First-ever festival draws 16,000 people despite record heat

MOSES LAKE — Despite record high temperatures that scorched the Columbia Basin last weekend, more than 16,000 people came to McCosh Park to pig out and the event's promoter is calling the first-ever event a success.

Spokane-based event promoter Bill Burke had previously estimated as many as 20,000 people to come to Moses Lake's first "Pig Out in McCosh Park," a four-day music and food festival in the same vein as Spokane's "Pig Out in the Park" which Burke has been putting on for several years.

"All in all I think we saw 16,000 come through the site over the four days, the vast majority on Saturday," Burke said.

The four-day festival saw 25 food vendors fill stomachs of festival attendees, with 18 bands taking the stage at the park's Centennial Amphitheater.

The biggest event came on Saturday, when 1950s Do-Wap group Sha Na Na took the stage to record concert attendance, Burke said. The concert was promoted alongside the city's summer concert series, which continues Saturday nights through August.

"In any concert we've ever done in 17 years, that's probably the biggest concert we've ever done," Burke said.

Burke has been told by his vendors that they would like to participate in future pig outs, and Burke himself said Tuesday that there was potential for future events at the park. He also said he was encouraged by the people in Grant County and Moses Lake who worked with Burke to put on the event, adding he felt welcome by the people in Moses Lake.

Moses Lake Parks and Recreation Director Spencer Grigg told the city council Tuesday that Burke had called the event a success with the lion's share of the people pigging out on Saturday. And with the exception of weather, Grigg said the event went off exactly right, with no major problems reported by city police or parks and recreation crews on-site during the festival.