This Weekend: Parties at LaCrosse, Lamont, Steptoe, Tekoa

Under the theme “Welcome Home: a celebration of where we live,” LaCrosse will kick off its annual Farmers’ Festival this weekend.

The festival starts Friday night with a spaghetti dinner at the Teapot Café, followed by music and dancing at the Pastime Tavern.

Saturday events begin with breakfast at the Masonic Hall from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Breakfast will be served by the DC Kids.

Seniors for the class of 2011 will begin their car wash at the bus barn beginning at 9 a.m.

Participants in the Farm Festival parade will line up at the scale house beginning at 9:30 a.m. Kiddies parade participants will line up next to the post office on Third Street beginning at 10 a.m.

Also at 10 a.m. the craft show will start at the park.

The parade down Main Street will begin at 10:30 a.m.

Chalk artists will begin decorating the football field sidewalk at 11 a.m. Also at 11 a.m. a petting zoo will open near the city park and the Mudfest will begin off Scott Road just south of town.

At noon the LaCrosse Community Club’s pit barbeque and the potluck picnic will begin at the park. Beverages will be served by the 4H group and the DC Kids will serve ice cream.

High school fundraisers will begin next door, with a junior class dunk tank and face painting with the sophomores.

The city pool will be open from 1-5 p.m. and again from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. for a free swim.

The money and prize scramble will begin at 1 p.m. next to the park. Age groups are 1-3 and 4-6 years. At 1:30 p.m. the LaCrosse Community Club will conduct races at the football field.

The basketball game in the LaCrosse Gym will be at 2 p.m. with the master teams 60-plus, and 65-plus.

Throughout the day, LaCrosse resident will conduct garage sale. Maps of the sale sites will be available at the Teapot Cafe, post office and city hall.

The festival will conclude with dancing at the Pastime Tavern beginning at 9 p.m.

Lamont has decided to celebrate its official centennial in a party Saturday, two years after it celebrated its 100th birthday.

Saturday’s party recognizes the official incorporation of what is now Washington state’s second-smallest town located at the northwest corner of the county.

Mayor Steve Lacy explained two years ago Lamont celebrated because that’s when the town was founded as part of the building of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle railroad.

Saturday’s event celebrates when the town became official on the state books.

Start of the action will be an 11 a.m. parade down Spokane Street which was still under construction at the last celebration.

Festivities will continue at noon with Lamont chef Charlie Porter serving barbecue at the Lamont Community Center.

Live music and vendors will also be featured at the park. Spokane band Rain Shadow will play old time music for celebrants.

Art and Jill Swannack and family will bring in goats, lambs, geese, ducks and puppies for a petting zoo in the park.

There will also be a ceremony to name the recently re-painted fire station in honor of Dale Windsor, a long-time member of the Lamont City Council.

Lacy credits Windsor with much of the push which brought in the new streets and sidewalks and the water system.

More than 100 years ago, the Lamont site was purchased by the Northwest Improvement Co. from William and J.B. Swannack for $6,200. Purchase was part of the company’s efforts to link SP & S by rail.

Its namesake is former United States War Secretary Daniel S. Lamont, who was named a vice president of Northern Pacific Railway in 1897.

The SP & S later was merged into what is now the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe system until the company decided to close the SP & S line in 1987.

The former railroad right-of-way is now part of the Columbia Plateau Trail, although the developed trail segment ends at Martin Road in Spokane County north of Lamont.

Lamont’s population is now 96. The town of Krupp in Grant County has a count of 60.

Devin Anderson of Pullman, who won last year’s ball roll, will shove Steptoe’s giant ball off the top of Steptoe Butte Saturday to cap Steptoe Bust Your Butte and Ball Drop Day.

The giant ball will go off the butte at 2 p.m. To fund Steptoe’s day, the committee sells tickets to people who want to estimate the elapsed time of the ball roll. Tickets for $2 each can be purchased in advance at Glaser’s Jewelry in Colfax or in Steptoe during the day’s activities.

The entrant who gets the nearest guess to the elapsed time will win the $200 prize.

A softball game pitting Steptoe and the Colfax Fire Department will start at 9:30 a.m.

At 11:30 a.m. the parade on Steptoe Street will start with everyone welcome.

The Firemen’s barbecue at the fire station will start at noon.

Also at noon is a contest to determine who can toss a bag of split peas the greatest distance. The bag toss will be at the fire station. Spokane Seed is sponsoring the “peas for distance” event. Entry for the contest will be $1.

Proceeds from the Steptoe days events go into a scholarship fund which is awarded to a Steptoe Grade School grad who receives a diploma from one of the neighboring high schools.

Locals will sing their hearts out and dance the night away at the Tekoa Slippery Gulch festival this Saturday.

Off to a start this week was the fishing derby along Hangman Creek. Youngsters who land the largest fish will win a prize at the award ceremony which will follow the grand parade Saturday.

The parade on Crosby Street will begin with the kids’ parade at 10:30 a.m. followed by the main parade at 11 a.m.

After the parade and the awards ceremony, all comers will be welcome to participate in the egg toss event on Crosby Street.

A small-town version of American Idol contest will be in the Tekoa Empire Theatre. Contestants will perform their favorite tune to a team of three judges.

Sessions of a Small Town American Idol Contest at the Empire Theater Saturday will be at 4 p.m. for youngsters and 6 p.m. for adults.

First place awards will be $200 and second place $100, according to Melinda Wilkins, Slippery Gulch co-chairman

“I think people really like the thought of seeing local people [singing],” Wilkins said.

Last year the event drew 16 competitors to the theatre. The standing room only crowd got a kick from seeing their friends and neighbors perform, Wilkins said.

“It was so big last year,” she said.

Adult dances will be Friday and Saturday nights at the Jaycee Club. Another adult dance will be 9 p.m. Saturday at the Brotherton Building. A teen dance will be at the school Saturday beginning at 10 p.m.

Slippery Gulch Rodeo this year will start at 9 a.m. Sunday in the Iron Horse Arena. Previewing the rodeo Saturday will be roping competition at 2 and 6 p.m. in the arena.

The festival run begins at 8 a.m., Saturday. Two separate routes, one five miles and one two miles will begin along Highway 27. The five mile jog, Wilkins said, goes off Highway 27 and out the Catholic Cemetery north of town.

The fireworks display will be a 10 p.m. Saturday at the football field.