The 75th annual Apple Pie Jamboree kicks off the weekend with pie, pie, and, wait for it … more pie. As one says, pointing to one’s mouth and/or belly, “pie goes in here!”
Friday evening (July 15,) the evening begins with apple pie and ice cream in Pateros Memorial Park. The Pateros Public Library hosts movie night, showing “Clifford the Big Red Dog” at the Riverview Pavilion event stage at 8:15 p.m.
Saturday begins with an opportunity to run off all that pie with the Color Run at 7 a.m., followed by a pancake breakfast in the park. The Apple Pie Jamboree parade starts at 11 a.m. with lunch in the park and even more pie.
At 12:30 p.m. the Pateros Public Library again takes the stage for Storytime at the Riverview Pavilion. Saturday afternoon is filled with kid games in the park. There may or may not be 3-on-3 basketball, depending if enough people sign up to jump around and toss a bouncy ball into a netted hoop. The Pateros High School Volleyball team will be cooking up dinner in the park from 5-7 p.m. Saturday evening at the main pavilion. On the menu is pasta with marinara sauce, salad, and garlic bread for $10 a plate. Bring a blanket and chair and stay for the fireworks over the lake starting at 10 p.m.
On Sunday jet ski races create waves on Pateros Lake from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Every day, all day, enjoy a wide variety of vendors in the park: art, produce, food and more.
The Apple Pie Jamboree began in the summer of 1947 as a community picnic with Indian stick games, live music, a parade and apple pie. The proceeds from the event were used to pay for swimming lessons for all the kids in Pateros.
Over the years, the Apple Pie Jamboree has evolved into an organized nonprofit powered by volunteers to support community youth programs including ski lessons, sports equipment, summer camps, and much more. Joan Brownlee compiled scrapbooks of the jamboree over the years, all of which are on display at the Pateros Museum located in the park. Every year, the community meets at the Pateros school kitchen the week before the Apple Pie Jamboree to assemble hundreds of pies for the event.
The cataclysmic flood of 1948 put the jamboree on hold for two years. In 1957, water yet again overwhelmed the community with talks about building Wells Dam. It was a time of tense arguments in Pateros. The townspeople spent over a decade relocating and rebuilding, while the parade route, Main Street, was at the bottom of the newly formed Lake Pateros. In 1969, Bill Meadows started up the jamboree again with the help of friends, bringing hydro races to the newly formed Lake Pateros, and starting a new Apple Pie Jamboree tradition.
The Pateros tradition of coming together over pie to support youth programs continues this weekend. For information and event schedule, visit www.facebook.com/ApplePieJamboree. Come join the fun and support kids programs in the Lower Valley!
