Soap Lake cancels Smokiam Days
The Soap Lake Smokiam Days festival and the bed races are canceled this year due to a lack of volunteers and funding
SOAP LAKE - The annual Smokiam Days festival in Soap Lake is canceled.
A lack of funding and volunteers forced this year's event to be called off, according to Soap Lake Chamber of Commerce President Denise Keegan.
"We don't have a committee to put it all together and fund-raise," said Keegan. "We don't have enough money to actually get the fireworks. Last year we zeroed our fireworks account out and no one has come forward this year."
Traditionally, Soap Lake hosts the annual festival aimed a bringing people out on the Fourth of July weekend. The event is named for the area, which was once known as Lake Smokiam, or "healing waters."
The 2010 festival featured a parade and a horseshoe tournament, as well as a variety of vendors and a fireworks show.
"We were the only place that launched fireworks over the water," said Keegan.
The fireworks alone cost about $7,000-$8,000 and after firework prices rose last year, the Soap Lake Chamber of Commerce used all available funds to pay for the show.
"For quite a few years we've had a backup and last year we spent it all because the cost of fireworks had gone up," said Keegan.
But there are also several other expenses Keegan says there aren't funds for this year.
"The pyrotech company has their own insurance but we have to get insurance coverage for the rest of the stuff that goes on that day, then you have to get permits through the city. It adds up," says Keegan.
Despite several months of advertising, no volunteers have come forward to fill roles on the different sub-committees needed for the fireworks display.
"There is a committee for fundraising and sub-committees ... one would have been a boat crew and one would have been the pyrotechs in the first place," says Keegan.
April 15 is the deadline for contracting the fireworks company because other places book them for the same weekend, says Keegan.
"If they got together and could raise $5,000 to $7,000 in a very short time, it could be done," says Keegan. "But that's the point: we've put it out there since last year and no one has come forth."
For more information, call the Soap Lake Chamber of Commerce at 509-246-1821. The chamber is located at 300 Daisy St. in Soap Lake.