The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

The annual Bald Eagle Festival and Wooden Boat Show will make Cathlamet the place to be this weekend.

The annual festival ranges over three days and features a parade, street fair with live entertainment, fireworks show and US Coast Guard helicopter rescue demonstration.

A complete schedule of festival events can be found on Page 12 of this issue of The Eagle.

The three-day festival starts Friday with a celebration at the Two Islands Farm Market and the Third Annual Side Walk Art Contest.

Saturday is the busy day, starting with the Kiwanis Club of Cathlamet Breakfast at the Elochoman Slough Marina and the Bald Eagle Fun Run from Cathlamet to Puget Island and back.

Main Street will close so vendors can set up starting around 8 a.m. The annual Bald Eagle, Parade starts at 11 a.m., and the street fair continues after the parade.

There will be an arts and crafts show, a display of Model T's and tractors, root beer floats and train rides at the Historical Museum, and the annual firemen's Water Ball Tournament.

Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lynda Gerlach said Tuesday that there were already 34 entries for the parade, sponsored by the Cathlamet Woman's Club, and 24 vendors signed up for the street fair.

Sandi Benbrook Rieder, one of the Chamber's festival coordinators, said the festival will feature expanded entertainment for children, including a US Army rock climbing wall, 40-foot-long bouncy fun house, coin in the hay scramble, and other events.

Chamber President Jennifer Hanigan has lined up an afternoon of live musical entertainment for the Main Street stage. Performers include Barney Perrine, a veteran blues and classic rock performer who recently settled in Astoria; The Tearful Cherub trio--Puget Island residents Christine Payne-Towner, Michale Dowers, and Randy Williams, all performers with years of experience; and the Wahkiakum Acoustic Guitar Society with its variety of folk, rock and flamenco.

In the evening, the action switches to the marina in the evening, with the Chamber's beer garden and the Buoy 10 Band. The band plays a mix of Blues, Classic rock, soft rock and even a disco tune or two thrown in.

The annual fireworks show will light up the sky at 10 p.m.

The Wooden Boat Festival opens at 10 a.m. Sunday.

It features a vendor market, activities for kids, and a display of fine wooden boats from the lower Columbia region.

The Coast Guard plans a helicopter rescue demonstration at 12 noon, unless the crew is diverted to an actual emergency.

The Chamber would welcome volunteers to help out during the Saturday events.

"We could use volunteers for helping the vendors get themselves settled in, keeping the crowd on the side walk during the parade, checking with vendors and coordinators throughout the afternoon, and helping get Main Street cleaned up at 5 p.m. when the vendors leave so we can reopen the street on time," Benbrook Rieder said. "If anyone can give us one to two hours of volunteer time in these areas we would appreciate it."

Contact the Chamber office, 795-9996, for further details.