Food, wine and music comes to McCosh Park

MOSES LAKE - Food, wine and music are on the menu at Moses Lake's McCosh Park this weekend for the Grant County Food & Wine Festival.

The food is catered by Michael's on the Lake, said Bill Burke, who organized the event. Close to 20 different wines from 6 wineries will be available, he said.

"This is the second time we've done the wine festival," he said. "We started it last year. We had pretty good success with it, that's why we brought it back. We tweaked it just a little bit, based upon what people asked us to do with it."

People wanted the experience to be classier, said Burke. So instead of serving wine from plastic cups like last year, they've dressed up the wine festival using real wine glasses, China, linens and chandelier lighting.

Tickets for the food and wine festival are $15 for a single ticket and $25 for a couple.

Tickets are available in advance at the City of Moses Lake Parks and Recreation Department, at 4115 S Balsam Street and at the Grant County Commissioners Office in the Grant County Courthouse, at 35 C St. NW in Ephrata. Tickets will also be available at the door.

Tickets include food and one wine sampling, said Burke. People can purchase additional wine samples.

The festival runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

People participating in the food and wine festival must be 21, said Burke; adding that ID will be required. A food court open to the general public will be open from noon to 10 p.m.

Bands start playing at 5 p.m. at the Centennial Amphitheater. Suzy Bogguss performs Friday at 8 p.m. and The Classics IV perform 8 p.m. on Saturday.

All music performances are free and open to the public.

This weekend's music performances are different than others in the concert series because they start earlier in the day, said Burke.

"Normally we start at 8 p.m. and go to 10 p.m., but on these double weekends we bring in local artists, too, like Josh Moss, Hiawatha and also the Grant County Centennial Band," he said.

Burke will be performing himself with his band Yellow Dog & the Jubilation Singers. The band plays protest and love songs from the '60s and '70s, he said.

"If you're going to change the world you've got to make a bunch of noise," he said with a laugh.

Burke said Moses Lake's summer concert series is the longest running concert series in Washington state.

"Come on out," he said. "This is just another one of several events this summer. And don't forget the bluegrass festival the following weekend!"

For more information on the summer concert series, go online and visit mlrec.com/concert-series_312.html.