If you live in Camas, you already know summer here does not arrive as one big event. It arrives as a schedule. Wednesday afternoons pull people to Birch Street, First Fridays extend the evening past store hours, and the last weekend of July turns six blocks into a parade route. Once you see the pattern, planning a summer Saturday stops feeling like guesswork.
This is a walk through that pattern for 2026, with the specific dates, places, and small details that make the difference between a good weekend and a great one.
The weekly beat that anchors everything
Before the marquee festivals, there is a repeating cadence. Two standing weekly events set the tempo, and everything else layers on top.
| Beat | When | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Camas Farmers Market | Wednesdays 3–7 pm, June 3 through September 30 | 314 NE Birch Street (temporary 2026 location) |
| First Friday | First Friday of every month, 5–8 pm | Throughout downtown |
| Summer Concert in the Park | Thursday, July 16, 6 pm | Dorothy Fox Park |
| Summer Nights Sips & Bites | Thursday, August 13, 5–9 pm | Downtown, check-in at Fuel Medical |
The Camas Farmers Market runs 3–7 pm every Wednesday from June 3 to September 30, 2026, opening its 19th season in a temporary new location at 314 NE Birch Street with a ribbon cutting by Mayor Hogan and market president Shannon Van Horn. That temporary address matters if you have not been down since last year. Muscle memory sends people to the old spot, and the market has moved a block.
First Fridays are the other reliable evening. The Downtown Camas Association hosts First Fridays every month from 5–8 pm as themed passport events with activities, art, dining, and after-hours shopping, and calling ahead for dining is worth it. That last point about reservations is a local habit worth adopting. Feast At 316 and The Hammond fill up fast when the sidewalks are busy.
Camas Days, 50th edition
The single biggest weekend of the summer lands late July, and 2026 is a milestone year. The 50th Annual Camas Days "The Spirit of '76" runs from Friday, July 24, 2026, starting at 10 am in downtown Camas.
Here is what the two days actually look like on the ground. Vendor booths span six city blocks from 10 am to 8 pm, food booths line Birch between 3rd and 4th Avenue, Kids Street with a 50-foot inflatable slide and obstacle course sets up on Dallas and 4th from 11 am to 7 pm, and the Kids Parade steps off at 12:15 pm with line-up in front of the Camas Library starting at 10:30.
If you have kids in the parade, plan to arrive at the library well before 11. If you are coming for the wine and microbrew street, the wine, microbrew and music segment runs 5 to 11 pm, while crafts and food court are 10 am to 8 pm. The Sunday of Camas Days weekend has its own softer companion event: Picnic in Color takes place July 26 from 11 am to 4 pm, organized by the Downtown Camas Association as a kid-friendly art day.
Where locals eat between the events
Downtown Camas punches above its weight for restaurants, and the mix has shifted enough in the last two years that even longtime residents are catching up. A few you should have in rotation this summer:
- Feast At 316 at 316 NE Dallas St. Small plates, seasonal, the kind of place where the skewer and focaccia toast has developed a following.
- Natalia's Cafe on Dallas, 50s diner styling with cook-to-order breakfast and brunch that punches well past its footprint.
- The Hammond Kitchen + Craft Bar, still the anchor for a longer dinner with cocktails.
- Tommy O's at the Camas Hotel, Pacific Rim menu, dependable for a walkable dinner if you are staying near the library end of downtown.
- Adams Street Bar & Grill, on Adams Street, low-key and reliable.
- Nuestra Mesa for downtown Mexican, and Rakuzen Ramen House at 4857 NW Lake Rd for a fast, well-reviewed bowl on the north end.
- Grains of Wrath, founded in 2017 by brewmasters Mike Hunsaker and Brendan Greenen, and the Camas beer address most Portland-side friends already know.
If you have visitors coming this summer and want to skip the "where should we eat" negotiation, a Wednesday visit built around the farmers market at 314 NE Birch, followed by dinner at Feast At 316 two blocks over, is the sequence that consistently works.
One tell that a Camas restaurant has crossed over: Grains of Wrath now hosts a stop on the Oregon Brewery Running Series, with a 5K beer run scheduled at the Camas brewery on November 7, 2026. Camas is on the Portland-metro map for reasons other than a school district ranking.
The trail that resets a summer afternoon
Summer in Camas is not only downtown. It is the trail people walk before dinner and the park where the concerts happen. Two things to know.
First, Crown Park just came back online. The Crown Park Grand Reopening was held Thursday, July 2, 2026 from 11 am to 4 pm, with the first concert of the summer featuring Quinton Parker and Friends from 6 to 8 pm. If you have not walked through since the reopening, do that this month.
Second, the Lacamas Heritage Trail is the piece of Camas infrastructure that residents underuse in July and August. It is a 6.7-mile out-and-back trail near Camas, generally considered easy, taking an average of about two hours with an elevation gain of 223 feet. The trail parallels Lacamas Creek and the western shore of Lacamas Lake under a canopy of old growth forest, with glimpses of wildlife, waterfalls, and interesting rock formations.
Two honest caveats that most guides skip. In late summer, after water levels on the lake drop, there can be a slightly unpleasant odor from the mudflats. And Clark County posts algae bloom advisories on Lacamas Lake, so before you plan a swim day or a paddleboard afternoon, check the county public beaches page.
The practical move in July: hit the trail from the Heritage Park trailhead on NW Lake Road in the morning while it is still shaded, grab lunch downtown, come back for the market.
A sample Wednesday, if you need one
For anyone with out-of-town family visiting who wants the compressed version of Camas in one day, here is the sequence that shows the town honestly:
- Morning walk on the Lacamas Heritage Trail from the Heritage Park trailhead. Two miles out and back is enough to see the lake without the mudflat stretch.
- Coffee at Natalia's or Daily Paper. Both are within a five-minute walk of each other.
- Farmers market at 314 NE Birch, 3 to 7 pm. Berry season peaks in July.
- Early dinner at Feast At 316 or Nuestra Mesa. Reserve.
- If it is a First Friday, stay downtown until 8. If not, drive up to Crown Park for the evening concert series.
That is the whole town in one loop, and you have not gotten in a car between steps two and five.
What the calendar looks like past Camas Days
August and beyond keep the tempo going. Summer Nights Sips & Bites is a ticketed event on Thursday, August 13, 2026 from 5 to 9 pm. The Camas Art & Wine Walk follows on Saturday, August 22. From there the farmers market carries you through September 30, First Fridays continue every month, and then Boo Bash trick-or-treating runs October 28, 2026 from 3 to 5 pm with participating downtown businesses, the Camas Library, and City Hall, plus a spooky market on Birch Street.
The point is not that Camas has a lot of events. Most towns list a lot of events. The point is that the ones here are close enough together, on foot, that showing up for one usually means you stumble into two.
Ready when you are
Living in Camas well is mostly a question of syncing to the town's calendar, and summer is when that calendar is easiest to read. If you have been meaning to know your neighborhood better, or you are thinking about what your home in Camas is worth as more buyers discover this side of the river, TK Real Estate Group is here when you want to talk. Schedule a Free Consultation and we will bring the local read to the conversation.
