Anyone who has strolled downtown Camas on a First Friday evening in the last several years has probably walked past an easel or two, a painter working fast against the light while shoppers wander in and out of Birch Street storefronts. That's been part of the scene for years. This September, it isn't happening. The plein air painters left First Friday for a day of their own, and the market a few blocks over packed up a spot it had held for nearly two decades. Neither move is random. Both trace back to something specific, and together they say more about how this town actually runs than either change would on its own.
The plein air contest finally left the nest
The Camas Plein Air Event started in 2013, when Marquita Call opened Camas Gallery and began organizing a day for regional artists to paint the town's tree-lined streets. By 2022, Camas Gallery had been coordinating it as a First Friday fixture for more than seven years, with painters visible around downtown during the day and a People's Choice vote folded into that evening's festivities.
This year, the Downtown Camas Association draws a clean line between the two events for the first time in its own materials: there is no plein air competition built into First Friday anymore, because the event now has a full day of its own. The Camas Plein Air Event and Art Show runs Saturday, September 26, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with artists painting scenes of downtown from 7 to 3 and a public reception and awards ceremony at RedDoor Gallery from 4 to 6 p.m. Anyone can walk the streets during the painting hours and watch the work happen in real time, no ticket required.
The event now carries a second layer of meaning. Marquita Call has since passed, and the competition has been reframed as a tribute to her, organized these days by Liz Pike. The prize structure hasn't changed much over the years: $2,800 total in cash awards, including a $1,000 top prize, funded through a modest artist entry fee. Pike described the appeal to the Camas-Washougal Post-Record last year, noting that visitors are "always looking for charming paintings of downtown Camas to take home." That's the pitch for tourists. For residents, the more useful detail is timing: the finished paintings don't disappear after the Saturday reception. Most of them stay on display and for sale inside RedDoor Gallery, at 411 NE Dallas Street, through October 25, which gives anyone who missed the event a full month to come back and buy a piece of their own street corner.
First Friday keeps its shape, just not its centerpiece
That doesn't mean First Friday goes quiet. September's theme is "Celebrate Art," running the usual 5 to 8 p.m. on the 4th, and the Downtown Camas Association built a full evening around it even without the painting contest as the headline draw. Four galleries are hosting shows and receptions: Attic Gallery at 419 NE Cedar, Gallery 408 at 408 NE 4th, Second Story Gallery upstairs at the Camas Public Library at 625 NE 4th, and RedDoor Gallery at 411 NE Dallas.
New to this year's lineup is a self-guided mural tour that includes the mural on the back of the Livingston Apartments, visible from 5th Avenue, painted by muralist Molly Keen. There's also a "Choose Your Favorite Local Art" passport activity running through participating merchants, with prize baskets for anyone who fills out a card.
It's a small distinction but a real one. First Friday in September is still an art walk, with plenty to look at and vote on inside the four galleries. The DCA's own event page notes that artists are still welcome to set up and paint informally that evening if they want. What's gone from the Friday lineup is the ribbons, the cash prizes, and the formal vote, all of which now belong to the Saturday three weeks later.
The market moved for the first time in almost twenty years
The Camas Farmers Market has run on the same stretch of downtown, between the Camas Public Library and City Hall, for close to two decades without changing its footprint. This season it did. Due to city construction projects, the 2026 market sits three blocks west of its usual home, at 314 NE Birch Street, between 3rd and 4th Avenues, with an additional stretch running along 4th Avenue between Adams and Birch.
The schedule itself hasn't shifted. It's still Wednesdays, 3 to 7 p.m., running through September 30, which marks the close of the season. What's different is muscle memory. Anyone who has spent years parking near the library and walking straight to the market booths needs to redirect a few blocks this year. The market's own materials frame this as a temporary location for the construction period, which suggests next year could look like the old routine again, but for this one season, the map genuinely changed for the first time in almost twenty years of Wednesdays.
Two traditions, one month, and what it says about this town
None of these three organizations, the Downtown Camas Association, RedDoor Gallery, and the Camas Farmers Market, coordinate with each other on scheduling. They're separate groups with separate boards and separate reasons for doing what they do. But this September, their calendars moved in the same direction at the same time. One tradition stepped out from under First Friday because it grew past the evening slot it used to share, and because the person who built it is no longer here to run it the old way. Another tradition packed up a spot it had held for close to two decades, because the street underneath it needed work the market couldn't wait out.
That's not really a coincidence story. It's closer to a snapshot of what keeps a small downtown functioning. Institutions here are old enough to have habits, and this year, two of the oldest habits both had a reason to break at once. Residents who've watched this town's calendar for years will notice the gap where the painters used to stand on First Friday. They'll notice the market sign pointing them toward Birch Street instead of the library lawn. Neither is permanent, necessarily, but neither is nothing either. It's the kind of shift that only makes sense if you're paying attention to a place you already know well, which is exactly the audience these changes are actually for.
If you're weighing a move to Camas and want the same kind of on-the-ground read on how a neighborhood actually runs day to day, not just what the listing photos show, Jessica Wendt would love to talk it through. Let's Connect.
