Camas events on the move during Crown Park work

Several city-sponsored events that normally take place at Camas’ historic Crown Park will be temporarily moving to new locations in 2024 and 2025, as the city’s long-awaited Crown Park remodel kicks off later this spring.

The City’s 35th annual Easter egg hunt, held Sunday, March 31, was the last big event the City will host at Crown Park until the remodel, which includes an inclusive playground, interactive splash pad and public restroom, is completed in 2025.

The first big site change will take place June 1, when the annual Camtown Youth Festival moves from Crown Park to Dorothy Fox Elementary School, Camas Recreation Coordinator Krista Bashaw told members of the Camas Parks and Recreation Commission during their March 27 meeting.

“We’ve partnered with the Camas School District, and everyone has been fabulous,” Bashaw said. “We will have the same fun activities, but no art show. We do not have a secure, safe space where the public would be allowed to go, so the art show will be on hiatus until 2025.”

Bashaw said the Camas elementary school, located at 2623 N.W. Sierra St., will have plenty of on-site and street parking and that the Harvest Community Church has also offered the use of its parking lot.

The temporary move also means festival organizers will be able to get a more accurate account of how many people actually attend the Camtown Youth Festival since attendees will enter through a gate.

“This will be our first time with a gated event, so we can get accurate numbers,” Bashaw said. “We usually gauge (how many attend the event), but it’s always nice when you can click them in.”

In July, the City’s annual Concerts in the Park will be held on Thursday evenings at Dorothy Fox Park, located at 2121 N.W. 23rd Ave., in Camas. Although the site will have an amphitheater and lawn-seating, the space is smaller and will not accommodate the larger bands people might remember from past Concerts in the Park events, Bashaw said.

“We will have smaller bands there with, ideally, four or less,” she added.

During the summer months, the City’s annual Family Fun Fridays will get more than just a location swap, Bashaw said.

“We’ve changed the name, time and day,” she explained. “It will now be called Tots to Teens and will take place on Tuesdays th at local park sites.”

Whereas the former Family Fun Fridays events ran from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays throughout July and August, the Tots to Teens events, which will still incorporate activities courtesy of Columbia Play Project, will now be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Bashaw said, reflecting feedback from community members who said Tuesdays were a good day for the family-oriented events.

The City’s Movies in the Park events will still happen every Friday night in August, but will move to Dorothy Fox Elementary School during the Crown Park construction in 2024.

“They have power there, but only one outlet, so we’ll most likely have to run it on a generator,” Bashaw said. “There is a sloped area with a solid wall for the screen to not have any wind interference.”

Bashaw said the City also plans to hold smaller, ribbon-cutting events to kick off the Crown Park remodel and to celebrate upgrades at the City’s South Lacamas Creek Trail trailhead off Northeast Third Avenue.

“The build will begin in late spring,” Bashaw said of the Crown Park improvements. “And we’ll do a simple groundbreaking.”