A Better Fest Sixth Annual Valleyfest This Weekend Is A Sure Bet For Family Fun
Patti Edelblute has never missed Valleyfest.
“It’s getting better and better,” Edelblute said of the annual neighborhood celebration. “(My grandchildren) can go there and have fun, but I love the concert.”
Indeed, the sixth annual bash has something for everyone, from Oreo stacking contests to children’s theater, arts and crafts to tap dancing.
“I know a woman that goes by herself for the bingo,” said Edelblute, a 34-year Valley resident.
Valleyfest even has an event this year that sounds like something out of “Late Night with David Letterman.”
The “Best Pet Trick Competition,” akin to Letterman’s “Silly Pet Tricks” will take place on Sunday from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. and will be accompanied by the “Most Unusual Pet Contest.”
“I asked a veterinarian friend of mine what to expect and he said anything from a tarantula to, you know, dogs and cats,” said Sue Delucchi, organizer of the festival.
Despite having only about 10 weeks to organize the festival, Delucchi has pulled everything together. In late June, Valleyfest Foundation hadn’t found a volunteer to coordinate the event because Delucchi, who’d done it for years, said she couldn’t afford to do the job unpaid. On June 26, the Foundation decided to pay Delucchi to be event organizer.
It’s a sign that Valleyfest is experiencing growing pains. About 25,000 people are expected to flood through the gates at Terrace View Park on Saturday and Sunday, from the first bites taken at the pancake breakfast Saturday to the final note played by the Spokane Symphony on Sunday night.
When Valleyfest began in 1990, about 4,000 people attended.
The festival has grown along with the attendance. Last year was the first year Valleyfest was extended to two days, with a few arts and crafts booths hanging around and the Spokane Symphony giving a concert on Sunday.
This year, Sunday’s activities will be full-blown and include bingo, the pet competition and a country music concert by the Riders of the Rockin’ B Ranch.
Valleyfest also has compromised this year on its long-term dilemma of whether to allow political candidates to advertise at the festival, which takes place the weekend before the Sept. 19 primary election.
The compromise is sure to be a splash. Political candidates will sit above a dunk tank from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For a half hour each, 12 candidates will shiver above the chilly water while people take aim - three balls for $1.
Among the participants are county commissioner candidates George Marlton, Art Meikel, Mike Davis, Chris Anderson and Martin Burnette, District 4 state representative candidates Mark Sterk, Mary “Chey” Austin and Daniel Meckel and Central Valley School Board candidates Craig Holmes, George Springer, Cheryl Knighton and Cal Cooney.
Valleyfest organizers will keep track of the amount of money each candidate earns, and note for the press the top money-maker’s total.
This year’s Valleyfest also will be a dance extravaganza. The Inland Northwest Dance Association has pulled together its members and will perform together from 2 to 3:45 p.m. Saturday. In past years, only one or two of the member studios have performed.
“It’s in order for us to give a wide variety of entertainment,” said Gail Bongiovanni, president of the association. “It’s going to be one act following the other.”
To be included are jazz, tap, ballet and clogging. Bongiovanni’s own studio will feature dancers as young as 3 years old, in a variety of costumes, doing song and dance routines.
“They look forward to it every year,” she said. “They’re the most enthusiastic.”
The dance association will be proceeded that morning with the Angus Scott Pipe Band and Highland Dancers, followed by the Youth Square Dancers. “The whole day is going to have lots of dancing in it,” Delucchi said.
Despite the festival’s growth and new features, the traditional events that made Valleyfest a favorite for neighborhood children are still in place. Children can compete in the Punt, Pass and Kick tournament, try to stack Oreo cookies higher than anyone else and pet llamas and goats in the petting zoo.
“It’s for the kids, that’s the good part,” said Valley resident Peggy Palmer, who’s taken her two children to Valleyfest twice.
Above all else, said Delucchi, the free festival should provide a day of fun that any family can afford.
Edelblute agreed.
“There are so few things that are (free),” Edelblute said.
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