Summer is just about over when downtown Main Street fills up at the end of August, and the community gathers to enjoy plenty of food, friends and free entertainment. It’s the Earthquake Street Festival, one of the biggest events of the year, and this year’s street party will have more to offer than ever.

It all starts shaking on Friday, Aug. 24, 5 to 11 p.m. on downtown Main Street and the first block of East Main Street.

The festivities begin with free entertainment on downtown Main Street from 5 to 7:30 p.m., including the Inspire Street Dancers, live music with Kari King & Friends, and ballet folklorico, lariat performances and mariachi music with Los Charros Los Caporales.

There will also be free children’s games with prizes, coordinated by the Winters PTA.

Local talent will be spotlighted in the Fourth Annual Winters Has Talent competition, with singers Angel Swafford, Stormi Norfolk, Isabella Quintana and Baylee Rippee and dancer Dominic Cintas vying for the title, as well as $100 in Winters Bucks. The competition begins at 7:30 p.m., and the winner will be chosen by audience approval — the one who gets the loudest applause wins.

The main attraction every year is the street dance, and the Time Bandits will take the stage at 8 p.m. The group is well known for its big, brassy sound and classic rock and R&B hits.

While all this entertainment is available free of charge, the rest of the street will be filled with a wide variety of food, and vendor/crafts booths. Across Railroad Avenue on the first block of East Main Street, children’s activities, booths and bounce houses will be available.

Throughout town, many local businesses, restaurants and pubs will have special items and activities offered for the hundreds of people who head downtown to send summer off in style.

This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the festival, begun in 1992 by John Pickerel, owner of The Buckhorn and Putah Creek Café, and Charles Wallace, publisher of the Winters Express. The festival began as a way to celebrate the rebuilding of the downtown after a devastating earthquake in 1892, and featured a town photo of downtown Main Street, filled with local residents.

The Earthquake Street Festival is sponsored by the Winters Chamber of Commerce, and is one of the Chamber’s biggest fundraisers of the year. For more information, call the Chamber at (530) 795-2329.

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