Enumclaw will be bustling the next few days as Creation 2012 floods the Expo Center and downtown fills with the excitement of Street Fair visitors, vendors and entertainers.
Not far away, the small town of Wilkeson enjoys the biggest day of its summer, celebrating the annual handcar races and everything that goes with the event.
Street Fair is more than just shopping
A wide variety of activities aim to keep people entertained, all under the sponsorship of Enumclaw Rotary and organized by the two-woman team of Rene Popke and Jaclyn VanHoof.
The downtown portion of the Street Fair, featuring more than 120 vendors, will operate from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Aside from the shopping opportunities found on a blocked-off Cole Street, guests can play miniature golf at the corner of Cole and Myrtle Avenue, let kids enjoy a pony ride, soak someone in the dunk tank or take in the carnival that will set up between Cole and Railroad streets.
Entertainment is ongoing at both a main stage and children’s stage. Among those featured on the main stage will be Jimmy Free’s Friend, playing reggae at noon Friday; the Sammy Steele Band, offering up country rock at 2 p.m. Friday; and the local Doug Cassell Band, playing classic rock at 5 p.m. Friday. Saturday’s musical lineup will include the a cappella group Uptown 4, which takes the stage at 5 p.m., and Queen Anne, a group consisting of Enumclaw High students, which plays at 6.
Reptile Man, who always attracts a crowd with his snakes, tortoises and more, will put on a show at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Again this year, organizers are planning an Enumclaw Idol contest on Saturday afternoon.
The event, with a $100 prize going to the winner, is for solo acts between the ages of 12 and 20. It will take place on the stage just off Cole Street.
Back again is the 5K run/walk, slated for 9 a.m. Saturday. Participants will take off from a Railroad Street starting line, head north to Battersby Avenue, turn right and head to 284th Avenue Southeast where they will turn around and follow a slightly longer course back to the start/finish line. Prizes will be awarded to the top male and female finishers in each of seven age categories.
New this year will be a one-mile version just for the younger set, beginning immediately before the main event.
All race information, including registration, can be found on the Street Fair website, www.enumclawstreetfair.com.
Four days of Creation attracts thousands daily
Creation 2012, a four-day festival of music and all things celebrating the Christian faith, kicks off today, Wednesday, on the Expo Center grounds.
Organizers anticipate crowds of perhaps 15,000 daily.
Impacts of Creation will be evident throughout town – from the lines at coffee shops and crowded aisles in local grocery stores to the tent city that springs up in farm fields adjacent to the Expo Center. Organizers corral all the space the city has to offer and, beyond that, rent farmers’ fields in the vicinity of 284th Avenue Southeast.
Now in the third year in Enumclaw, event organizers have seemingly perfected the concert experience and provide nearly everything needed to keep guests occupied, happy and fed. Creation provides its own security, food court and medical team. Kristen Damazio, who runs the center for the city, said her staff is charged only with picking up trash, keeping restrooms clean and helping with set-up and take-down.
Damazio admits things get loud during Creation, but notes the Expo Center is exempt from city noise ordinances. In an effort to help satisfy nearby residents, she has requested that live music be halted by 11 p.m. on each of the four nights.
The only other development that could concern local residents is the traffic flow in the vicinity of the Expo Center. Authorities turn 284th Avenue Southeast into a one-way thoroughfare for the duration of Creation.
