FunFest Crowds Fill Up Main Street and Beyond

Activities for children and adults brought the crowds to downtown Hermiston on Saturday as the sixth annual Hermiston FunFest took over Main Street and beyond.

“We had over 5,000 people throughout the day. Home Depot saw 800 kids in their (Kids) Workshop, entertainment was exceptional,” said Debbie Pedro, executive director of the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce. “Lee Pritchard was a hit, and the chainsaw carvers were very entertaining.”

The day’s events started with the Rotary Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and continued past sunset with Club 24’s NEON NIGHTS 5K & Black Light Zumba.

Main Street’s activities also included about 60 vendors, demonstrations and children’s games, as well as lawnmower races, the C and an interactive exhibit from OMSI where children could study insects and put together a three-foot tall dinosaur skeleton.

Entertainment included American Idol contestant Lee Pritchard, the Hermiston Melon Smashers roller derby team and ongoing chainsaw-carving demonstrations.

“It’s been really good,” Diane Kenny, wife of carver George Kenny, said Saturday afternoon. “The response has been great.”

Hermiston Brewing Co. provided a beer garden, and free shuttles took visitors from Main Street to the Purple Ridge Lavender Festival, and the action spilled over to McKenzie Park, where the Hermiston Classics Car Club’s 18th annual Cool Rides Car Show rolled out a display of almost 100 classic vehicles.

Hosting the event on Main Street also brought an influx of customers to downtown businesses.

“It was great. It was good last year, but it was great this year,” Judy Gormley of Neighborhood Books, said Monday. “We had a lot more customers, and we were really pleased with it. It was nice to have people up and down the street all day.”