Past Programs & Events

WHITE SALMON SPRING FESTIVAL
ANNUAL COLUMBIA GORGE EVENT
June 3, 4 & 5, 2011
Rheingarten Park, White Salmon, Washington

There will be plenty of great family fun and entertainment at the 2011 White Salmon Spring Festival. Activities include Firemen's Breakfast, Parade, Opening Ceremonies, Cruiser Car Show, Concessions, Live Music, and more. Food and merchandise will be available for purchase.

For more information visit WhiteSalmonSpringFestival.com

WHITE SALMON ARTISTS STUDIOS OPEN HOUSE
May 21, 2011 - 10am to 5pm
White Salmon, Washington

White Salmon Arts Council and Wind River Cellars Winery are sponsoring the 1st White Salmon Artists Studios Open House on Saturday, May 21, 2011, from 10am to 5pm. 

This event will provide the public and other artists an opportunity to visit the galleries and studios of local White Salmon artists. Opening these workspaces will give everyone a unique chance to view, ask questions, and purchase works directly from the artists.

More information and tour map »

POSTER COMPETITION: Nights in White Salmon Art & Wine Fusion
Deadline: May 18, 2011

Attention All Gorge Artists! It’s time for the 7th Annual "Nights in White Salmon" Art and Wine Fusion Poster Competition.

We’re looking for poster artwork that reflects the White Salmon community and the spirit of the Art & Wine Fusion event, a celebration of local ART, ARTISTS, WINE and MUSIC.

Details »

GORGE ARTISTS OPEN STUDIOS
ANNUAL COLUMBIA GORGE EVENT
May 14-15, 2011
Columbia River Gorge

Meet the Artists in their natural habitats and get the inside scoop on art-making when artists of the Columbia Gorge open their studios to the public for the region’s 5th juried Gorge Artists Open Studios Tour.

Participating artists will open their work spaces for the public to view how and where they work, and to ask the artist directly any questions about their work.

Tour guides are available at Waucoma Books, Hood RIver; Ten Speed East, Mosier; and Klindt's Booksellers, The Dalles.

COMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER ART SHOW
Sponsored by the White Salmon Arts Council

May 9, 2011 - 4:30 to 6:30pm
Upstairs Gallery, Solstice Cafe, Bingen

This show will feature paintings and clay creations by young artists from the White Salmon Community Youth Center, and an opportunity to meet the artists.

White Salmon Arts Council artists Miki Caldwell, Eugene Mathes, and Judy Maule regularly work with the kids at the Community Youth Center and are often amazed at the talent they see growing before their eyes.

The White Salmon Community Youth Center provides safe, supervised, and substance-free educational and recreational opportunities for children aged 7 to 17. These opportunities include life-skills training, interaction with positive adult role models, and an opportunity to bond with their community. The White Salmon Arts Council provides continuing material support for Youth Center art programs.

"I'M DREAMING OF A WHITE SALMON" HOLIDAY FESTIVAL
Annual Event - 1st Saturday in December

On Saturday, December 4, 2010, downtown White Salmon, Washington, is once again hosting the annual "I'm Dreaming of a White Salmon" Holiday Festival.

While details of the 2010 event are still being finalized, past events have included breakfast and photos with Santa and Mrs Claus, music, artists, carolers, decorated shops, and the White Salmon Valley Community Library's annual "Holiday Wassail." The afternoon ends with hot chocolate, community caroling, and the lighting of our community Christmas tree.

The I'm Dreaming of a White Salmon Holiday Festival is organized and sponsored each year by the White Salmon Arts Council, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Gorge arts and artists.

Click here for a brief article about the 2007 event (PDF) »

This year's poster artwork is by Mark Nilsson.
White Salmon Arts Council event posters are available for purchase, $10 each.

NIGHTS IN WHITE SALMON ART & WINE FUSION
Annual Event

Final details to be announced; please note that information below is tentative and incomplete.

For the past five years the Nights in White Salmon Art & Wine Fusion has been one of the premier summer events in the Columbia River Gorge. The 6th annual Art & Wine Fusion will be a celebration of many things that help define our unique and wonderful home in the Columbia River Gorge.

This year we're planning a full day of exciting and family-friendly activities a Kids' Bike Parade, great local food, renowned local entertainment, top-notch local artists displaying their art throughout the town, award-winning local winemakers hosting tastings of their incredible wines, and all the warmth and beauty of an early summer day in the Gorge.

Artwork for 2010 Art & Wine Fusion poster by Natalie Hassell.
Past event posters are available for purchase, $10 each.

KING SALMON DOCK GRADE CLIMB
A Challenging & Scenic Ride up Dock Grade Road

July 10, 2010
White Salmon, Washington

Can YOU Make the Grade?

It’s a challenge, an opportunity, a ride like no other. White Salmon’s Dock Grade Road is only closed when the road is impassable due to snow and ice or debris. It’s a challenge to drive this road due to it’s narrowness and lack of road striping and rails. With 20% grades and no place for cars to pass, a bicyclist attempting to ride up would have to be crazy and/or arrested.

Except on July 10, 2010, when the road will be closed to automobile traffic for the challenging and scenic King Salmon Dock Grade Climb.

Riders will start at 12pm from the base of Dock Grade Road with an immediate 3/4-mile climb at a 20% grade. They’ll then wheel into White Salmon and across the finish line in front of Everybody’s Brewery, ready for something to quench their thirst and dull their aches and pains.

This isn’t a race, it’s just a chance for every cyclist to "Make the Grade" and enjoy one of the most challenging road climbs on the sunny side of the Gorge. Be sure to stick around after the ride to enjoy the Nights in White Salmon Art & Wine Fusion.

KAYAKS ON WHEELS
Fun, Costumed Race Down Jewett Boulevard

Downtown Jewett Blvd will be closed anyway for our Art & Wine Fusion festival, and what better way to kick off this salmon-themed event than with a Krazy Kayak Street Slalom??? Already sounds interesting, doesn’t it? But how will it work, you ask?

Kayaking is all about preparing properly and then having fun. So, your team of up to 6 salmon "chums" should have fun preparing creative costumes and decorating a kayak that is rigged ot be pulled up the street. Three OSHA (Oh So Humble and Awkward) cradles mounted on fixed and swivel caster wheels for rolling with ropes for towing will be available if you don’t create your own. For the competition your costumed team will pull or push your kayak for two blocks up Jewett Blvd along a winding chalk course. Prizes will be given for Best Team Costumes, Best Decorated Kayak, and Most Creative Style on the course.

The only things we require are that you run the course SAFELY and SANELY so you don’t hurt yourselves or the spectators lining the street, you don’t do damage to anyone or anything, and you don’t offend or gross out anyone at this family-friendly event.

KIDS' BIKE PARADE
Annual Event

July 10, 2010
Downtown White Salmon, Washington

Calling Kids of All Ages!

You can help us kick off this year's street art festival in downtown White Salmon. Dress up your bike, yourself, or even your dog, and join us at the Heidi’s gas station parking lot at noon on Saturday, July 10, 2010.

You'll have about an hour to turn in your registration and get your entry all dressed up before we line up and get ready to go.

At 1:00 pm the Kids' Bike Parade will start up Jewett Blvd with artists and spectators cheering you all along the way to the corner at City Hall.

When you get there Skyline Hospital nurses and a few juicy watermelons will show why everyone needs to wear a helmet when riding a bike. Then they'll adjust your helmet so it fits and works right, and they'll even have some helmets for kids who don't.

After the parade you'll help Janet Essley do street chalk art by the salmon fence while the balloon man entertains with great balloon animals.

Oh yea, did we mention that prizes will be awarded for the best decorated parade entry in each category? So give it your best dressed and let’s have some fun with this!

Categories are:
Decorated Bike
Costumes/Fairy Tales
Dress up With Pet
Float or Decorated Wagon
Family/Group/Club

Don't forget, on the day of the parade be sure to come early to register and get everything ready for a fun time!

WASHINGTON STATE ARTS COMMISSION PRESENTATION
K-12 Arts Education: Every Student, Every School, Every Year

White Salmon Arts Council members are invited to attend a Washington State Arts Commission presentation on Friday, June 11, 2010, at the Sprint Baker Art Gallery at the White Salmon Community Library from 11:30 am to roughly 2:30 pm.

The Commission will be presenting their recent publication: K-12 Arts Education: Every Student, Every School, Every Year. Lisa Jaret, the Arts in Education Program Director from WSAC, and Una McAlinden, the executive director of ArtsEd Washington, will engage meeting participants in a focused conversation about how the research and information contained in this report can be applied locally. They'll present an overview of the research that shows how the arts work in schools statewide, and they'll highlight some of the findings. All participants will receive a copy of the publication, and a brief opportunity to review it, then we will discuss what is most exciting or concerning about it, how it may be relevant locally, and what steps we might take as a result of exploring this work.

For more information about about the Arts Education Research Initiative visit: http://wa.gov/education/aeri.shtml

WHITE SALMON SPRING FESTIVAL
Annual Columbia Gorge Event

There will be plenty of great family fun and entertainment at the 2010 White Salmon Spring Festival. Activities include Firemen's Breakfast, Parade, Opening Ceremonies, Cruiser Car Show, Concessions, Live Music, and more.

Food and merchandise will be available for purchase.

For more information visit WhiteSalmonSpringFestival.com