5 Things to Do in Vancouver WA This Weekend - Arts, Tom Petty, Farm Life, Cornhole & Pickathon (July 31–August 2, 2026)

Every August, the small riverside city of Washougal closes its Main Street for one Saturday morning and turns Reflection Plaza into an outdoor community arts and music festival - and it is a genuinely beautiful version of what a local arts gathering can be. The Washougal Arts and Music Festival is free, family-friendly, and entirely rooted in the local creative community, bringing together artists from across the Clark County and Washougal area for a six-hour celebration of visual art, live music, and community connection in one of the most scenic small-city downtown settings in the Pacific Northwest.

The visual arts component features local-area artists displaying and selling works across a wide range of media - browse original paintings, photography, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, and more. Live music is provided throughout the day by the Washougal Songcraft Festival, bringing the same programming quality and local music focus that has made Songcraft a beloved regional institution. Activities for children and adults round out the morning, and Washougal's downtown restaurants and shops are all open and welcoming visitors who want to extend the experience beyond the festival grounds. If you haven't made the 20-minute drive east along the Columbia River to Washougal, this is a perfect occasion to discover one of Clark County's most underrated small cities.

The City of Vancouver's Sunday Sounds concert series is one of those summer traditions that Clark County residents return to year after year - a free outdoor concert in east Vancouver every Sunday evening from July through August, held at the amphitheater at Columbia Tech Center Park on SE Mill Plain Blvd. The lineup is always well-curated and genre-diverse, and the August 2 headliner is a genuine crowd-pleaser: Petty Fever, an award-winning high-energy tribute to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Tom Petty's catalog is one of those rare collections that genuinely crosses generational lines - it works for people who grew up with Petty and for people discovering him fresh. Petty Fever brings that catalog to life in a live outdoor setting on a warm August Sunday evening, which is exactly the kind of context where "Running Down a Dream" and "Refugee" and "Free Fallin'" belong. Food and refreshments are available for purchase from local vendors, or bring a picnic. Alcohol is not permitted in parks. Parking is available off SE Cardinal Ct., in the gravel lot south of the amphitheater.

Pomeroy Living History Farm is one of Clark County's most singular and beloved attractions - a working historic farm in the foothills of Yacolt that operates as a living museum of Pacific Northwest rural life, where heritage breeds of animals roam the grounds and the buildings, tools, and daily rhythms of early farm life are preserved and demonstrated for visitors throughout the year. It is a genuinely transporting place: 35 acres of heritage farmland in the Lewis River valley, surrounded by the kind of forested foothills landscape that Clark County residents can spend years living here without ever fully exploring.

The August Farm Days Jamboree is the musical high point of the farm's summer season. Multiple live acts perform across both Saturday and Sunday, with sunshine and fresh air providing the backdrop that a performance stage indoors simply cannot match. In addition to the live music, the full Farm Days programming runs: farm animals, a children's i-Spy activity, delicious food from on-site and local vendors, and the chance to simply wander the historic grounds with the particular kind of peace that only a farm in the foothills can provide. At $3 per adult and free for children under five, this is one of the best-value family outings in Clark County all summer.

Presented by the Parks Foundation of Clark County, the Cornhole Tournament at Esther Short Park is exactly the kind of late-summer community event that downtown Vancouver does better than most cities its size. Grab a partner, register as a two-person team, and show up to compete in a fun, organized bracket format that genuinely welcomes all skill levels - from people who have played competitively for years to people who have only played in backyards at parties. The bracket format means every team plays multiple rounds, giving you real games and real competition without the pressure of an elimination-only structure.

Esther Short Park is one of the most beautiful and centrally located parks in downtown Vancouver - right in the heart of the city with the waterfront nearby and easy access to lunch spots and coffee shops throughout the surrounding blocks. The Parks Foundation of Clark County does meaningful work maintaining and improving the park system that makes events like this possible, so your registration entry fee goes directly toward that mission. If you've got a friend who is always up for a friendly competition on a Saturday morning, this is your event.

Thirty minutes south of Vancouver and you're at what many people consider the best music festival in the United States. That's not hyperbole - Pickathon has been described that way by music publications and devoted attendees for years, and the 26th annual edition running July 30 through August 2 at Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon makes an exceptionally strong case. This year's lineup is headlined by genuine legends and vital contemporary artists: Steve Earle, Built to Spill, Shakey Graves, Marcos Valle, Alela Diane, Acid King, Clinton Fearon, and the Mexican Institute of Sound, alongside a deep field of discovery artists including Widowspeak, Folk Bitch Trio, The Brothers Comatose, The Womack Sisters, and many more.

What separates Pickathon from virtually every other festival is the setting and the ethos. On 80 acres of Pendarvis Farm, intimate boutique stages built into the forest - stages that double as architectural art installations - replace the massive main stage format that defines most large festivals. There's no "comfort tax" - admission includes everything. The festival is proudly zero-waste, having been the first large outdoor music festival in the United States to eliminate single-use plates, cups, and utensils. Camping on the farm is available with weekend passes. Artists play two sets each. And the whole experience is designed to feel more like a summer camp for music lovers than a corporate festival - which is exactly what it delivers.