July Begins with Old Traditions and New Faces

July began with old traditions and new faces.

We started the month of July with celebrating our nation's Independence Day on the Palouse and welcoming new WSU students and their families to our community.

The 44th annual Pullman 4th of July Celebration began at Sunnyside Park at 5pm. This event featured live music by the Community Band of the Palouse, Dan Maher, and the Fabulous Kingpins. The event also hosted BBQ and fun activities for the kids. The evening ended with a great fireworks show at 10 p.m. All money spent in the park that night helps to make the event happen each year. Pullman City Transit also offered free transportation from park and ride locations.

In another tradition, July 4th kicked off with a pancake feed and parade in the small community of Johnson, WA just south of Pullman. Both sides of the street that runs through Johnson gets visitors all around the Palouse. Among parade participants were Whitman County's Sheriff's, Whitman County Fire District 12 with the Color Guard leading the parade. Area businesses, sports teams, community groups and more participate in this parade each year.

Next up on the 4th of July festivities is the Albion parade and community lunch. Many of the Johnson Parade participants head directly to Albion march in the parade all over again. Additional events were the sidewalk chalk contest in Endicott, and various other small events held at rural towns of Whitman County. Many of these events have fun activities for kids to participate in, creating wonderful community events on the Palouse.


The week ended with welcoming new WSU students and their families at the WSU Resource Fair held at the CUB. We had many new students and their parents stop by our booth to sign the safe driver pledge. We gained more than 20 new signatures, pledging to be a safe driver. Some of those signatures included those who pledged to be a safe passenger as well by not causing distractions for their driver.

One main topic that parents were interested in discussing was their concern for safe travel on State Route 26 which is the main route for many students. The topic of working to add passing lanes to this highway was a popular one. One parent said he won't even drive that route and takes I-90 to Spokane and down US195 to get to Pullman from Western Washington. Parents were happy about the Passing Lanes Project.

We also spoke with parents whose children have never driven in snow before. They were happy to hear that there are resources such as our website and social media to offer tips and information about our roadways and conditions. We spoke with a mother from Missouri and another mother from California who said knowing that there are resources such as Palouse Driver Safety Campaign helped relieve some of their worries as they know it will be a challenge for their children to drive in new weather conditions.

Sunday marked the first WSU Resource Fair for the month of July, and we had more than 20 students and parents who took the safe driving pledges. There are several more coming up this month and our campaign will keep on working to inform and educate drivers on safe driving behavior.


You can keep up to date on future events on our website, Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. Our social media is a great resource for local road updates such as weather and road conditions, road construction, road closures, driving tips and more. We look forward to more events this July where we can meet more students and community members.