A very delightful crowd filled the Skamokawa Grange last Saturday night as the Wahkiakum County Fair Board members and volunteers served a very nice dinner to over 100 guests. The Valentine Diamond Dinner was the new fair board's first fund raising event and the first time many of them had ever worked together. They are a hard working group and I am so impressed with their willingness to take on any job that needs to be staffed.

The dinner preparation took many hours and then five excellent waitresses worked quickly to get the food hot off the barbecue and stoves out to our guests. Thank you, Sharyl Hjaltalin, Kathleen Morgain, Ursula Petralia, Kay Chamberlain and Cheryl Backman. You are such wonderful waitresses and made the dinner go so smoothly. Mike Backman served coffee, creamer and water all evening to our many guests so they wouldn’t need to leave their tables. Thank you, Mike!

At the wine table I had scheduled four hosts, but at the last minute I received a call that one host couldn’t make it to the dinner. I quickly called Shawn and Kyla Deal and within a half hour they arrived and filled the vacant host position. Thank you Bill Chamberlain, Jim Moten, Deb Gribskov, Shawn Deal and Kyla Deal for serving beverages to our guests. Shawn and Kyla thanks for quickly responding to my call for help!

In the kitchen I was privileged to work with Janet Bryan, Susan Rawls, Joe Blalock, Mirjami Coons, Veneta and Nancy George. We each found our place in the food preparation line and sent out plate after plate of beautiful salads, dinners and desserts. Special thanks to Kay Chamberlain for spicing up the green beans and Joe Blalock for keeping the coffee pots going for hours!

Our evening was filled with wonderful piano music. Dinner guests Dave and Sandy Hendrickson came several hundred miles to attend our dinner and listen to Sheran Parker play music. Thank you, Sheran, you played beautifully!

Checking people in and handing out a raffle ticket to each guest was Martha Backman. Thanks, Martha for keeping the line moving toward the raffle table!

Busy selling raffle tickets with a smile all evening was Maureen Zacher-Bockius. Earlier in the week she joined Kay Chamberlain, Blair Brady and me to do some major decorating at the hall too. Helping with balloons and setting tables were Kay, Maureen, Barb Clark, Georgie Billings, Ed Stevens and Joe Blalock. These nice people made the dinner prep so much easier this year!

We have the very best barbecue chefs cook at our dinner each year! Bill Coons and Blair Brady were cooking 60 steaks at a time on the grill. That takes a lot of careful watching to be sure the steaks don’t cook too slow or too fast. Bill and Blair received some good help this year from Craig, his job was to get the steaks ready for the chefs to put on the barbecue. Bill and Blair even barbecued extra filet mignons and offered another steak to our guests, no one went home hungry! The portabella mushrooms disappeared too quickly as more people learn how delicious they are coming right off the barbecue grill. Thank-you Craig, Bill and Blair for being the great chefs you are and helping to make this dinner an extra special fund raiser for the Wahkiakum County Fair!

Sunday morning Al and Nancy George stopped by the Grange to help with the after dinner clean-up. They worked hours putting dishes back into storage cartons, moving chairs into the corners and helped load my car up too. What a wonderful couple!

Who washed all those dishes Saturday night? Susan Rawls, Joe Blalock and Janet Bryan!

Extra special thanks to Kay Chamberlain for working with me start to finish to get prepared for this dinner. She and I blended our decorating ideas and shared the shopping trips! Kay also added many prizes to our raffle table. Thank you, Kay!

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.