Royal City Summerfest delivers

ROYAL CITY — The Royal City Summerfest went off well over the weekend, said Jill Larsen, a member of the festival committee.

“The heat was a little much, but it's always hot,” Larsen said. “So always we try to keep it in mind; that's why we tried to put all of our vendors in the shade.”

The food vendors were arranged around the perimeter of Lions Park, with the craft vendors toward the front. The sunny part of the park was used for the Headlights and Summer Nights Car Show on Friday evening. The vehicles arranged around the park ranged from antiques to low riders. There was even a perfect replica of the General Lee from the TV show “The Dukes of Hazzard,” right down to the horn that played “Dixie.”

“We picked up this car about a year ago and it wasn't running,” said Jeff Cobb of Ephrata, who restored the General with his 13-year-old son Clayton. “So we updated the motor and the transmission … It’s a 383 motor with a 727 transmission, and we have a 440 at home in the shop that we’re rebuilding, getting ready to put it in.”

The orange 1969 Dodge Charger with the Confederate flag on the roof was iconic to kids of a particular generation, Cobb said, including him.

“When I was about 14 years old, I convinced my mom to let me paint my bedroom ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ orange,” Cobb said.

The trophies for the car show were made out of old auto parts by the Royal High School auto shop, Larsen said.

“(The show) really brings the two groups together because a lot of our Hispanic population is really into cars and then our kind of older generation is really into cars, and it just melds really well,” she said.  “It’s really community-building.”

Alongside the car show, the Royal Slope firefighters had brought an engine for the Touch-a-Truck, letting children check out the lights and the sirens and try their hand at wielding the fire hose.

“I think we’ve had about 100, 150 kids,” said Samantha Sandstrom, who was helping 10-year-old Enedina Torres use a hose to knock over a row of traffic cones. “I think it’s the flashing lights that attracts them, but (also) getting to spray water.”

Also Friday evening was the fun run sponsored by Future Farmers of America. David Trail brought home the first-place medal for that, Larsen said.

Saturday morning, the festivities began with a free farmers breakfast: pancakes, eggs and sausage cooked up on the spot by the Royal Educators Association, Larsen said. The parade was at 10 a.m. and featured the Seattle Cossacks motorcycle drill team, as well as the traditional dancing horses — more than 60 of them, Larsen said.

One of the more popular attractions was expanded this year to both days: mutton bustin’, operated by Oklahoma-based Ride Hard Entertainment. It’s sort of a rodeo for the little kids, where a child wearing a helmet and pads climbs onto a sheep and tries to stay on for eight seconds. Volunteers offer different amounts of help depending on the child’s age — and courage. The riders seldom make it the full eight seconds, but neither sheep nor passengers seemed to mind much.

Saturday wrapped up with Banda in the Park, a series of performances by Los Vega, Grupo Los 4 and Paso Firme.

One of the things that made this year’s Summerfest a success was accessible power for the vendors, Larsen said.

“(Grant County Commissioner and Summerfest Committee Member) Cindy Carter secured a grant for us to get new power in the park,” she said. “Last year we just had the 30-year-old power (infrastructure) that couldn’t keep up with the vendors … So we had four new posts put on either side of the park, and that just helped us tremendously.”

Joel Martin may be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.

    Enedina Torres, 10, of Royal City, uses a fire hose to knock over traffic cones with a little help from firefighter Samantha Sandstrom. Enedina’s little sister Evelia, 6, waits to try her hand next.
  

    This 1941 International pickup was one of the vehicles on display at Summerfest Friday.