Medical Lake royalty.
Honorary Grand Marshal Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers hugs Mayor Terri Cooper after giving opening statements about the value of community.
The Medical Lake High School Band marches through the streets of town, playing music for the people watching parade.
The Cheney Rodeo Queen, Jordan Clark rides through town during the Founder's Day Parade.
The performers from Spokane Aerial Performance Art put on a great show and gave members of the community some aerialist lessons on
An explosive fireworks lit the skies over Medical Lake on the first day of the Founder's Day celebration.
The Blazen Divas came all the way from Coeur d'Alene to dance the streets of Medical Lake during the Founder's Day parade.
Taylor the Magician has a young man pick a card during a magic demonstration during Founder's Day.
This young lady claimed victory in her Founder's Day wrestling match.
MEDICAL LAKE – The annual Founders Day celebration brought thousands of people to Waterfront Park and other areas of the city Friday and Saturday, June 15 and 16.
The fun kicked of Friday night with Sprague-based band Rusty Vikings taking the stage to bring old-school rock'n'roll music to the festival while attendees enjoyed hot food, a cornhole tournament, a high-flying disc dog competition and an explosive fireworks display.
The fireworks seemed to be the highlight most visitors showed up for, including 8-year-old Mason Henderson and his parents, who drove out from Spokane to watch the fireworks.
"Fireworks are just a lot of fun," Henderson said. "I want to go out and watch them every time I can."
Mason's father, Doug Henderson, said being able to go to community events right before Father's Day makes the experience even better.
"It's really nice that the whole event was planned for Father's Day weekend," Henderson said. "Just the perfect family atmosphere to enjoy some of the vendor food and entertainment."
According to Re*Imagine Medical Lake President Gerri Johnson, the festival was one of the most successful celebrations to date.
Re*Imagine Medical Lake is the not-for-profit group that presented the festival.
Johnson said a new parade route went very well and vendors were excited to get a good view of the floats, as visitors lined the streets for blocks.
"We estimate there were between 4,000-5,000 people that came to Founders Day," Johnson said. "And the food vendors were out of food by 1:30 or 2:00 p.m. even though they brought twice as much as last year."
Johnson said it's great that the vendors were able to sell all their food, but also unfortunate there wasn't more prepared. She said it can be tough to gauge exactly how many people will show up, but this year was definitely a celebration to build on.
There were over 70 vendors lined up around downtown Medical Lake on Saturday. There was also a car show put on by Sunwest Performance, and there were cars from every decade for passers-by to look at. Wrestling mats were set up for the athletes, and law enforcement booths were also set up to interact with the community.
According to Johnson, the goal was to celebrate and generate business at the same time, and that goal was achieved.
"It was just really good to see such a turnout," Johnson said.
Matthew graduated from West Virginia University-Parkersburg in 2011 with a journalism degree. He's an award-winning photographer and enjoys writing stories about people.
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