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

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 receive one more bingo card for free. Every bingo winner will receive a turkey or a ham for their prize. This is a fun night for all ages and you just might win your Thanksgiving turkey or ham at the bingo. Mark this date on your calendar so you don’t forget. All proceeds from Wahkiakum County Fair Board fund raising events will be used to fund the 2012 Wahkiakum County Fair.

Last week freezing temperatures were forecast for Wahkiakum County, no snow, just cold temperatures. It was time to shut down the water system at the Fairgrounds to protect our pipes from freezing and breaking.

There is a procedure to follow when it’s time to shut off the Fairgrounds water. It’s easier if I have help, as there’s a lot of walking around and opening valves all over the Fairgrounds. Former fairgrounds handy man Ed Stevens, now a volunteer, helped get the water system ready for winter. We drained all the pipes and used our air compressor to push the remaining water out of the system. We are ready, let winter begin!

Governor Gregoire is proposing to make some drastic budget cuts to our fair funding again. Last year we e-mailed our senator and representatives and the fair funding was kept in the budget. I need your help again! Please send e-mails to the addresses below. Ask them to support keeping fair funding in the budget. Please contact Senator Brian Hatfield at brian.hatfield@leg.wa.gov , Representative Brian Blake at brian.blake@leg.wa.gov, and Representative Dean Takko at dean.takko@leg.wa.gov. Tell them what the Wahkiakum County Fair means to our 4-H Clubs, children and our community. Let's fill up their inbox with e-mails from Wahkiakum County!

After reading the above paragraph about fair funding cuts, I hope you will attend the fair board’s bingo fund raising event. Together we can raise the funds needed to operate our Fair in 2012! I look forward to this community get together at our Fair each summer and I know you do too. See you at our fund raising events!

The fair received three wonderful donations this week! Many thanks to Kathy Hamilton, Jessica Fletcher and Sunrise Fletcher for donating their Fair Premium checks back to the Fair!

The fair office is open by appointment only. If you need to gain access to the fairgrounds contact Fair Manager Becky Ledtke at 360-560-0371 or 795-3480 and leave a message.

The next Wahkiakum County Fair Board meeting is December 14, 7 p.m., at the River Street meeting room in Cathlamet. The public is always welcome to attend.