Submitted by Downtown Camas Association
August’s Virtual First Friday Week starts August 2 and will feature daily summer inspired activities with a flamingo flair. New this year will be a Downtown Camas food drive called “Let’s Fill Those Backpacks!” which is a friendly food drive competition to collect needed items for the Treasure House food bank’s backpack food program and to create a fun competition among downtown merchants and employees.
For the First Friday Week event, a new summer or flamingo-themed game or activity will be posted on the Downtown Camas First Friday Facebook Page every morning August 2-7. There will be prize winners chosen from those who post on the daily activities. At 5:00 p.m. on First Friday August 7 there will be a Facebook Live event on the First Friday Facebook page announcing the winners from the week and offering many more opportunities to win for watching and participating.
The Let’s Fill Those Backpacks! food drive asks for donations of 6 items which are most needed: canned chili, canned ravioli, small fruit cups, packets of oatmeal (boxed), boxes of cereal and boxes of mac & cheese. These donations can be dropped off at any of the participating businesses. The business that has the most donated will receive a “Banana Split Party” for their employees sponsored by the Downtown Camas Association (DCA). Food donations will be accepted through August 6 and the winning business will be announced on the First Friday Facebook Live event. Info on the Let’s Fill those Backpacks! food drive including participating merchants can be found here.
For the merchant First Friday passport this month, the activity will be “Guess the Summer Trivia!” Visit participating merchant Facebook pages and write the answer on the passport to the summer trivia question posted there. The passport enters you to win downtown merchant prizes and gift cards compliments of the DCA and sponsor Bear Insurance.
Daily activities include:
- Sunday– Morse Code Challenge & Caption This!
- Monday– Flamingo Seek & Find
- Tuesday– Animal Challenge & Best Flamingo Wear
- Wednesday– Pick & Pic – Pick a summer item and post a Pic of Summer Fun
- Thursday– Downtown Challenges: Downtown Trivia Challenge and Where Am I?
- Friday – Merchant Passport – Visit participating Merchant Facebook pages to “Guess the Summer Trivia!” The more pages you go to, the more chances to win. (passports are posted Thursday am on the First Friday event webpage to give plenty of time to play)
- Facebook LIVE Event – First Friday, August 7 at 5:00 p.m. on the Downtown Camas First Friday page where the winners will be announced and you can win prizes for watching and participating.
In addition to the week-long activities, Attic Gallery and Camas Gallery will each be revealing new art on First Friday evening. Check their Facebook pages for details.
“Summer is definitely here and we want to keep the fun going virtually,” says Carrie Schulstad, director for the DCA. “We’re excited to add the Let’s Fill Those Backpacks! Food drive as an additional element of fun but also to serve a very important need in our community. The Treasure House Food Bank delivers 100 food bags to 178 students each week with the backpack program and the food bank has extra need this year combined with lower cash donations. We want to bring some friendly competition to our downtown merchants and also help where it is most needed. We hope our community comes out in droves to support! Plus the employees of the winning business will be very happy.”
To find out more about the Treasure House Food Bank, visit the Inter-Faith Treasure House website or call 360-834-4181.
All the First Friday details and instructions can be found here and on the daily posts on the Downtown Camas First Friday page starting Sunday, August 2.
The DCA and Bear Insurance are donating all the gift card prizes to support downtown businesses during this time.
First Fridays are Art, Activities, Dining, and After Hours Shopping themed family friendly events coordinated by the DCA each month of the year to support downtown and develop community and are being held virtually until in-person First Friday events are again possible.
