MOSES LAKE — The biggest celebration in Moses Lake’s calendar just keeps getting bigger.

Tens of thousands came to McCosh Park for Spring Fest last year. The 3-on-3 basketball tournament fielded 121 teams and there were 472 people at the fun run, said Spring Fest Committee Member Lori Valdez.

“The car show had over 200 cars, and they ran out of room,” Valdez said. “They had to turn cars away.”

The four-day festival begins Thursday evening with a donut-eating contest sponsored by Corner St. Donuts and the lip-sync battle sponsored by Trino Peña of Nest Realty. This year’s lip-sync artists will reproduce hits from the 2000s and 2010s. Winners will take home cash prizes of $500, $300 and $150 for first, second and third place respectively.

“We’ve been doing that for many years, and the last two years have been on the money,” Valdez said. “They had a leaf blower out there last year blowing the gals’ hair in the wind. They just went over the top.”

Friday’s offerings include free concerts by two iconic 1990s alt-rock bands. First will be Eve 6, remembered for their hit songs “Inside Out’” and “Here’s to the Night.” They’ll take the stage at the Centennial Amphitheater at 8 p.m. They’ll be followed by the Spin Doctors, whose songs “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” and “Two Princes” were all over the radio in the early 1990s. This isn’t the Spin Doctors’ first visit to Moses Lake; they played a concert at McCosh Park in 2013, according to Columbia Basin Herald archives.

Saturday is when the local talent has a chance to shine, with a full slate of homegrown events and talent. The morning starts bright and early at 8 a.m. with a 5K and 10K fun run. At 9 a.m. the 3-on-3 basketball tournaments, one of the most popular attractions of the festival, get underway. The games will be set up at the McCosh Park tennis courts, a dozen half-court games going at once. Like last year, there are more than 100 teams registered, said Committee President Sean Sallis. Teams are broken into several youth brackets and adult teams. Children in kindergarten through second grade have their own bracket, called “Mini-Me,” Sallis said.

“We started doing that in 2018 and it has been a hit,” Sallis said. “The kids just have a blast. They play on 8-foot hoops, and they have their own little shirts that say ‘Mini-Me’ on it with their own little logo. It’s cool to see kids now in the fifth-grade, sixth-grade bracket that were in the Mini-Me. They got involved younger and it made them hungry to stay in the tournament.”

The basketball tournament will continue through Sunday.

New this year is another sports competition, the Spring Spike Volleyball Tournament. This one is a little less intense than the basketball tournament, Valdez said.

“The 3-on-3, it gets a little high-stress crazy,” she said. “This is more relaxed fun and just having a good time.”

The car show will open at 9:30 a.m. on Third Avenue next to Frontier Middle School. Last year the show swelled beyond the space it that was allotted to it into business parking lots, Valdez said, so the committee has blocked off more room.

On the Centennial Amphitheater stage at McCosh, there’s a whole roster of local entertainment, including dance troupes, martial arts demonstrations and the Big Bend Community College Percussion band. The final show of the night is by longtime local band Dimestore Prophets at 9:30 p.m.

Keeping one day local is a significant goal of the festival, Sallis said, to maintain a balance between that and drawing tourism from out of the area.

“We have to bring in people from out of state,” he said. “That’s part of our commitment as we try to grow and get (tourism grant) funds to help us put on what we do. There’s that fine balance. So, we decided a couple of years ago that Saturday is just going to be dedicated to local (entertainment).”

The capstone of Saturday’s festivities will be two parades. The Kiddie Parade starts at 6 p.m. at Sinkiuse Square and is open to any children who want to participate. Costumes are encouraged and there are prizes for the best-dressed, best-decorated four-wheeler or bike and most patriotic display.

The Grand Parade will assemble at Third and Ivy avenues and will make its way up Third Avenue to Balsam Street, then turn right and come back down Fourth Avenue to disassemble on Dogwood Street between the park and Lions Field. Pre-registration to walk in the parade is required, but there’s no fee for public officials or first responders, Valdez said.

“The more the merrier,” Valdez said. “We would love to have you. We try to (arrange the parade) because you can’t have a horse behind a band. So, it can be a little tricky. We try to situate it where it’s a nice, even flow.”

On Sunday, the basketball tournament continues, and there’s a bean bag toss tournament as well. There are two more free concerts Sunday: 1990s rap/hip-hop artists Chingy and BowWow.

There are certain mainstays of the festival that will cover all four days, like strolling entertainers and the carnival at Lions Field between the park and Frontier Middle School. Thursday is Buddy Night at the carnival, with a buy-one-get-one-free deal on wristbands. Because the carnival runs into the night, Sallis said, the city and the festival committee have increased the lighting at the carnival for security.

“We just want people to come out and bring their kids and have fun and build memories,” he said.

Over at the park, the food and craft vendor area is nearly full, Valdez said.

“I’ve opened up two new rows this year and both of those rows are packed,” she said.

There’s a waiting list of people who want to get added into the mix already, she added.

In the past, the Moses Lake Farmers Market set up in its usual spot at the park alongside the festival Saturday morning, but the festival has gotten so big that this year the market will be on Third Avenue between the post office and Alder Street through an arrangement with the Downtown Moses Lake Association.

The market has about 60 vendors, more than any other weekend, said DMLA Director Mallory Miller.

“(We hope) that we’ll have the vendors be in the middle of the streets, rather than on the outskirts, so that way people can walk on both sides of the vendor booth,” Miller said.

The tentative plan is to have two rows of back-to-back vendors down the middle of the street with an aisle between them, Miller explained. That way the sidewalks are kept clear and brick-and-mortar businesses aren’t blocked off.

“I’m encouraging the downtown businesses to pop out and do sidewalk sales as well,” Miller said. “So, it’s not just the shopping of the farmers market vendors but also spreading the love throughout our local businesses.”

The Spring Fest is a huge draw for Moses Lake, selling out hotels for weeks in advance and putting Moses Lake on the map and bringing in money for the local economy, Sallis said. He mentioned a man from La Conner, north of Everett, who had registered his children for the basketball tournament.

“I called him up and was telling him, ‘Hey, just so you know, we’re not just a 3-on-3 event. We have a carnival and a parade, and a fun run and a car show and entertainment and headliners on Friday and Sunday.’ And he’s like ‘I’ve never even stopped in Moses. When I’m driving through on I-90 I stop in Moses Lake and gas up. Nothing has drawn me to stop there.’ So now he’s looking at getting a couple of nights’ stay here for the tournament.”

    A 1977 Pontiac catches the eye of a spectator at last year’s Spring Fest car show.
  

    1990s alt-rockers Eve 6 will be one of four headline performers at free concerts at this year’s Spring Fest.
  

    Big Top the Clown will be strolling about the Spring Fest grounds all four days of the festival.