The first show of the “Silver Buckle Series” was held last Saturday, it was a fun and successful event. Stewart Moonen sounded like a professional announcer as he called the classes into the arena to compete and later announced the winners. For setting up the barrels and poles our crew was: Ginger Moonen, Debbie Twiet, Joni Matthews, Connie Luthi and Kathy Perkins. Their job was to measure out the correct number of feet between the poles or barrels and set them in place. They were quick with a rake between the contestants to keep the dirt smooth where the horses make their turns. If that is not done correctly a horse and rider can go down. Valle Ledtke was our Showmanship Judge. She had each of the contestants lead their horses through a walk/trot/turn/back/set-up pattern. Part of the scoring is determined by how well the horse and handler do the pattern. Thank you Valle for driving from Bellingham to help at the show and judge this class!

We would like to thank these businesses for donating prizes to the Silver Buckle Series: Western World Inc.-Longview, Watkins Tractor & Supply Company-Kelso, Brim’s Farm & Garden –Astoria, and L & J Feed Inc.-Longview. We received saddle blankets, halters, splint guards, hoof boots, feed buckets, water buckets, grooming supplies and a big box of horse treats! They were very generous and supportive of this event. We encourage everyone to support these businesses, our way of saying thanks.

Last week Vicki Allenback stopped by the fairgrounds and noticed we could use some help preparing the arena for the Silver Buckle Series. She volunteered her time, use of her tractor and dump truck. She hauled in seven loads of sand to get the arena ready for competitive horse games. Thank you Vicki!

I will have the names of our winning contestants in my column next week. The second Silver Buckle Series Show is scheduled for July 31. Mark your calendar, see you at the next show!

On to other news! The Fair Book is out! We would like to thank Geri Florek at The Eagle for all the time she put into deciphering Lore Twiet’s and my sticky notes. Lore and I read through the fair book five times. Each time deleting things, adding things and looking for errors. Then, after each reading, it would be taken back to Geri to make some more changes. Geri did an amazing job understanding all our corrections and getting the book out in record breaking time! Thank you! The fair book is available at many local businesses in Cathlamet and Post Offices around the county.

The next Wahkiakum County Fair Board meeting is July 14, 7 p.m., T-Building, at the Fairgrounds in Skamokawa. The public is always welcome to attend. The fair office is open for limited hours in June. If you need to gain access to the fairgrounds contact Manager Lore Twiet at 360-849-4315, or you can call 360-795-3480 and leave a message on the fairgrounds answering machine.