5 Things to Do in Vancouver WA This Weekend - GoFest, Pride, Vineyard, Amboy Territorial Days & Portland Streets (July 10–12, 2026)

Presented by Vancouver Arena, GoFest 2026 brings the Pokémon GO community together at one of the most beautiful outdoor settings in the entire Pacific Northwest - Vancouver Waterfront Park along the Columbia River. This is a two-day community celebration built around the game that turned outdoor exploration into a global phenomenon, and the Vancouver Waterfront is a genuinely inspired venue for it: a mile of riverwalk, open lawns, stunning views of the river and the Portland skyline, and a walkable park environment that naturally rewards exploration - which is exactly what Pokémon GO is built on.

Whether you're an active trainer who has played since the beginning or someone who downloaded the app in 2016 and still opens it occasionally, GoFest is a rare chance to experience the game in a structured community event setting with special in-game content, rare spawns, themed activities, and the unmistakable energy of thousands of people playing the same game in the same place at the same time. Even for non-players, the Vancouver Waterfront on a July weekend is simply a great place to be - food, people-watching, river views, and a community atmosphere that makes the whole park feel alive.

Jacquot Vineyard is the kind of place that most Clark County residents drive past without knowing what's behind those gates - and that's exactly what makes Wine Down Your Week so special. Usually reserved for private events and celebrations, this estate vineyard in Brush Prairie opens to the public just a handful of times each year, and the July 10 evening is one of them. From 3 to 9 PM, the vineyard transforms into a laid-back summer gathering with estate wine tastings, glass pours, several new releases available for tasting this season, beverages on tap, and that particular sense of ease that only comes from being outdoors in a beautiful place with good people and great wine.

Live music runs throughout the evening. Local food vendors and artisan specialty vendors fill the grounds. The family-friendly atmosphere means this works as a date night, a group outing, a birthday celebration, or just a Friday after work that ends better than most. The vineyard is at 11612 NE Ward Rd in Brush Prairie - a beautiful rural drive northeast of Vancouver that sets the tone perfectly before you even arrive. Two more dates run later this summer: July 31 and August 14, so if this one fills up, you'll have another chance.

This year marks the 32nd anniversary of Saturday in the Park Pride - Vancouver's original Pride celebration, and still one of the most beloved community events the city puts on all year. What started as a small gathering in Esther Short Park three decades ago has grown into a full-day festival that draws thousands of people to the heart of downtown Vancouver, and the 2026 edition is the biggest yet. From 10 AM to 5 PM, the park fills with music, color, community, and the kind of energy that only 32 years of tradition can build.

The day runs on two live music stages with performers throughout the day. A drag queen story hour brings families with kids into the celebration in a joyful, age-appropriate way. A full kids' area with an obstacle course and bounce activities keeps the youngest attendees happy. At the center of it all is the vendor market - 150+ booths from local artists, makers, nonprofits, and community organizations spread across the park. Educational workshops and community resources round out the programming. This is one of those events where the crowd itself is part of the experience - Esther Short Park on Saturday in the Park Pride day is unlike anything else in Clark County's calendar.

If you've never made the drive up to Amboy for Territorial Days, this is the weekend to fix that. Amboy is a small rural community in the northeast corner of Clark County, tucked between the foothills and the Lewis River valley - and every year it hosts one of the most authentic small-town community celebrations in all of southwest Washington. Three full days of logging heritage, competition, community, and genuine old-fashioned fun that draws people from across the region who want to see a tradition that still means something.

The heart of Territorial Days is the Log Show - a competitive logging exhibition featuring professional and amateur loggers competing in events like axe throwing, chainsaw carving, log rolling, speed climbing, and the Powder Puff competition. The Saturday parade draws a big crowd down through the small Amboy main area and is one of those small-town parade experiences that feels both timeless and deeply local. Add in a car show, carnival rides, a vendor market, and live entertainment, and you have three days of programming that gives you a reason to come back more than once.

North Mississippi Avenue is one of Portland's most distinctive streets - a mile-long stretch of locally owned shops, restaurants, bars, and creative spaces that has been a neighborhood anchor for decades. Once a year, it closes to traffic entirely and becomes one of Portland's most beloved street fairs, and the Mississippi Street Fair is that event. Free to attend, deeply local, and entirely worth the 30-minute drive from Vancouver.

The fair runs the length of Mississippi Avenue with hundreds of local vendor booths, multiple live music stages positioned up and down the street so there's always something to walk toward, and the beloved Grandfather's Rib-Off - a BBQ competition that draws serious pit masters and equally serious crowds of hungry people. A dedicated Kids Zone gives families a home base, and a Kids Stage at Mississippi Pizza keeps the youngest attendees entertained. The whole fair has a neighborhood-block-party energy that feels genuinely different from a produced festival - it's Portland's own community showing up for itself, and it's a great way to experience a part of the city that doesn't always make the tourist guides.