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Frank Varga

Grab your rubber ducky in one arm and your skateboard in the other and head east for upriver’s biggest annual festival, Cascade Days, on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 18 and 19.

Come join the more than 5,000 people who visit downtown Concrete to enjoy a parade, lawmower races, a logging show, quilt show, firemen’s muster, car show, salmon barbecue, pie-eating contest and music from several local bands.

Of course, organizers plan to offer two of the festival’s favorite events again this year: the parade and the duck races, both down Main Street.

Organizers say they expect more than 100 parade entries this year, with everything from fire and emergency vehicles and log trucks to antique cars, the Lake City Western Vigilantes, truckers, belly dancers, the United General Hospital Bedpan Brigade and the locally famous Wild Women of Woolley.

“It always amazes me the number of people who get involved,” said Bonnie Drake, Cascade Days parade committee coordinator. “I’ve been to many of these parades before and have never wished they were over.”

The parade usually winds its way down Main Street for about an hour, to the delight of the onlookers who line the sidewalks.

Then there’s the annual duck race — always a popular attraction, especially for children, said John Burmaster, vice president of the event.

Race participants usually purchase numbered plastic ducks, which are then loaded into a Puget Sound Energy water truck and taken to Main Street. The trucks then pour the water and ducks onto the street. The participant with the duck that travels the farthest down the street wins, Burmaster said.

Another popular event is the car show, Burmaster said. Last year, about 100 classic cars lined up along Main Street.

“We were concerned about where we were going to park them,” Burmaster said.

Other well-attended events include the lawnmower races on Sunday, the kids’ pie-eating contest and the soapbox derby, with two categories for those ages 12 and younger, and 13 and older.

“It’s not going to be a sanctioned event, so any soap box car can come,” said Rich Frank, president of Cascade Days. “As long as it has working breaks and a seat belt and they’re wearing a helmet, they can come.”

Frank said organizers are hoping more adults will participate this year.

The fireman’s muster and logging show also keep watchers busy and involved, Frank said.

A new feature this year is the skateboarding competition at the new skateboard park in town. Originally, nationally known skateboarder and Concrete native Ronson Lambert was going to judge the contest. He had called organizers with the idea of having a competition during Cascade Days, Burmaster said.

But Lambert has said he won’t be able to attend the festival. Nonetheless, organizers say the competition will continue. Each skateboarder has three minutes to perform as many moves as they can. Competitors will be judged on their unique moves and completing the tricks they present.

Cascade Days has been a staple event in Concrete since about 1937, although it has changed its lineup and name several times, from North Cascades Day to Good Ol’ Days, and then to Cascade Days about four years ago, Burmaster said. It was started as a way to promote building a highway through town to the mountains (which in 1972 finally become the North Cascades Highway).

The event has threatened to die out several times, but was rescued by townspeople and recently given a breath of fresh air, Burmaster said.

“We’ve been trying to get reorganized and put together some bylaws and policies and procedures so that new people who come into the management program and committees don’t have to start from scratch each time,” Burmaster said. “It’s a fun event, and we want to support it.”

*Beverly Crichfield can be reached at 360-416-2135 or