coming together of people. For 99 years there's always been either a Fourth of July picnic that rotated around the Ephrata people coming together or just a group of people getting together with a large picnic. It grew into festivals as time went on and during the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and so on and so forth, it got bigger and bigger and bigger and now here we are at our 99th."
The event is a place for kids to showcase what they have, complete with a Grand Parade, Erickson said.
"It's a bit of old America," she said. "It's one of those things you see dying off in many communities, and luckily enough, Ephrata still maintains it."
The theme for this year's festival is "Flag of our Country."
How many people will attend is never certain, Erickson said, although counters have calculated 10,000 to 12,000 people have been in attendance in the past during the Grand Parade.
"Then they dissipate throughout the community because there's things going on all over town," she said. "There's a lot of activity going downtown. We encourage people to wander in and wander out. Our venue is a little bit different from some of the others, we try to maintain things so people will want to stay."
The Youth Parade, hosted by the Ephrata Rotary Club, begins Thursday at 7 p.m. Lineup for the parade is 6:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. in the parking lot on the corner of Second Avenue Northwest, and C Street Northwest. The theme for the youth parade is "Make Dreams Real."
Awards are presented immediately following the parade at the Grant County Courthouse lawn area on C Street.
Friday at 8 p.m., a special two-hour performance by Troy "T-Bone" Lucas and the Girls takes place on the Grand Stage in front of the courthouse.
"Troy is one of our entertainers we've had for three years that the crowd really enjoys," Erickson explained. "They ask us afterward to make sure we bring him back."
Saturday is the largest day of the event. The Ephrata Farmers Market kicks off their season in the Downtown Plaza for the first time at 8 a.m. and it runs until 1 p.m.
"We always try to add something new every year, so we continue to grow and continue to showcase the things that happen in the Basin or surrounding area of Central Washington," Erickson explained.
The pre-parade starts Saturday at 10:15 a.m. Precision motorcycle group Tenino performs their routines for the audience. The Christian Motorcycle Association leads the pre-parade with a motorcycle demonstration. The association is staging its yearly rally at Ephrata High School.
The festival's Grand Parade starts Saturday at 11 a.m.
As the parade concludes, live entertainment begins at the courthouse lawn area. The show begins at noon Saturday, going until 6 p.m. Sunday entertainment also begins at noon running until 5 p.m.
Food vendors and booths will be available.
Soap Lake-based McKay Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center is hosting the festival's Royalty Luncheon Saturday after the Grand Parade.
Other events during the weekend include Races at the Racetrack, a quilt show at Ephrata High School, a book sale at the Ephrata Library, a Lions Fun Run and Cruize to Oasis - Classic Cars.
Erickson has a short list of things which would make the event successful in her eyes.
"Great weather, everybody having a good time, the vendors making money," she said, adding with a laugh, "The wind not blowing 60 miles an hour would really make me happy."
For more information, access the festival's Web site at www.sage-n-sun.com.