Color Rush brings fun and awareness to Wenatchee Valley

WENATCHEE — The third annual Wenatchee Valley Color Rush was a spectacle of colors and people from young to old, in the beautiful weather Saturday morning. One of the many fundraisers that takes place during Apple Blossom, the Color Rush benefits Sage Advocacy Center and Chelan-Douglas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), programs that help victims of abuse and neglect in this area.

Every April is child abuse prevention month, so it only makes sense that this event would coincide with Apple Blossom every year, and this year’s race has multitudes of participants.

It’s a “race” only in the sense that there’s a start and finish line: There are no winners or losers, it’s not timed, and participants may run, jog or even walk from the start line near the CVCH parking lot on Orondo Avenue to the finish line at Seventh and Mission. Throughout the course, racers are doused in explosions of colorful powder by people placed at strategic points along the way.

This year’s first color was light green, and the man prepared to color the racers was warmed up well before the event began — a bucket of powder, a leaf blower set to reverse, and no fear of looking like an alien himself by the time he was through.

At the end of the race were parked fire engines from the Wenatchee Valley Fire Department, with one blocking the end of Seventh and the fire hose turned on in a shower for runners who wanted to cool off as they finished. Plenty of police and firefighters were on hand to join the fun, and the cheers could be heard a quarter mile away.

If you missed the Color Rush, you can still support Sage and CASA at their respective websites, sageadvocacycenter.org and cdcasa.org.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media