Omak is a city in Okanogan County in north-central Washington, set in the foothills of the Okanogan Highlands along the Okanogan River. With a population of about 4,860, it is the largest municipality in a vast, sparsely populated county that extends to the Canadian border. The city serves as a retail, medical, and service hub for the surrounding agricultural, timber, and tribal communities of the Okanogan Valley, anchoring the middle of one of Washington's most rural regions. Omak's defining event is the Omak Stampede, a rodeo first held in 1933 that draws visitors to the city each summer. Its signature is the World Famous Suicide Race, in which horses and riders charge down a steep, sandy bluff into the Okanogan River — a spectacle rooted in the region's horse culture that has made the town's name known far beyond Washington. The Stampede remains a central part of Omak's civic identity and economy, filling the town each August. The city's early history followed the arrival of the railroad and the timber industry, and its schools date to the founding of the Omak School District in 1906 and the construction of its first schoolhouse. Today Omak is a working small town with a strong outdoor orientation. The Okanogan River runs through the community, offering floating and fishing, and the surrounding highlands provide access to hunting, hiking, and open rangeland. Beyond the rodeo, Omak's hospital, schools, and commercial district make it the practical center of gravity for the central Okanogan Valley. Residents enjoy the amenities of the county's largest town while living minutes from the open, mountainous country that defines this part of the state.