Bald Eagle Festival this Friday

July 12, 2007

Cathlamet's Bald Eagle Festival gets underway Friday evening for a weekend of celebration and activity.

The festival's theme is "Celebrating a Century," which marks the 100th year of the incorporation of the Town of Cathlamet.

The festival features a street dance on Friday evening; on Saturday is the traditional parade, street fair, street dance and fireworks show, and on Sunday will be the Wooden Boat Festival with US Coast Guard rescue helicopter visit.

The Seattle-area band Voodoo Highway will perform Friday at the Elochoman Slough Marina, which will also have a beer garden for those age 21 and over. Music will go from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Saturday activities start at 9:30 a.m. with the Bald Eagle Challenge, a run-walk sponsored by Wahkiakum High School track and cross country teams. Runners and walkers will have 2-mile, 5k and 10k courses starting at the Puget Island Bridge. Registration starts at 9 a.m. near the bridge in Cathlamet.

On Main Street, the street fair starts at 10 a.m. and will last till 5 p.m. The parade starts at 11 a.m. There will be lots of kid's area activities, bounce houses, old fashioned pictures and more.

The Wahkiakum Historical Society is planning interactive displays on Saturday. People will be able to climb on the logging steam locomotive, and there will be a photographer to take pictures of people on the train or in pioneer clothing inside the museum. The orchestra will play from 6:30-9 p.m. Fireworks begin at 9:45 p.m.

Children's activities will take place at the parking lot of the Bank of the Pacific. They'll include a bounce house, balloon animals, ball toss game, tattoo table, face painting, lollipop tree game and crafts tables.

Also on the schedule are:

1 p.m. - Hotdog Eating Contest

2 p.m. - Egg Races

2:30 p.m. - Diaper Derby

3 p.m. - Limbo Contest

4 p.m. - Fire Department Water Ball Contest.

On Sunday, activity focuses on the Elochoman Slough Marina with its Wooden Boat Festival. There will also be a barbecue, craft fair and swap meet.

The US Coast Guard will demonstrate a helicopter rescue, and afterward, the helicopter will land at the Cathlamet schools for public visits.