Summer entertainment
Pavillion Park has a world of summer entertainment to entice people of all ages to pack their cares into a picnic basket and take a minivacation. A selection of free movies, concerts and performances is happening every weekend through early September at the park, and a recently hired director will help kick future festivals up a notch.
Families can pack a picnic (or purchase food from a concession run by the Liberty Lake Kiwanis) and enjoy offerings that include the likes of platinum-recording artist Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
The popular band blends music styles, including rock and swing. It was lured to the area via a personal connection with a dancer who lives in Liberty Lake.
The recent hiring of Nancy Lindberg as the festival director gives volunteers a minute to watch the acts that they worked so hard to arrange.
Rand Hatch, chairman of the board of directors for the Friends of Pavillion Park, said they hired Lindberg because the event was becoming all-consuming for volunteers.
“It just got to the point where we outgrew volunteers doing everything. It got to be too much,” said Hatch. “I’ve loved doing this, but it pretty much takes up your whole summer of weekends.”
Hatch said Lindberg’s experience directing community festivals and concerts made her the natural choice. “We have some great talent, but Nancy just rose to the top.”
Lindberg’s resume includes arranging ArtFest and booking concerts through The Met, St. John’s Cathedral and Street Music, a former Spokane music store that she owned with her husband.
Lindberg said volunteers have put together a great small-town festival. She doesn’t plan on reinventing the wheel, but rather tweaking it a bit to expand on art and children’s activities.
“There’s some amazing community support. They already have so much in place,” Lindberg said.
Proceeds from the Holiday Ball fund-raiser generated the $40,000 that pays for the entertainment. Events are free with the exception of the garden tour and fun run, which are fund-raisers.
Films were selected by a committee consisting of Jim Frank, a local developer who initially started the festival and runs the movie projector, and a group of locals. The committee placed an ad in the Splash asking for nominations and made their choices based on community feedback.
Featured flicks include romance in the jungle, a feisty little mermaid and a slimy fanged alien that terrorizes a team of marooned scientists.
Liberty Lake Dance Team 2004, a troop of children ages 5 to 14, are warming up their Fourth of July performance. The dancers will perform a mix of jazz, funk, gymnastics and cheerleading routines between bands.
A separate community group organizes a citywide fireworks display.
Cassie Helm, dance instructor, said the festival gives local kids a chance to see their friends during the summer and keeps the community connected.
“To me, it’s a neat, neat thing. I think it keeps getting bigger and better every year.”
Pavillion Park event schedule
Outdoor Cinema movies begin at dusk.
July 3 – Liberty Lake Loop Fun Run, 7:15 a.m. Local fun run features a 4-mile adult race. A shorter race for kids begins at 9:15 a.m.
July 4 – 6 p.m. Concert in the park with Meridian playing folk music, bluegrass by Grass Act and Hot Rod Deluxe kicking it up a notch with rock and roll from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. The Liberty Lake dance team performs between bands.
July 9 – Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner take a perilous journey in search of the perfect gem in “Romancing the Stone” (rated PG).
July 10 – Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn battle the elements in “African Queen.”
July 16 – 7 p.m. Budding musicians, dancers and thespians can audition for the Future Stars Talent Show. Kids must be in sixth through 12th grades this coming fall.
July 16 – The caped crusader battles Two-Face in “Batman Forever” (rated PG-13).
July 17 – 7 p.m. Future Stars Talent Show features local talent. Afterward, “‘Men in the Making,” a group of musicians, actors and comedians, performs.
July 23 – Ariel and her pals have an underwater adventure in “The Little Mermaid” (rated G).
July 24 – “Alien” (rated R) offers a screen full of slime and suspense as Sigourney Weaver and a crew of six other space travelers battle outer space monsters. Parents are cautioned to leave young children at home.
July 30 – A little lost girl has an animated adventure in “Spirited Away” (rated PG).
July 31 – 10 a.m. -4 p.m. Garden tour and art show. Gardeners, musicians and artists group together at five local gardens. Tickets are $10 and a boat ride around the lake is included. Lunch prepared by Marketplace Cafe is available. Tickets and maps are available at the Pavillion Park parking lot.
July 31 – 7 p.m. International night concert features authentic Hawaiian dancing with Northwest Hula Co. Milonga performs Latin and Tex-Mex music. Rashid Lewis from Freetown, Sierra Leone West Africa and his African Roots band perform reggae and more.
Aug. 6 – 7 p.m. Bingo in the park is followed by the Best in Nation Spokane theatrical group presentation of the musical comedy “Nunsense A-Men” at 8 p.m.
Aug. 7 – 8 p.m. Teenagers can dance to the music of 10 Minutes Down.
Aug. 13 – Take a walk back in time with the PG-rated “American Graffiti” (rated PG).
Aug. 14 – 8 p.m. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy plays traditional swing and rock. The band’s album sold a million copies and went platinum.
Aug. 20 – Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn make their annual pilgrimage to their New England summer cottage in “On Golden Pond” (rated PG).
Aug. 21 – A strangely humorous evil plant chows down on people in “The Little Shop of Horrors” (rated PG).
Aug. 27 – Enjoy the antics of a group of quirky purebred dog owners showing their dogs at Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show in “Best in Show” (rated PG-13).
Aug. 28 – Harrison Ford survives a host of life-threatening adventures at “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (rated PG).
Sept. 3 – Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon take a perilous space journey in “Apollo 13” (rated PG).
Sept. 4 – 6 p.m. Spokane Symphony Orchestra performance in memory of Lud Kramer.
Pavillion Park is at the corner of Country Vista and Molter in Liberty Lake.