Spring Fest lineup announced

MOSES LAKE — Rappers Tone Loc, Montell Jordan and Vanilla Ice will be among the headline acts at this year’s Spring Festival at McCosh Park in Moses Lake, May 25-28.

“We’re really excited about this year, and we’ve got vendors already calling and people calling to sponsor,” said Sean Sallis, president of the committee organizing this year’s festival. “They’re already coming to us wanting to be involved.”

Sallis said music this year will highlight an R&B weekend, with Jordan and Tone Loc scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 26, and Vanilla Ice scheduled to perform at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 28. Both performances will be free and will cap a weekend of activities in and around McCosh Park that include concerts by local and regional artists, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, a carnival, a car show, a parade and assorted entertainment to celebrate spring.

“Saturday’s our local day. So all the kids come down and do their dances and the choirs come down,” Sallis said. “And then we’re trying to get some walking entertainment. We’re looking at possibly putting in another little stage somewhere up near the food booths to have some of the walking entertainment acts do a show at a certain time of the day.”

The goal, Sallis said, is “to provide so much stuff that you’ll never get to do it all.”

Sallis said the inspiration to invite Jordan, Tone Loc and Vanilla Ice came from 2018, when rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot was the headliner at the Spring Festival, and would draw more people from outside the community for the annual celebration.

It was also easier to secure the three performers because the sound company the Spring Festival works with is well known and well respected for its work with both artists and festival hosts, Sallis said, adding that because of this the festival has built a reputation over the last few years as an up-and-coming venue for nationally known performers.

“So when we go in, we try to get these (performers) like Vanilla Ice and Tone Loc and Montell Jordan, their agents are the ones that are saying, hey, this is Springfest,” Sallis said. “There’s a history with us.”

Spring Festival is also a good opportunity to highlight and celebrate the community, Sallis said.

“It’s a beautiful community. And that’s why we do it,” he said.

Sallis, who has been a volunteer helping to organize the Spring Festival, said planners are already working on entertainment for next year’s event.

“I won’t say what we’re thinking yet, but we’ve already got some stuff in play,” he said. “Our goal is by the time we get through a Spingfest, the bands for the next year are already in play.”

For more information on Spring Festival 2023, visit the festival website at www.springfestivalinmoseslake.com.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.