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

The lights at the fairgrounds are beautiful, the free holiday dinner was delicious and the people attending were wonderful to visit with. Last weekend's Skamokawa Grange and Fire Department dinner was a sparkling success, hope you attended!

Fund raising plans for 2012 are already starting to take shape. On February 11 we will serve our “Valentine Diamond Dinner” at the Skamokawa Grange Hall. We are still in the process of lining up the entertainment for this special evening. If you have attended our dinner, you know we will find some great entertainment for you to enjoy with your loved one as you enjoy a filet mignon steak dinner. Cost is still only $25 per dinner ticket and the price includes a raffle ticket, your chance to win the grand prize, a diamond necklace! If you don’t win the grand prize your ticket can still win a number of other nice prizes donated to our raffle. You can purchase more raffle tickets at $1 each during the dinner, these raffle tickets can only be bought exclusively by our dinner guests. Dinner tickets are available to purchase now! Call Becky at 795-3434 to order them. The colorful tickets were designed by Bryan Ledtke. They would make a great Christmas present, just tuck them into a Christmas card! The tickets will also be for sale at The Bank of the Pacific, starting December 19th. Your support of Fair Board fund raising events is greatly appreciated!

The “2012 Fair Theme Contest” is getting close to ending! Keep sending your ideas so we can pick an interesting theme soon for our 2012 Fair. If you would like to enter the “2012 Fair Theme Contest” please call 795-3480 or send your theme ideas to E-mail: wahkiakumfair@centurytel.net or Address: Wahkiakum County Fair, P.O.Box 1, Skamokawa, Wa 98647. The Fair Board will select the most creative theme and award two bright colored Fair T-shirts and two Fair passes to the contest winner in February. Last year's theme was “Country Pride, County Wide.” I have been trying to come up with a good theme myself. I keep thinking that the tough times we are going through will bring the best people to our Fair; people that really appreciate this once a year big community get together. Let’s keep trying to figure out the perfect theme for our 2012 Fair.

I was amazed last week when I looked at the arena. I had harrowed it five days earlier and not one horse hoof print was evident. Where did you riders disappear to? Christmas shopping maybe? This is a reminder to the people who purchased horse gate keys for use in 2011, please give me a call or send an email if you would like to purchase a key to the arena for 2012. I will be changing the lock in the first week of January and I don’t want you to be locked out.

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

The next Wahkiakum County Fair Board meeting is January 11, 7 p.m., River Street Building Meeting Room in Cathlamet. The public is always welcome to attend.