Outdoor programs to resume at Kamiak Park amphitheater

Camp fire recollections of the sprawling expanse of the Palouse were a thing of the past for county parks until this year.

This summer, the outdoor amphitheater at Kamiak Butte county park will open Saturday nights with speakers talking about various aspects of the Palouse country.

“A lot of people can come out for the picnic and stay a bit later,” said Dan Leonard of Johnson, a member of the Whitman County Park board. He reported on the revival of the program at the park board meeting last Thursday at the Wawawai Park picnic shelter.

Leonard, also the president of the Whitman County Historical Society, has invited four different speakers to present on eight Saturday nights through June and July.

Topics will be the geology of the Palouse, the natural history of the Palouse, and two programs dealing with other historic aspects of the area.

“I’ve lined up several people who are professionals in the field,” said Leonard. The lineup of speakers will be announced when the arrangements are finalized.

Kamiak Butte, located off Highway 27 on Fugate Road about three miles south of Palouse, is a favorite for area hikers as the view at the top of the butte takes in sweeping vistas of the Palouse.

The park’s outdoor amphitheater was the scene of musical and other programs during the summer season, but the shows have been discontinued for the past four or five years.

Johnson plans on having volunteers help put together the new Saturday night series. The programs will be free.

“We’d hope to have a reasonable size crowd. We’ll be glad to get interested people no matter how big or how few,” Leonard said.

The geology program traces the geologic history of this rich farm country.

“We have an individual that has gone around the area and taken photos on geological sights that people can see as they travel around the Palouse,” he said.

“ a narrative on how all these things fit together to produce the landscape.”

The time frame begins 400 million years ago and ends with an explanation of how the deep top soil of the Palouse came to be.

“The rolling hills of the Palouse will be the culmination,” Johnson said.

A large tree fell across the amphitheater last winter, crushing part of the stage and some of the benches. Park ranger Justus Barton has plans to cut up the tree and repair the stage before the presentations begin in June.