Downtown Yelm was extremely busy on Saturday, June 22, due to a plethora of family-friendly and free activities at Yelm City Park, including the Prairie Days celebration in the morning hours and the Centennial Concert in the evening.
After residents lined East Yelm Avenue at 9 a.m. for the Prairie Days Parade, a majority of people walked just a few blocks over to Yelm City Park for more festivities.
“Yesterday in the park was amazing. It’s so great to see our community come together and celebrate something as momentous as the centennial together. It was such a great celebration of everything that we’ve accomplished in the past, what we’re doing currently, and a great way to look forward to the future if we work together as a community,” said Line Roy, Yelm’s communications and recreation coordinator. “Thank you to the community members that came out to celebrate our centennial. We’re going to continue celebrating through the end of this year, so keep an eye out for more programs and celebrations as we get closer to Yelm’s actual birthday in December.”
Throughout the day, attendants were invited to “Touch-a-Truck” as several large vehicles, spanning from police cars, to military trucks, to heavy equipment, lined up near the Yelm Community Center for participants to enjoy. Other activities included a magic show, a chalk art contest and different food vendors on site.
In the evening, the setting quickly transformed into a concert venue for the centennial concert, which began at 5:30 p.m. with a blessing of the stage by the Nisqually Indian Tribe.
“Growing up here all my life down by the rez or here by Crystal Springs, it’s a beauty to see the growth and the partnership and relationship we have,” Hanford McCloud said. “I can see the growth, the work, the blood, sweat and tears.”
Following the blessing of the stage, the Hogue & Moore Band opened Yelm’s centennial concert to a large crowd at Yelm City Park. The group was followed by the Olson Brothers Band and eventually the event’s headliner Adam Craig. After the three acts rocked Yelm, at 9 p.m. the city’s first ever drone show occurred and created some of the city’s most iconic images in the sky, including Mount Rainier and “This is Y .”
“The musical performances and drone shows at the park were wild. It was so great to see such amazing talent gracing our brand new stage,” Roy said. “To cap it all off with a drone show, which has never been done in Yelm and something that so many of our residents haven’t seen, was very special.”
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