Good times are about to roll again downtown at the 39th annual Kent Cornucopia Days.
More than 600 vendors will fill 19 blocks and draw an estimated 250,000 people to the July 9-11 festival that features food, crafts, a fun run, dragon boat races, music, a carnival and a parade.
“People love how large it is,” said Bill Westcott, Cornucopia’s longtime volunteer festival director, whose club, the Kent Lions, runs the festival. “It’s one of the largest street fairs in the Pacific Northwest.”
Food, crafts, beer gardens, music and people watching give residents plenty to do. The street fair runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. July 9-10 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 11.
Event organizers added bicycle rides of 60 miles and 25 miles this year to the festival that already offers a 5K fun run and walk. Parents also can sign up kids ages 2-7 for a new bike ride at 10:30 a.m. July 11 before the 2 p.m. Grand Parade.
Emerald City Lights, of Auburn, will organize the bicycle rides that start at 8 a.m. July 10 at the Union Bay headquarters at 21216 72nd Ave. S. The cost is $15 for either the 25-mile or 60-mile ride. T-shirts are an extra $10.
The shorter ride goes south along the Interurban Trail to Sumner and back to Kent along the West Valley Highway. The longer ride heads north on the Interurban Trail to the Cedar River Trail in Renton and through Maple Valley and Black Diamond to Enumclaw before returning to Kent.
For advance registration, go to www.emeraldcitylightsbikeride.org. The fee is $20 for day of the ride registration at Union Bay.
Kent city officials will offer a 5K fun run and walk at 9 a.m. July 10 starting at Three Friends Fishing Hole, 20025 Russell Road. Registration begins 7:30 a.m. The cost is $10 or $20 with a T-shirt.
The course will follow Frager Road rather than the Green River Trail because of the giant sandbags placed along the trail to enhance the levees in case the river floods because of problems at the Howard Hanson Dam.
Other changes include a slight switch to the parade route. The parade, with a theme of “It’s Kentastic,” will start at 2 p.m. July 11 at Fourth Avenue and Willis Street, go north on Fourth Avenue, left between the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center and Kent Commons, and then across West James Street to finish at the ShoWare Center parking lot.
The Kent Police suggested the ShoWare as a better place to disperse, Westcott said. The parade ended last year at West Smith Street and Sixth Avenue.
The parade entries include bands, floats, politicians, dance and drill groups and equestrians units.
Pet adoptions offered by King County Animal Care and Control return for a second year but will move to the festival site this year at Burlington Green Park, West Meeker Street and Railroad Avenue. Adoptions last year were at the Kent Shelter.
The Funtastic Shows carnival returns July 8-11 to the parking lot at West Smith Street and Lincoln Avenue.
Check out the 10th annual Dragon Boat Races from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 10 at Lake Meridian Park. Nearly 50 teams from Washington, Oregon, California and Canada will compete in the races.
If the World Cup has you craving more soccer, go to the 11th annual Kent Cornucopia Cup presented by the Kent Youth Soccer Association. More than 150 youth teams will compete July 9-11 at various fields, although most games are scheduled for the Pea Patch Fields at Green River Road and South 265th Street.
For a soccer schedule, go to www.kcc2010.kysa.org.
City officials cut about an $8,000 contribution to the Lions Club to help pay for entertainment and arts as part of the city-wide budget cutbacks last fall. Westcott said the Lions Club decided to pick up the entertainment tab rather than cutting back at the festival.
“We’re paying it out of our pockets,” Westcott said.
Music groups will perform at the Town Square Plaza Park stage and the Gazebo Stage at Burlington Green Park on Railroad Avenue.
Nearly 200 volunteers run the Cornucopia Days. Next year, the festival will celebrate its 40th year.
“We will have to think of something,” Westcott said about special plans for the 40th year. “That is a nice round number.”
For more information about Kent Cornucopia Days, go to www.kcdays.com.
Kent Cornucopia Days schedule
• Thursday, July 8
Carnival (West Smith Street and Lincoln Avenue) opens at 3 p.m.
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