KALAMA — Longview may have the largest Fourth of July celebration in the region, but it’s no longer the only place in Cowlitz County to celebrate Independence Day with music, beer and fair food.
The inaugural Kalama Summer Lights on the 4th brought several hundred visitors into Kalama throughout the day Tuesday.
The Summer Lights were the brainchild of City Clerk Emily Moore. Moore said she thought the city could benefit from having a more formal holiday event along with the informal river beach celebrations that happens every year.
Moore pulled together a group of volunteers to run the event and received tourism dollars from the city to help fund it, arguing that it could be a draw for cruise passengers coming through the Port of Kalama. An American Cruise Lines ship was docked there Tuesday. Passengers took a bus trip to Mount St. Helens in the afternoon, but they moved through the holiday fest before and after.
“There’s a lot of locals too. I recognize a lot of people and it’s great to see the community pull together around this,” Moore said.
A few dozen people sat in the Westin Amphitheater for the afternoon’s first musical act, Alex Blum and the Roadside Quartet, with a lead singer from Kalama. Many more were walking around or gathering in the shade.
On the sidewalk behind the amphitheater were two rows of food tents and vendors. One of the sellers was the Mamas Collective, a Longview-based boutique that sells shirts and other items made by local mothers.
Amy Saldivak said the group decided to pick the new event instead of Longview’s Go 4th Festival to expand into Kalama. Saldavik said the two celebrations had very different energies.
“It’s more spread out, more laid back,” Saldivak said about the Kalama festival. “I think people are able to take their time more. It’s all more casual but in a good way,”
The rowdier, more traditional Kalama holiday celebrations drew a similar-sized crowd further south on the shores of the Columbia River. A line of pickup trucks and tents filled on the beach where people launched jet skis, fishing lines, or soaked up the sun. Multiple generations of local families gathered on the river whether or not they got in the water.
Crystal Russell had been coming the beach with her friend Robert several weekends during the summer. Russell had moved from Colorado to Vancouver around 2015 and said the river was one of her favorite local draws.
“I love that they’re doing this. It gives people the chance to be with everyone else or to isolate,” Russell said. “It’s a great little spot.”
Moore said that a funding source other than the tourism dollars would be needed to keep running the event in future years. A fundraiser or other source would be more stable than the tourism grant and allow the event to expand.
“It can only grow,” said Jim Bain, one of the volunteers at the event. Bain had arrived to set up the tents and chairs around 7 a.m. and expected he would stay until well after the final performance ended at 9 p.m.
There was not an official fireworks show at the Kalama Summer Lights, though plenty of amateur displays were set off along the beach.
