Discover Bingen: Harbor, culture, and the Huckleberry Festival

When planning your stay in Bingen, you may want to focus on different things: the harbor and water sports history, culture, events, or parks. The facilities and experiences also differ in their function and the time period they relate to.

Harbor and the Columbia River

Sailboard Park is a 1.75-acre park on the Columbia River in the Bingen Point Business Park. It offers river access, parking, picnic tables, and a limited number of portable restrooms. In the mid-1990s, the park was a windsurfing spot and the venue for the Gorge Games and several speed competitions. These details describe how it was used at the time. The Port of Bingen is connected to the Columbia River.

The Bingen Boat Ramp serves a different purpose: its public day-use facilities include a two-lane boat launch, restrooms, and parking for boat trailers. This distinction can help you tell the Boat Ramp and Sailboard Park apart when planning your trip, without conflating their respective facilities.

Culture and history

The Sacajawea–Lewis-&-Clark mural depicts Sacajawea looking toward Mount Hood. The mural also honors Lewis and Clark’s journey through the Columbia River Gorge region. The image thus combines a specific depiction with a historical connection to the region.

The Gorge Heritage Museum is housed in the former Bingen Congregational Church. Its collection includes relics, baskets, photographs, tools, and other artifacts from Indigenous tribes of the Klickitat region and the Columbia River Gorge, as well as early pioneers.

The historic Bingen Theater is a community-based performing arts center and recording studio. It began as the Canyon Theater in 1949. During Hollywood’s Golden Age, it showed double features. Its production capabilities include theater productions, concerts, community events, and film screenings. Its former history as a movie theater and its current uses give the theater two distinct cultural connections.

Festival, parks, and activities

The Huckleberry Festival takes place every year on the weekend after Labor Day; the date varies from year to year. It began in 1962 as a small-town festival celebrating the region’s wild huckleberry harvest. The festival includes a huckleberry pie booth and an ice cream booth. If you want to plan your trip around the festival, check the date for the relevant year.

Daubenspeck Park has a play structure for young children and a 6,000-square-foot skatepark. NK Studios offers dance classes. These activities cater to different interests, from exercise and play to dance instruction.

A few miles from Bingen, the Klickitat Trail is a 31-mile, one-way route for hikers, cyclists, and horseback riders. The first 1.6-mile section at the Lyle trailhead is accessible; the trailhead also has a restroom and drinking water. The accessibility and facility information applies to this section at the Lyle trailhead.

Discover more destinations: Lyle, White Salmon, Goldendale, Trout Lake.

For the regional travel overview: Klickitat County.