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LL Days breathes life into old tradition
7/28/2010 10:37:58 AM
By Hailey Rile
Splash Intern
An old tradition is returning this weekend to Liberty Lake.
The city, along with local businesses and clubs, has worked to revive Liberty Lake Days, an event based on the All-Valley Picnic that took place in the early 1900s. Two days of mainly free activities will fill Pavillion Park and the streets of Liberty Lake with a car show, old-fashioned carnival games, music and food.
The event launches Friday night in downtown Liberty Lake with a car cruise from 7 to 9 p.m., with free registration at 6:30 p.m. All classic or collectible vehicles are welcome, organizers said. Meadowwood Lane and Liberty Lake Road will close to traffic, and vendors will be off of Liberty Lake Road. The public is invited to park lawn chairs along Liberty Lake Road to watch the line of cars.
The activities continue Saturday at Pavillion Park with old-fashioned carnival games, contests, music, vendors and food. The carnival games run at various times between 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and include an egg toss, three-legged race, gunnysack race, cakewalk, pie-eating contest and tricycle race, in which participants must bring their own tricycle or big wheels. There also will be bounce houses. Tickets can be won at each game and redeemed at the prize booth.
Bed races have been canceled due to lack of participation, organizers said.
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Excluding the bounce houses and food, the entire event is free to the community. Pre-registration is closed for the pie-eating contest and vending opportunities.
More events for car lovers include a model car display and contest, car show and valve cover races. The model car display and contest are open to all ages, with registration from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, with people's choice awards following at 2:30 p.m. Registration for the car show will be 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with awards at 3:30 p.m.
Food options will range from hamburgers, chicken and rice, hotdogs and tacos, to kettle corn, snow cones and ice cream.
Parking is available at Liberty Lake Elementary with a free shuttle to Pavillion Park. The lot at the park will be reserved for those who are handicapped or need extra assistance.
The city previously tried to resurrect the Liberty Lake Days tradition in 2006.
"I think it was pretty successful, but we never got a chance to continue it," said Amanda Tainio, the city's manager of planning and building services. "We decided to continue it [in 2010], rename it Liberty Lake Days, and hopefully make it a yearly event the last Saturday in July."
Troy Mullenix, recreation coordinator for the city, said that events like Liberty Lake Days benefit the community.
"It also brings people in from outside as well," he said. "It offers families a free thing to go do on a Saturday."
A detour map for Friday and Saturday, as well as a full list of event times, is available on the city's website, www.libertylakewa.gov.
For more information, contact Tainio at 755-6708 or Mullenix at 755-6726.