Waterville Days

At nine in the morning on Saturday, July 11, 2026, the Waterville Days Parade set out from the Waterville School. The Waterville Main Street Association advised arriving early to hold a spot along the route. John and Alice Ruud rode as grand marshals. By then the Douglas County Fire District #1 volunteers were serving their pancake breakfast. After the parade the day moved to Pioneer Park, where the July Waterville Farm & Craft Market ran until two in the afternoon.

Pancakes, chrome, and a dunk tank

Pioneer Park is the town park, with a ball diamond, a playground, a tennis court, and picnic tables. On Waterville Days it held farm and craft vendors, live music, the Waterville Rollers Car Show, and a lunch stand run by Waterville EMS. The Waterville Days Committee brought a Kids Zone to the market. It had a bouncy house, a dunk tank, a museum scavenger hunt, a library booth, and rope making, all free.

The market meets on the second Saturday of July, August, and September, and Waterville Days shares the July date. Vendors sell homegrown and homemade goods, and nonprofits come to explain their programs. The August 2026 market was cancelled because of unhealthy air. The September 12 market had more than 40 vendors, among them Badger Mountain Bread Company, Knotty Delights, and Wild Sage Brew. Children painted pumpkins grown for the fourth year by a young entrepreneur, Asa Hinderer. The market’s first chili cook-off was won by Dan Pulsifer. That day was the last for the market manager, Katie Oberweiser, who had run it since it started in 2021 and called the job “fun, busy, sometimes crazy, but very rewarding.” Janis Moreno takes over as manager.

The town on the plateau

Waterville calls itself the “Gateway to the Waterville Plateau.” It sits among wide wheat fields with the Cascade Range in view. It was founded in 1885, named the Douglas County seat on May 2, 1887, and incorporated in 1889 under the Territorial Charter. At 2,622 feet it claims to be the highest incorporated town in Washington. The most recent survey counts 1,140 people. Waterville Days is not the town’s only gathering. The North Central Washington Fair comes the third week of August, and the town’s own page names Waterville as home of the Big Bend Round-Up “for over 100 years.”

A flier in 2012

In early 2012 Glenn Pickett saw a flier on historic preservation and thought the idea fit Waterville. He called together local business people and others who shared the interest, and from that meeting came the Waterville Main Street Association. Pickett was its first president. The group became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in what the association calls “record time.” Its stated mission is “to encourage economic vitality and preservation of our Historic Downtown District while maintaining our small town quality of life.” Pickett died in December 2012, and the association is dedicated to his memory. It is run entirely by volunteers, both long-time residents and newcomers. Waterville Days and the Christmas tree lighting are among the community events it lists as its work.

The town’s page on Waterville Days carried a short notice that the celebration would not happen in 2021, with the hope of reopening in 2022. The market began that same summer of 2021. In 2026 the July market announcement read “Waterville Days is back,” and the Waterville Days Committee brought the parade back to the streets. Ylse Engler and Brenda Petersen took the questions about entries. Afterward the association thanked the committee, writing that “it was wonderful to see our community come together to celebrate this cherished tradition once again.”