SummerFest takes over downtown Aberdeen this Saturday

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Effervescent and dressed for the occasion as always, Bobbi [Jo] McCracken and Bette [Sue] Worth of the Downtown Aberdeen Association stopped by The Daily World offices this week as part of their SummerFest media tour.

SummerFest takes place in downtown Aberdeen this Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and the “free family fun” event promises a BBQ cook-off, games, live music featuring The Jake Brakes Band and The Six, food and craft vendors, balloon animals, raffle prizes, something called the Wagon of Whimsy, and activities and book giveaways from the Aberdeen Timberland Library. SummerFest will also feature a scavenger hunt, Skittles sorting contest and a watermelon eating contest.

Raffle prizes, with a total value of $2,800, include a Blackstone BBQ grill, a Weber grill, an acoustic guitar, a table top smoker, a downtown gift card basket and a kids basket. Raffle tickets are $5 and will be available at the event.

Media personality Rick Moyer will host a new event — Family Feud — as the cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam square off for bragging rights. Mayors Douglas Orr and Ben Winkelman will lead their respective city’s teams.

This year’s festival has not gotten off the ground without a bit of controversy with regard to the BBQ cook-off. On July 22, the Downtown Aberdeen Association took to Facebook to clear the air about an unpopular change that was going to be made.

“About the BBQ Cook Off controversy — we made the decision to not have ‘professional’ teams in the hope that ‘backyard’ BBQers would feel more like entering the contest. We were also concerned with losing teams for this reason,” the post read. “It was nothing against Vitamin Q, but while our logic may have been flawed, we had hoped it would bring in more teams. Ideally, we would love to have categories — amateur, pro, master, etc. But we don’t have enough teams for that. We love the guys in Vitamin Q and decided to scrap our new logic. We have spoken to them. We made a mistake and we own it.”

Despite the clarification and course correction, due to a scheduling conflict, Vitamin Q will not be able to participate in this year’s festival.

“A team that we really respect has been a part of our event every year, they’re wonderful people. … Because they are a catering business as well as their full-time jobs, they tend to win a lot, because they’re very good,” McCracken said. Worth added, “There’s a perception … because they have this business, they’re not necessarily a professional team, they do have an LLC.”

McCracken said that two other teams were disappointed that Vitamin Q would not be competing because they relished the opportunity to face them.

“The more we thought about it, and talking to some of our teams that were wanting the competition, we said, ‘we can’t let somebody else make our decisions,’ so we walked it back,” McCracken said. “We were wrong, we admitted we made a mistake. We were trying to do what we thought at the time would bring in more teams. As it turns out, we have the most teams this year that we’ve ever had.”

The total purse for the BBQ cook-off is $3,500.

Food options will include tacos, smashburgers, hot dogs, elephant ears, cheesesteaks, crepes and more.

McCracken and Worth said that the new festival, Red, White and Boom, held on the 4th of July, was wildly successful and are hoping the momentum carries over into SummerFest.

“We think we had close to 3,000 people. Every booth we had had a line of 20 people from 10 until four,” McCracken said.

Worth said, “We ran out of prizes and we made several trips to the store to buy candy. Everyone was happy. … We didn’t expect the volume. We’ve taken that energy and that feeling of free family fun and put a section of a parking lot that will be dedicated for kids [and adults].”

SummerFest is taking place at the height of campaign season for the current election cycle. Numerous candidates have participated in events across Grays Harbor County, including festivals and parades. McCracken and Worth said they want to keep the politics out of the event.

“Right up front we said this is not a political venue, if you want to be there, if you want to wear a shirt, that’s great,” Worth said. “You’re not going to have signs, no pamphlets and we’ll see what happens.”

“I guess I’m speaking for myself, but we are sick of being bombarded. I can live with the signs, but we are hit with it everywhere you go,” McCracken said. “Our theme is always free family fun, we want this to be a free zone.”

As always, McCracken and Worth encourage everyone attending Saturday’s event to patronize Aberdeen’s downtown businesses, many of which will be open throughout the day.

“We have been approached by people wondering why we don’t have a beer garden and we have businesses right across the street, we don’t need to compete with them,” McCracken said. “Our event is a family friendly event, so if you want to go have a beer, go across the street. If you want to buy me a drink, I’ll join you.”