Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner! I was very thankful that the high tides, big gusts of wind and inches of rain predicted did not cause flooding at the Fairgrounds. Earlier in the week I had asked some local volunteers, Bill Chamberlain, Ed Stevens and Jerry Ledtke, to watch for any approaching flood water problems as this storm moved through our County. We have one tractor we use throughout the winter that they would move to higher ground if flood waters started threatening to go over the dike surrounding the Fairgrounds. Why...
The Wahkiakum County Fair Board would like to say thank you to the many bingo players that attended Turkey Bingo last Friday night. Every game of bingo played was suspenseful and exciting. The winning card holder would receive a turkey or a ham for their bingo. Sometimes there would be two bingos at the same time. Mike Backman, our number caller, would have to do a bingo run off to determine the winner. Now that’s intense bingo! I suspect there will be some delicious Thanksgiving dinners in Wahkiakum County cooked this week by many of our lucky...
Attention all bingo players! Tomorrow night, (Friday) at 6 p.m., the Wahkiakum County Fair Board’s Turkey Bingo, at the J. A. Wendt multi-purpose room will begin! There will be two fund raising raffle drawings at the event. One raffle drawing is for multiple prizes, many are useful items but we also include some funny items in this drawing . The grand prize raffle is for a 42 inch flat screen color TV. Raffle tickets are only $1 each for both drawings. Bingo cards are three for $10, bring a can of food to donate to the food bank and we will g...
Attention all Bingo players! On November 18, at 6 p.m., the Wahkiakum County Fair Board's Turkey bingo held at the J. A. Wendt multi-purpose room will begin! There will be two fund raising raffle drawings at the event. One raffle drawing is for multiple prizes, many are useful items but we also include some funny items in this drawing. The grand prize raffle is for a 42 inch flat screen color TV. Raffle tickets are only $1 each for both drawings. Bingo cards are three for $10. If you bring a can of food to donate to the food bank you will...
I received some amazing information last week from Kayrene Gilbertsen. The Wahkiakum County Fair owns a double-ended Columbia River gillnet boat! The boat was built between 1913 and 1916. It has been stored for over 30 years in the Vista Park Port Shop in Skamokawa. Since we now have a gillnet boat, I spent some time reading up on these sturdy fishing boats. The double-ended gillnet boats were designed for fishing in rough water. We all know how quickly the Columbia River can become a white cap terror if you are in a small boat and the tide...
It’s been a cold and wet October at the Fairgrounds. This type of weather doesn’t bother Search and Rescue (SAR) members or their special dogs. The SAR met at the Fairgrounds last Sunday and held their dog training exercises. I was asked to be a track layer. This was something I didn’t know anything about, so was given instructions by Diane Morrow, the trainer for the six dogs in the SAR program. I was given a walkie talkie, a flag, some pink tape and four objects to hold so my scent was on them. Then I was shown where to start my track layin...
Did you cash your fair check yet? Don’t forget! Fair checks have to be cashed before the end of October. I will keep reminding you each week! If you haven’t received your check yet, give me a call. Want to help sponsor next years fair? Donate your fair premium check back to the Fair. Send your check to: Wahkiakum County Fair, P.O. Box 1, Skamokawa, WA 98647. Thank you, Frans Eykel for donating your fair premium check back to the fair! This week volunteer Ed Stevens and I worked on the area in the arena where people gather to watch events. All...
We are starting our Fairgrounds winterization projects! A huge thanks to Ed Stevens, Mark Crary, Barbara Clark and Georgie Billings for moving our big freezers, refrigerators, ice machine, ice cream freezer and stoves out of the food booth and onto the entertainment stage. Our new stage built by Contractor Mark Crary can hold the weight of these appliances because Mark used 2” by 10” floor joists to support the floor. We will hope for a dry winter but we are getting prepared for a wet one. The stage will be the new high and dry home for our...
If you grew up in Wahkiakum County you already know there are lots of elk and deer that live in the mountains and valleys that surround Skamokawa. Hunters, if you need a place to camp, our park is 20 minutes away from South Fork Ridge, where you will probably be hunting. We have camp sites available at the Fairgrounds Park with rest room facilities and a shower. Your camping fees will be used to operate and fund the 2012 Wahkiakum County Fair. Give me a call if you need a campsite. Did you cash your fair check yet? Don’t forget! Fair checks h...
A fund raising event to benefit our local 4-H Clubs is happening this weekend! It’s called Columbia River Country Days and is presented by Friends of Extension and Wahkiakum County 4-H. This is the famous dinner that is set up inside the Grays River Covered Bridge. How unique is that? Be sure to get your ticket at the Bank of the Pacific or the WSU Extension Office for this special dinner before they sell out. Share a delicious dinner with friends and you will also be supporting the 4-H Clubs in our area too! Did you cash your fair check y...
Fair premium checks are done! They are in the mail and you should receive yours in the next couple of days. Take a look at the amount of premium money you received this year. Next year, try to bring five more exhibits to show at the fair. There will be more exhibits at our fair to look at and even more premium dollars sent your way. A county fair wouldn't be very interesting if we didn't have all the animals, grown items and handmade crafts you bring in to exhibit. Thank you for helping make our fair a success again! If you purchased a horse...
As Fair Manager I have the honor of giving out a Manager's Award. This year I gave the award to two volunteer superintendents who spent many weeks building, cleaning, painting, decorating and preparing paperwork before our Fair started. These two volunteers worked many long days and through it all smiled and enjoyed every minute! They made their Rabbit, Cavy and Poultry building a special place for exhibitors to bring and show their animals. The 2011 Manager's Award was given to Deb Gribskov and Shawn Deal. Congratulations and thank you for...
The greatest news this week has to be about Mike and Carrie Backman. Two very nice people in our community met, fell in love and were married last Saturday. They held their reception in the Fairgrounds Park and invited all family and friends to attend. Congratulations Carrie and Mike! The Fairgrounds Park is a great place to have special events like weddings, receptions, private parties and family reunions. It’s private and big enough for a huge crowd. If you are interested in reserving a week-end or a day, give me a call. How many people a...
I hope that everyone had a chance to stop by and enjoy the 2011 Wahkiakum County Fair. We had a great line-up of music entertainment for each day plus magicians, reptile shows, line dancers and fencing demonstrations. There were a lot of animal and still life exhibits to look at, animal shows to attend and the weather was perfect. It was a wonderful Fair! As Fair Manager, of course I had a few “oh no, what do I do now?” times, one being the spelling bee. The person who was to conduct the spelling bee was told the wrong day. It was time for the...
At 10 a.m., this morning, the gates were opened and our 2011 Wahkiakum County Fair festivities and livestock shows began! The Fairgrounds is filled with still life exhibits, 4-Her’s showing their animals, food vendors, game vendors, business vendors and vendors selling fun , good quality products. I hope you saved the flyer that I sent out with The Eagle newspaper last week, it will help you know when the entertainment you would like to watch is happening. We have a pretty busy schedule of entertainment already, but I was able to add another g...
We are going into high gear this week as a lot of event details are finalized. Buildings will be cleaned and decorated as we get ready for the thousands of entries that we hope to receive from the community. This community of family and friends make our fair the special meeting place it is each year. I encourage everyone to bring their crafts, photos, flowers, baked goods, garden vegetables, canned goods, fresh berries, quilts, sewn items, oil paintings and exhibit them at the Fair. If you have a special talent, like knitting, basket weaving,...
The Vista Park 30 year celebration was a success! It was a beautiful hot day and lots of people attended. I sold firewood raffle tickets, gave out fair books, exhibitor tags and forms. Thank-you for purchasing fair passes and baked goods from Ashley Hedges and Akaysha Stonebreaker our 2011 Fair Princesses at the celebration. We have some great contests this year in the baking department. If you use Bob’s Red Mill Products, here’s your chance to win prize money and their products. Bring in your baking exhibit, a recipe card showing one of the...
Knife River Company brought the last load of concrete on Friday that was needed to finish the two horse barn walkways! This second pour was just as big as the previous pour, but we were experienced concrete workers now, so it seemed to go a little faster. Bill Chamberlain drove his backhoe to the cement truck, the bucket was filled with concrete, he drove into the barn, dumped the concrete, then the crew pushed it into place. Thanks to our cement project crew: Ed Stevens, Mark Cothren, Jerry and Valle Ledtke, Mike Antijunti, Cody Vik, Dave and...
On Monday the quote needed from the Knife River Company to get concrete poured in the horse barn walkways was confirmed! Their quote was within the budget we had to work with. All our attention was then focused on getting the dirt removed from the two walkways and the forms in place before Friday. First thing we noticed was the ground was super hard to dig out and was full of big rocks. We had to use the tractor forks to break up the ground first, then with a lot of help from Mark Cothren the dirt was shoveled into the tractor bucket and...
The Fairgrounds was full of activity last week-end. Dan Wakefield brought his Boy Scout Troop from Puyallup to camp at the Fairgrounds Park. The group of seven scouts and three adults volunteered to give us some help with the projects we are doing as we get ready for our Fair. The scouts painted, denailed boards, used the weed eater, moved lumber and helped to build some animal pens in the new barn. The scout troop likes using recycled materials, they were very happy with the materials we had to build the pens with. Some of the pens we set up...
The sun was shining last Saturday and Sunday, so I put the rummage and book sale signs out on the highway. We had people stopping by both days and purchasing some of our many used books and rummage sale treasures. We will be planning a sale each week end in the month of July. At these sales, I will be selling raffle tickets for the two cords of firewood from the alder trees that were cut up and stacked last month. I am raffling the cords separately; you can purchase tickets for cord one and cord two. The tickets can also be purchased at the...
The Fairgrounds arena is ready to use and looks great! Fairgrounds handyman Ed Stevens received some help with this project from volunteers Georgie Billings, Barbara Czarnecki and Sven Antijunti last week. The project called for 50 plus holes to be dug in the rocky ground and we sure appreciated their help. The turnout paddock areas on the right side of the arena are in place and stabilized. Time to start a new project! The rusting metal in the horse barn stalls was in need of some serious help. Horse barn superintendent Valerie Antijunti is...
The final legislative budget included $1,750,000 per year for 2012 and 2013 for the Fair fund. That is a decrease of $250,000 per year, but considering the cuts made to other programs and the original budget proposals, it is very good news. Better news. The capital budget included $1,000,000 for health and safety grants for county fairs. That is more than double what has been received in the past. This money can be used for plumbing, electrical, ADA, lighting, fencing, etc… projects that need to be done on our fairgrounds. I would...
Rainy weather and grass growing what seemed like inches each day was the challenge put before the fairgrounds volunteers last week. We had spent many weeks painting and cleaning inside the buildings, creating new flower beds and cutting up cords of fire wood in the rain. There were acres of grass to mow one more time before the Dollars for Scholars event. We needed the ground to dry so we could finish this task and turn the fairgrounds into a beautiful place for the event. Finally the sun was back in our skies and it was very hot on Friday. We...
This Saturday the Fairgrounds will be the site of the Derby Dollars for Scholars and Rods & Reels Rod Run event! This is a special fund raising event established to generate funds for student scholarships. The Rods & Reels Car Show will be set up in the Fairgrounds Park and the Dollars for Scholars Sturgeon Derby & Barbecue is located on the Fairgrounds midway area. The day begins with a fishing derby for the biggest sturgeon caught before the final weigh-in time at 3:30 p.m. The Fairgrounds Park will be completely filled with beautiful cars....
