Concrete River Fest offers new events, old favorites

Two days of events have been packed into plans for the third annual Concrete River Festival in Colfax. Many of the festival favorites from the past and some new events are included in the line-up.

One of the major changes this year will be inclusion of the Relay for Life. The 20th annual relay will start Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Schmuck Park track with 11 relay teams on the entry list.

The relay will be conducted next to Schmuck Park where a full schedule of events will also be offered for festival participants through the day Saturday.

Another big addition to the festival Saturday will be a fireworks display to cap off the festival. The fireworks will be launched at the playfield area between the high school and the track after the 10 p.m. close of the relay.

Another big change Saturday will be a move of the Colfax parade back to a route down Main Street. For several years, the parade has been conducted on Mill Street, but the city has arranged for a return to Main this year.

The parade will start at 10 a.m. Saturday with staging at the First Baptist Church lot on Mill Street. Parade entrants will go south on Mill, west on Canyon and then head northbound on Main Street as far as North Street.

Chief Rick McNannay said he expects the parade to last 15 to 20 minutes.

City Administrator Michael Rizzitiello said the state Department of Transportation has vowed to have the Main Street area cleared of construction for the Saturday parade, and city crews will be dispatched to sweep the surface for the event.

As of last week, the contractor's work plan called for no grinding of the street surface on Main before Saturday's parade date.

One of the highlight events from the previous two years will be the Friday Cruise Night on Mill Street. Again the cruisers will loop on Mill Street starting at 8:30 p.m. after the Roller Derby demonstration in the city parking lot scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. A beer garden is also scheduled to be at the city hall lot.

Action at Schmuck Park Saturday is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. with the car show entries.

A kids carnival is slated to open at 10 a.m. and a beer garden at 11 a.m.

The famed Concrete River color run, again slated for a course which goes down the channel of the South Palouse River, will start at the park at 1:30 p.m. City crews have already moved the green rug roll to the side of the river by the S. Main Bridge. The water soaked rug serves as a slide into the river channel.

Entries to the color run can be made at the park before the starting time. The run will also finish at the park.

A concert featuring Keith and the Hankers will start in the park at 2 p.m.

Self-guided tours of downtown will be offered at The Center Friday starting at 11 a.m. Historic Downtown tours of Colfax buildings will start at The Center at 11 a.m. Saturday along with the self-guided tours.

A complete listing of Concrete River Days events can be found beginning on page 8 of section A.