If you live here, you already know the shape of a Camas July. The sidewalks on Birch fill up a little earlier in the evening. The Wednesday market pulls dinner plans off the calendar. And somewhere around the third weekend, downtown quietly closes to cars and turns into something closer to a shared front yard.
This year that rhythm arrives with a milestone. Camas Days runs Friday and Saturday, July 24 and 25, and the Camas–Washougal Chamber of Commerce is marking it as the 50th Annual Camas Days, themed "The Spirit of '76," starting Friday at 10 a.m. downtown. Crown Park reopened three weeks ago. The Farmers Market is running out of a temporary spot on Birch. If you have been putting off making a plan for the last stretch of summer, this is the weekend to build it around.
Why this Camas Days matters more than last year's
Fifty years is the headline, but the practical difference is scale and choreography. The core footprint has expanded to the full downtown grid: vendor booths across six city blocks from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., food booths concentrated on Birch between 3rd and 4th, and a Kids Street with a 50-foot inflatable slide and obstacle course on Dallas and 4th from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Kids Parade lineup begins at 10:30 a.m. Friday in front of the Camas Library, with judging at 4th and Franklin.
Saturday shifts tone in the evening. A beer and wine garden opens on Birch between 4th and 5th from 5 to 11 p.m., with live blues rock and classic rock through the night. For anyone within walking distance of downtown, that window from about 5 p.m. onward is when the event stops being a family festival and becomes an adult gathering. Plan accordingly if you are bringing kids for the parade and want to circle back later without them.
The weekend at a glance
| When | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Fri Jul 24, 10 a.m.–8 p.m. | Vendor booths, food booths | Six blocks of downtown; food on Birch between 3rd & 4th |
| Fri Jul 24, 11:30 a.m. | Kids Parade lineup and judging | 4th & Franklin, in front of City Hall |
| Fri Jul 24, 11 a.m.–7 p.m. | Kids Street activities | Dallas & 4th |
| Sat Jul 25, 5–11 p.m. | Beer and wine garden with live music | Birch between 4th & 5th |
| Sun Jul 26, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. | Picnic in Color family arts event | Downtown Camas |
| Thu Aug 13, 5–9 p.m. | Summer Nights Sips & Bites | Registration at Fuel Medical lobby |
| Sat Aug 22, 3 p.m. | Camas Art & Wine Walk | Downtown |
The Sunday piece is easy to miss because it sits outside the main two-day banner. Picnic in Color runs 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 26, organized by the Downtown Camas Association as a kid-friendly art event to close out the weekend. If Friday and Saturday are the crowded days, Sunday is the one that feels most like a neighborhood block party.
Crown Park is open again
The park at the center of the walkable downtown loop has been closed for renovation for most of the last year. Crown Park held its grand reopening on Thursday, July 2, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., closing with the first summer concert from Quinton Parker and Friends from 6 to 8 p.m.
For residents, the practical consequence is that the standard summer loop, market to dinner to park, is back in play for the first time in a full season. A concert night at Crown Park pairs cleanly with a walk down to Grains of Wrath or a table on Birch. If you have kids on bikes, the reopening event included a free bike rodeo with Camas Bikes, plus a dedicated E-Bike Safety Session for teens and parents, with hourly sessions from noon to 3 p.m. Watch the Camas Parks & Rec calendar for follow-on programming through August.
Wednesdays until the end of September
The Camas Farmers Market is in the middle of its 19th season, and if you have not been down yet this summer, the location has moved. The market runs 3 to 7 p.m. every Wednesday from June 3 through September 30, 2026, in historic downtown Camas. Opening day this year included a ribbon cutting by Mayor Hogan and market president Shannon Van Horn at the temporary new location at 314 NE Birch Street.
If you have gotten used to the old footprint, give yourself an extra ten minutes the first time you go back. The vendor mix, the produce farms, and the prepared food are the same. The circulation pattern is not.
Where to eat when downtown is full
The trap during Camas Days weekend is defaulting to whichever restaurant has the shortest visible line. A better strategy for people who already live here: pick your spot in advance, book if you can, and use the festival as a reason to walk somewhere you have been meaning to try.
- Feast At 316 at 316 NE Dallas St, for a slower sit-down evening on the quieter end of downtown.
- The Hammond Kitchen + Craft Bar, if you want a bar seat during the Saturday evening beer garden window without being inside it.
- Tommy O's at the Camas Hotel, closest to the parade route and a reliable pick for out-of-town family staying at the hotel.
- Natalia's Cafe at 322 NE Adams St, for a Friday breakfast before the vendor booths open.
- Nuestra Mesa and Adams Street Bar & Grill, both inside the vendor footprint and easy to fold into a walking afternoon.
- Grains of Wrath Brewery, the natural pivot from Crown Park after a concert night.
- Roots Restaurant & Bar and Birch Street Uptown Lounge, for the Saturday date-night window when the beer garden is loud and you want a quieter room close by.
None of these places will thank you for showing up without a reservation on Camas Days Saturday. Most will be grateful if you do.
What comes after the parade
Camas Days is the peak, not the finale. Two more downtown events carry the season into late August.
Summer Nights Sips & Bites is a ticketed event on Thursday, August 13, 2026, from 5 to 9 p.m., with registration at the Fuel Medical lobby this year. It moves participants through downtown as a progressive tasting, and it is the event most likely to introduce you to a shop or restaurant you walk past every week and have never stepped inside.
The Camas Art & Wine Walk follows on Saturday, August 22, starting at 3 p.m. Between those two dates and the last Wednesday market on September 30, you have a full ten weeks of downtown programming still ahead. If your household calendar looks empty after Camas Days weekend, it is because you have not looked at the Downtown Camas Association calendar yet.
The small decision that changes the weekend
Here is the one thing worth deciding before Friday morning. If you live within a mile of downtown, walk in. Parking near the vendor footprint gets tight by mid-morning, and the streets that are open become slower than the sidewalks. If you live farther out, the quieter arrival window is between 9:30 and 10 a.m. on Friday, before the Kids Parade lineup, or after 2 p.m. on Saturday when the daytime crowd thins and the evening crowd has not yet arrived.
The rest is the part you already know how to do. See neighbors. Buy something from a vendor you have not seen before. Let the kids run the inflatable course twice. Come back Sunday for Picnic in Color when it is calmer. That is what a Camas summer looks like, and this is the one weekend of the year the whole town agrees on it at the same time.
If you are thinking about your next move in or around Camas and want a real estate team that lives inside this same downtown rhythm, Compher Group is here when you are ready. Schedule a Consultation whenever the timing feels right.
