MOSES LAKE — When it comes to summertime in Moses Lake it doesn’t take much coercion to find another reason to party.

The Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce has obtained a $30,000 tourism grant to take over the annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration and the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce is looking to turn the first week of July into another summer festival.

The working title is the “Lake of Lights Festival.”

The annual Fourth of July display has been handled by the Moses Lake Farmers Market for the past couple of years after the city planned to cancel the event. Now that the chamber of commerce has landed a $30,000 grant from the Department of Tourism, director Debbie Doran-Martinez is looking to take it to a new level.

They want to continue with the concert in the park and the fireworks on Saturday night, but Doran-Martinez has been in contact with the Port of Moses Lake, which would like to make the aircraft show it had for the 50th anniversary an annual event.

There are a couple of other ideas she’d like to incorporate into the project and she’s looking to get a working committee of 15 people together to spearhead this thing.

“The big picture, if we can bring in the aircraft component we can make it more of a sky fest, where we would have an air show and maybe some drone competitions,” she said. “We could have a truck rodeo, the concert in the park and just make it a three-day festival.”

The Farmers Market had to raise all the money itself. The chamber of commerce already has a $30,000 head start with the grant; the planning committee would expand on fundraising, as well as kick around new and fun stuff in addition to the Spring Fest, which is over the Memorial Day Weekend.

“The committee is going to name it what they want, but it will always be the first weekend in July,” Doran-Martinez said. “We’re looking for people to sit in on this committee to create this new festival. “We could have the air show on Friday, the drone-flying competition on Saturday-Sunday, the concert and truck rodeo on Saturday along with the fireworks.”

The initial meeting for the planning committee is at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 1 at the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re looking for anybody who wants to contribute and give back to the community to get involved in doing something we don’t currently have,” she said. “It’s a volunteer position, but you’re going to be a decision maker, shaping this new festival. It will be pretty intense the first seven months of the year getting ready. We’ll still meet the latter five months getting ready for the next year. The bulk of the work will happen January to July.”

For more information call Doran-Martinez at 509-765-7888 or just show up Feb. 1.