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Moses Lake rocks out at Red, White and Boom

JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year AGO
by JOEL MARTIN
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | July 9, 2025 3:15 AM

MOSES LAKE — The weather was warm and the music was hot Thursday at Moses Lake’s Red, White and Boom celebration at McCosh Park. 


About 400 people came out to Moses Lake’s Independence Day celebration July 3, which included two free concerts, food vendors and a craft table set up down near the stage where children could string beads for bracelets. The Moses Lake Museum & Art Center, which hosted the table, also had glow sticks, hula hoops and dancing ribbons, long rainbow-colored strips that the youngsters could twirl as they danced. 


“(The dancing ribbons) seem to be the hit of the evening,” said Museum Creative Programs Coordinator Jenni Shelton. “The hula hoops are a hit. The weather’s great, and we’re just celebrating.” 


The event was mostly centered on the music, featuring two free concerts. Spectators set up chairs and blankets on the grass at the Centennial Amphitheater to hear first the Dimestore Prophets and then Lake City Blues. 


The event drew about half a dozen food vendors, both local and visiting. Fare included corn dogs, shaved ice, ice cream and barbecue from Blacky’s Smokin’ Sweet of Othello. 


“This is my first year at this event,” said Blacky’s owner Michael Black. “Mostly I’m down here for the farmers market … We’ve had roughly 150 (people in the first couple of hours).” 


The event was held on July 3 because of difficulty arranging for fireworks on the Fourth, according to Moses Lake Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director Doug Coutts. The fireworks show at 10 p.m. was fired off from a barge in the middle of the lake. 


“I love that they’re still doing this, given everything that’s been going on in our country and everyone else’s,” said Gray Cassius of Moses Lake, who was enjoying hearing Dimestore Prophets for the first time. “I’m glad we’re all able to come together and enjoy it.” 


    Children twirl their dancing ribbons at Red, White and Boom Thursday.
 
 
    Shyla Young-Settles, 4, enjoys some cotton candy at Red, White and Boom in Moses Lake.
 
 
    Lake City Blues performs “Let the Good Times Roll” at Red, White and Boom Thursday.
 
 
    Moses Lake Museum & Art Center staff help children figure out what crafts they’d lke to do at Red, White and Boom. The museum supplied glow sticks and dancing ribbons, as well as an assortment of beads for making bracelets.
 
 
    The pyrotechnics team sets up for the fireworks show on a boat in the middle of Moses Lake Thursday.
 
 


ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN

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